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Ashish Desai
VP of Product at Handshake
Professional Background
Ashish Desai is a highly analytical product executive with a wealth of experience in various domains including Product Management, Product Strategy, General Management, and Engineering. Over the years, he has developed a profound passion for enhancing user experiences and addressing significant challenges in collaboration with a talented team. His career path has seen him dive into diverse roles that showcase his versatility, ranging from B2B SaaS platforms to vibrant eCommerce ventures and dynamic labor marketplaces.
Most notably, Ashish has made a remarkable impact at 99designs, where he started as the first product manager. Under his leadership, the product team has expanded from its nascent stages to over 20 dedicated professionals in Product, Design, and Analytics across offices in Oakland and Melbourne. During his tenure spanning six years, he played an instrumental role in transforming 99designs from a modest logo design crowdsourcing platform aimed at micro businesses into a global creative powerhouse frequented by elite Fortune 500 clients and agencies. This evolution has included projects ranging from branding for Amazon private label clothing to creating Apple TV applications and producing videos in seven languages across numerous countries.
As a family man, Ashish is the proud father of two energetic boys and balances his professional life with his personal interests, including a long-standing admiration for Duke basketball and a newfound enthusiasm for the NBA, particularly cheering for LeBron James.
Education and Achievements
Ashish Desai's educational background underscores his commitment to excellence and comprehensive knowledge in his field. He obtained his MBA in Marketing and Finance from the esteemed Kellogg School of Management, which has equipped him with a deep understanding of market dynamics and strategic thinking necessary for effective product management. Prior to this, he earned a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, further solidifying his technical foundation.
His undergraduate studies at Duke University in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering provided a unique interdisciplinary approach that has greatly influenced his perspectives on product strategy and user experience design. His solid academic credentials paired with extensive professional experience contribute to his effectiveness in leadership roles and strategic decision-making.
Notable Professional Roles
Throughout his career, Ashish has held numerous prominent positions that underline his expertise and leadership abilities. As the Vice President of Product at Handshake, he has driven product initiatives with precision and insight. His role as Chief Product Officer and Vice President of Product at 99designs was defining moments in his career where he spearheaded product strategies that aligned with evolving user needs and market trends. He started as Senior Director of Product Management at the same company, where he cultivated his skills in managing diverse product portfolios and enhancing user engagement through innovative solutions.
Prior to his impactful journey at 99designs, Ashish served as the Director and General Manager at Treat.com under Shutterfly, where he led product development initiatives and managed cross-functional teams. His earlier roles include Senior Business Manager for Greeting Cards at Tiny Prints (also acquired by Shutterfly) and Director of Product Management at StrongMail Systems, where he laid the groundwork for future growth in product offerings.
Furthermore, his career began at Analog Devices as a Strategic Project Manager, where he coordinated crucial projects that required cross-disciplinary collaboration and strategic foresight. Ashish also honed technical expertise during his time at Agilent Technologies, first as a Lead Technical Engineer and then as a Senior Development Engineer. These foundational roles in engineering provided him with a unique perspective that informs his decisions in product management today.
Skills and Expertise
Ashish possesses a diverse skill set that enhances his ability to lead, strategize, and innovate. His expertise spans across various domains crucial for product development including Strategy, Product Management, UX/UI Design, Agile methodologies, A/B Testing, User Research, and Analytics. Furthermore, his knowledge of the eCommerce landscape, SEO strategies, SaaS platforms, B2C and B2B ecosystems, Internationalization, and Online Marketplaces makes him a valuable asset in any executive role. His proven track record of implementing data-driven decision making and strategic planning highlights his commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.
With a clear focus on solving meaningful problems, Ashish Desai remains dedicated to optimizing user experiences in a rapidly evolving technology landscape. His future endeavors promise to further extend his expertise and influence in product management and beyond.
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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:
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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.
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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 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.
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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.