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Wietske Helle
CEO of EatQ | Category Insights for SMBs focused on Health & Sustainability
Professional Background
Wietske Helle is an accomplished professional with a diverse background that spans engineering, banking, consulting, and technology, showcasing her versatility and innovative spirit. With a Master of Engineering from the esteemed Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, Wietske's technical expertise is matched by her passion for bringing progressive solutions to industries in need of improvement.
Her career journey includes significant roles across multiple sectors including B2B technology, food, nutrition, sustainability, and investment. Notably, Wietske has held key positions such as Vice President of Products and Chief Product Officer at Compass Digital, where she leveraged her analytical thinking to make impactful decisions. Furthermore, her experience as the CEO and founder of EatQ, a company focused on enhancing food technology, highlights her entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to advocating for healthier, more sustainable food choices.
Wietske's experience is not limited to corporate structures. As a founding member and Business Development Director at Argos Sibinga Petroleum, she played an instrumental role in driving new business ventures in the energy sector, demonstrating her ability to navigate complex market conditions. Her early career at Deloitte Consulting in the Corporate Finance Advisory Team and later as Vice President of Project & Structured Finance at ING Nederland paved the way for her deep understanding of financial structures and market dynamics.
Additionally, Wietske has demonstrated her commitment to fostering female entrepreneurship through her investments in two angel and VC funds that focus on female founders, demonstrating her dedication to equity and empowerment in the business landscape.
Education and Achievements
Wietske Helle's educational foundation is robust and multifaceted. She earned her Master of Engineering (MEng) in Chemical Process Technology from Delft University of Technology, known for its rigorous engineering programs and high-ranking position in global university standings. This advanced degree laid the groundwork for her successful career in engineering and technology.
Eager to broaden her knowledge and adapt to a fast-evolving industry, Wietske pursued further education at credible institutions. She completed a Certificate Program in Nutrition for Industry Professionals and Entrepreneurs at Tufts University, underscoring her commitment to integrating science and health into business ventures. This program equipped her with the necessary insights to navigate the nutritional sector, an area she actively engages with in her professional endeavors.
Additionally, Wietske has honed her analytical skills by studying Data Analytics at General Assembly, a vital asset in today’s data-driven business environment. Her continuous learning reflects her dedication to personal and professional growth, making her a well-rounded leader in any industry.
Achievements
Perhaps one of Wietske's landmark achievements was the successful development and market launch of a mobile application for the construction industry, which generated over $1 million in annual revenue. This accomplishment not only demonstrates her capability to lead and manage complex projects but also her ability to identify and solve inefficiencies within traditional sectors. By disrupting the status quo, she exemplifies a forward-thinking mindset that benefits both businesses and consumers.
Wietske is also a former lightweight rowing champion and Masters ski racer, showcasing her excellence and dedication in sports, which often reflects the perseverance and discipline she applies in her professional life. Beyond her impressive career, she is a proud mother of three, balancing family and work commitments with grace and determination.
As Wietske continues to navigate her career, her story serves as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals alike. Her blend of technical expertise, innovative thinking, and dedication to impactful change positions her as a formidable force in today's business landscape.
Highlights
As an entrepreneur, I am continuously experimenting and testing to uncover what truly resonates with my audience.
So, too, with EatQ, we are exploring different types of brand scoring to bring you, our CPG community, the most relevant and impactful insights.
I'd love to hear from my LinkedIn community, specifically the wider food community, whether manufacturer, investor, category buyer, or a 'mere' consumer.
Which of the following scoring types would you find most interesting and valuable?
- Disruption – Identifying groundbreaking innovations and market leaders.
- Health & Nutrition – Evaluating products based on their health benefits and nutritional value.
- Sustainability / ESG – Assessing the environmental and social impact of products and companies.
- Free From / Clean – Highlighting products free from commonly avoided ingredients, allergens or tested for residues.
I’m really curious what you think. I’m proud of our scoring, but it’s only useful if it’s valuable to you. Your feedback here will help us tailor our content. Please vote and share your thoughts in the comments. Thank you for participating!
Another Reason to Focus on “No Added Sugar”?
Sustainability certifications promise ethical practices. Consumers are willing to pay more for green, humanely made products like Fairtrade coffee. But sugar is different. It gets mixed from various sources before reaching store shelves.
Consumers don't drive sugar sales—big companies do. Major brands like Coca-Cola and General Mills dominate the market. They rarely pay a premium for certified sugar. This creates a conflict at the heart of Bonsucro, a major certifier. Its seal of approval holds little value with customers. Consequently, sugar mills lack financial incentive to improve practices.
This lack of transparency hides severe labor abuses in the industry. Women laborers in India face coerced hysterectomies and debt bondage. Audits, controlled by mills, often miss these issues.
Should we focus on "no added sugar" for another reason? Or take this moment to put pressure on big companies to do better? Transparency in sugar's supply chain is crucial. It reveals where the biggest problems lie. Certifications alone are not enough. We need deeper accountability from big companies. Let's push for genuine transparency and improved practices in the sugar industry.
https://lnkd.in/gd3TmYm9
Let me know if you don't have a NYT subscription. I can gift the article.
#ingredienttransparency #eatq #sustainability
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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
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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 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.
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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.
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