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Abishek Dharshan
Building web3 infra + social @Zerion - Fellow at On Deck (ODCB2), Gitcoin Kernel (KB5) - ex Radical Ventures, Wolfram Research Inc, Dalberg, Minerva - Product, Data Science, Web 3.0, Venture Capital 💡
Professional Background
Abi Dharshan is a distinguished Product Lead at Zerion API and a visionary Co-Founder of Social Graph Ventures and Hydra Ventures, known for being the first venture DAO fund of funds. His career is characterized by an impressive trajectory where he has been building, investing, and writing at the exciting intersection of capital markets, web3, and artificial intelligence from an early age. With a wealth of experience and a global outlook, Abi has established himself as a thought leader in the rapidly evolving landscape of decentralized finance and technology.
At Zerion, a leading platform recognized for onchain asset management, Abi plays a pivotal role in overseeing the REST API and webhooks that are essential in powering onchain data infrastructure for various wallets and decentralized applications (dapps). Notable partners include prominent wallets such as Rainbow Wallet, Uniswap Wallet, and Farcaster. Zerion enjoys a robust user base of over 500,000 monthly active users and facilitates an impressive $2 billion in transaction volume, showcasing the platform's essential role in the emerging decentralized finance ecosystem.
In addition to his contributions at Zerion, Abi is a co-founder of innovative ventures, including Social Graph Ventures and Hydra Ventures. These initiatives have pioneered the concept of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), effectively investing in the next generation of funds such as OrangeDAO, associated with Y Combinator, and Xoogler Ventures, which includes alumni from Google. His previous experience as an investor in fintech at Radical Ventures, a significant $350 million AI-focused venture fund, further underscores his deep expertise in this space.
Prior to these roles, Abi garnered significant experience in product and growth strategies, having scaled multi-million dollar technologies while working at Wolfram|Alpha and other startups. His focus on user-centric design, API infrastructure, and global go-to-market strategy has equipped him with a diverse skill set that is highly sought after in today’s tech landscape. His professional endeavors have taken him across various countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea, India, UAE, and Argentina, providing him with a rich international perspective on business and technology trends.
Education and Achievements
Abi completed his undergraduate studies at Minerva University, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computational Sciences and Business, graduating with an exceptional summa cum laude distinction. Minerva University is noted for its rigorous selection process, with a mere 2% acceptance rate, and is backed by notable organizations including Benchmark, SpaceX, Netflix, ByteDance, and TAL. During his time at Minerva, Abi not only excelled academically but also developed critical skills and insights that have shaped his career.
His early education includes a stellar performance at the Abu Dhabi Indian School, where he ranked #1 in subjects focusing on Mathematics and STEM, alongside Business/Managerial Economics. Further education saw him refining his international business acumen through a Management Development Program (Semester Exchange) at the prestigious Indian School of Business.
Notable Contributions
In addition to his work as a Product Lead at Zerion and as a Co-Founder of impactful ventures, Abi has been actively involved in several educational and professional organizations. He is a fellow at On Deck and Gitcoin KERNEL, two prominent communities dedicated to fostering talent and innovation in technology and web3. His commitment to knowledge sharing is evidenced by his role as an Associate Editor at CryptoTicker.io, a blockchain news platform where he contributed to the dissemination of critical information regarding the blockchain sector.
Abi also has a track record as an entrepreneur, having co-founded dBay, and has served as an Entrepreneur in Residence focused on Blockchain and AI at hitomedia, inc. His previous roles have included positions as a Private Equity / VC Consultant at Guidepoint, GLG, AlphaSights, and Office Hours, as well as a Venture Capitalist at Radical Ventures. Furthermore, he has held a Growth Product Manager position at Paranoid Internet GmbH and a Management Consultant Intern role at Dalberg. His initial professional journey began as an Assistant Office Manager at Minerva Project, evidencing his long-standing commitment to the education field.
Conclusion
Abi Dharshan is a consummate professional whose passion for technology, finance, and innovation has been evident throughout his career. His work is helping to shape the future of decentralized finance and AI, making him a notable figure in the tech industry. With an unparalleled educational background, significant achievements in product development, and dedicated involvement in venture capital and entrepreneurial efforts, Abi continues to inspire those around him, driving progress at the forefront of technology and investment.
Highlights
zm we're hiring for 3 roles to grow @zerion API!
join us to build the data infra powering your favorite crypto wallets & dapps, with a humble, sharp, technical team.
• Solutions Engineer • Account Executive • Backend Engineer
👉 https://t.co/bNZcA4HrVi 📥 questions? dm https://t.co/1vttgBzzKO
bullish @SalvinoArmati & @yapsterxyz
low ego, heads-down
building for the long-term & right reasons
if you haven’t already, download the app. the haptics + onboarding are 🔥
invited him to our dinner last week & left excited about their vision to reach non-crypto users next
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Clay 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.
Clay 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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- 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
Clay 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, Clay 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 Clay 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 Clay 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.
Clay 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. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay 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.
Clay 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. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay 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. Clay 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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Clay 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. Clay'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.
Clay 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. Clay 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, Clay 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.
Clay 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.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay 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. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay 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 Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay 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, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay 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. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay 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.
Clay 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 Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay 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, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay 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.
Clay'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. Clay 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 Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay'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, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay 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 Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.