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Suzanne Muchin
Principal at Mind + Matter Studio; Co-Founder at Bonfire; Co-Host at The Big Payoff Podcast
Suzanne Muchin is a Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations at Kellogg School of Management, where she teaches courses such as Selling Yourself and Your Ideas and Women’s Leadership Seminar.12 She is also a lecturer in New Venture and entrepreneurship courses.1 Additionally, Suzanne co-founded Bonfire, a talent development accelerator for women in the workplace, and co-hosts The Bonfire Podcast with Rachel Bellow.12
Before her work with Bonfire, Suzanne was a founding partner and lead strategist of Mind + Matter Studio, and a founder of Frequency540, a strategic communications agency that acquired her first brand strategy firm, ROI Ventures.1 She also launched and developed ROI Ventures’ incubator (Return on Inspiration Labs, LLC) and its media arm (ROI Distributed, LLC) with Rachel Bellow.1 In 2012, she was inducted into the Chicago Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.12
Suzanne Muchin's earlier career includes serving as CEO of Civitas, a communication agency for the early childhood field, for 11 years.1 She also worked at Teach For America, beginning as a Charter Corps member teaching eighth-grade Spanish in the South Bronx and later becoming the Vice President for Programs.1
Suzanne is an investor in impact companies, a mentor to entrepreneurs at 1871 and TechStars, and an LP and Advisory Board member for MATH Venture Partners.1 She is a Wexner Heritage Member and serves on the Board of Directors of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (1871).123 She has served as an Independent Director at Knightscope (NASDAQ: KSCP) and is currently an Independent Director of Fooda.12 In 2022, Suzanne and her husband, David Brown, received the Human Rights Medallion from the American Jewish Congress.12 She often runs on the Chicago lakefront path.12
Highlights
This morning feels like October 8 all over again. If you don't know why, then you aren't paying attention. If you think it is only your Jewish friends and colleagues who are not OK, ask if it was only Black Americans who were not OK on May 25, 2020, or if the LGBTQ+ community were the only ones harmed and grieving on June 12, 2016.
We. We. We.
As my husband and I tried to fall asleep last night, I kept asking: why? Why would they execute them now? And how? How do parents go on after learning that their child was alive just a few days ago, and soldiers who could have rescued them were in the tunnels...right there, but instead, found their dead bodies? How do you live with the split screen of what could have been? How do you not imagine those last moments when the six of them (Hersh, Eden, Carmel, Almog, Alex, and Ori) said the she'mah while on their knees with guns pointed at their heads?
And then the silence once again from people who have followed Jewish and Israeli friends and colleagues for the last ten months as if our stories have nothing to do with you (voyeurs to our pain as a nation and a people).
But this was always about you because it was always about all of us. If you take one thing away from the 330 days of bravery, generosity, humility, and courage from Rachel Goldberg-Polin and John Polin and their unimaginable grief, it is we not me—extremism vs. all other forms of rule or religion.
Meanwhile, back on campus:
At CUNY Hunter, demonstrators hold a sign reading "Bring the War Home" with an image of an assault rifle next to a sign that reads "It is right to rebel, Hillel go to hell." At Temple University, a demonstration migrated towards the Temple Hillel building and chanted with megaphones to those inside. At the University of Pittsburgh, two Jewish students wearing kippot were attacked with a glass bottle. At The University of Texas, Dallas, the SJP has called to "Stop the normalization" of Jewish organizations (including the ADL, the AJC, Hillel, the JCRC, and the Muslim Jewish group on campus). At McGill, chalking on the sidewalk read, "October 7 was justified."
This is not about being pro-Palestinian (only). It is anti-Jewish hate. Now is the time to decide if you will stand FOR something or...be a bystander. If not now, when?
May their memories be a blessing.
An eye-opening challenge I give students in my course at Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management— is to spend the week asking others a question other than "How are you?". The goal isn't callousness—quite the opposite. It is to gain more awareness of the weight of this question and the worthiness of listening to the answer. Too often, we use that question as a throwaway, usually walking away before hearing what comes after the one-word response. Worse, we don't always look someone in the eye when saying it, so we don't know if their verbal response conveys "OK" or "I'm not OK," which could mean the difference between someone's steady-state and an ask for help.
Here on LinkedIn, throughout 2023, I was very open about talking about my mental health. My words were intended to show up as I felt to normalize that it was OK, not always to be OK. I also wanted to acknowledge that even though things weren't always great, I still showed up for work, as many people Going Through It often do. Some of us do this because we have support systems and tools (therapy, friendships, partners, medication) to do this responsibly. Some do it because they don't feel they have a choice financially or because they have not yet admitted that they are not OK.
So, this week, when it feels necessary and essential to bring mental health awareness into our homes, places of work, friendships, and conversations on social media, I want to offer a 2024 epilogue to all I posted about last year.
I'm not out of the woods yet. Walking the Camino with a dear childhood friend was a massive line in the sand for me. It was a way to reconnect with myself and be in nature, putting one foot in front of the other for miles and miles and miles. And yes, being with my beloved Kellogg students (some of my long-time favorites are shown below) brings me true joy. But many days are still a struggle.
The war in Israel and Gaza set me back, as it has done for so many others. Every day brings another set of challenges-- emotional, political, and personal. Being on the Northwestern University campus is a gut punch every time I turn the corner on Sheridan Road and have to go by the remaining encampment. Reading about Israeli flags (and American flags!) being desecrated on campus over the weekend, referred to as "vandalism" rather than hateful, antisemitic acts, is pure gaslighting. Hostages with names we know are still underground. That makes it hard to feel a sense of being on the other side. My emotions often feel like playing the notes on a piano with the damper pedal down. It all sounds a bit low and dull.
My advice this week is always the same: if you see something in someone's eye, say something. Ask the authentic question (how are you feeling, actually?). Show more than tell that you are there without asking anything in return. As to what I tell myself when I'm down, in the words of Rainer Maria Rilke, no feeling is final. #mentalhealth
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.