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Tommy Xiao
Head of People at AfterShip - We're Hiring 🚀
Professional Background
Tommy Xiao is a forward-thinking professional who currently serves as the Head of People at AfterShip, where he manages Talent Acquisition, People Operations, and HR in support of the company's ambitious North American and European expansions. With a keen focus on building high-quality teams, Tommy is deeply committed to enhancing the recruitment process to ensure that AfterShip attracts exceptional talent that aligns with its mission. His leadership in creating an outstanding candidate experience, employer branding initiatives, and efforts to foster a positive company culture are hallmarks of his approach to human resources.
Before joining AfterShip, Tommy made significant strides in the tech recruitment space with his impactful role as Square's first and only Business Recruiter in Canada. During his tenure at Square, he played a pivotal role in scaling the Toronto office, growing the headcount from a mere 28 to an impressive 197 within just 12 months in 2020. This rapid growth exemplifies his strategic hiring capabilities and his ability to manage full-cycle recruitment across various industries, including Crypto/FinTech, Travel Tech, and EduTech.
In addition to his recruitment expertise, Tommy combines his unique background in criminology and sociology with extensive HR practices, thereby equipping him to help non-technical candidates navigate their journey into the tech world. His passion for empowering others to grow and thrive in their careers is a defining aspect of his professional identity.
Education and Achievements
Tommy’s educational journey demonstrates his commitment to professional development and understanding of the human resources landscape. He earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts (HBA) from the prestigious University of Toronto, where he double-majored in Criminology and Sociology. This strong academic foundation underpins his analytical approach to recruiting and insights into candidate motivations. Additionally, he pursued a Certificate in Human Resource Management Essentials from the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, further expanding his expertise in HR practices.
Throughout his career, Tommy has held several key roles that allowed him to sharpen his skills in recruitment and people management. As the Head of Talent at AfterShip, he initially laid the groundwork for the company’s talent strategy which now feeds into his overarching leadership role. His prior experience as a Recruitment Partner at Square and his time as a Business Recruiter at TourRadar paved the way for him to build a diverse network and gain valuable insights into the tech industry’s intricacies.
Tommy is also passionate about entrepreneurship, having founded Lazy Wolf Games, which showcases his multifaceted interest in e-commerce and business development. His role as a Business Development and Recruitment Specialist at Rayku further exemplifies his versatility in various business sectors. His early experiences as a Sales Representative at Vital Link Ice Cream and Event Marketing Inc. highlight his foundational skills in sales and marketing, further enriching his professional profile.
Achievements
Tommy Xiao's career is marked by numerous achievements that reflect his dedication to advancing both company growth and employee satisfaction. Notably, his exceptional track record at Square saw him contribute significantly to scaling the Toronto team, which stands as a testament to his robust hiring strategies and understanding of market dynamics. His efforts in developing a high-quality candidate experience have led to positive feedback from both prospective employees and existing teammates, thereby enhancing AfterShip’s reputation as an employer of choice.
In his current role, Tommy continues to innovate in areas such as employer branding, where he actively works to portray AfterShip as an attractive workplace. His proactive initiatives to improve company culture have instilled a sense of belonging among staff, which is crucial in today’s competitive job market.
Tommy is also a passionate public speaker and talent consultant, often sharing his knowledge at industry events and forums. His dedication to motivation and growth extends to his advocacy for non-technical candidates seeking opportunities in the tech sector. By leveraging his expertise in full-cycle recruitment, he is committed to bridging the gap for individuals entering a field that may seem daunting to them.
In summary, Tommy Xiao is not just a remarkable HR professional; he is also an advocate for growth, innovation, and a commitment to building thriving companies. His career is a testimony to the impactful role that effective recruitment plays in fostering successful teams and businesses. Whether connecting with colleagues, exploring new opportunities, or facilitating career development for candidates, Tommy remains open to engaging with the community, sharing ideas, and collaborating towards a common goal of success.
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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
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- 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.
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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.