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Brad Nickel
Mission: DeFi - Interviewing innovators in decentralized finance(DeFi). Advisor/Investor in DeFi. Co-Founder: Material Indicators - Algos, tools, and indicators for smart traders.
Professional Background
Brad Nickel is a seasoned professional with a remarkable 26 years of experience in the tech and startup sectors, specifically focusing on the worlds of decentralized finance (DeFi) and cryptocurrency. Throughout his career, Brad has leveraged his extensive knowledge to advise and provide strategic insights to various companies in the burgeoning cryptocurrency market. His expertise encompasses strategy, product development, and marketing, making him an invaluable resource for organizations aiming to navigate the complexities of the digital financial landscape.
In addition to his advisory roles, Brad is also the host and producer of the acclaimed podcast, Mission: DeFi. This platform serves as a cornerstone for the DeFi community, offering listeners a chance to gain insights from innovative leaders, projects, and ideas through engaging interviews and tutorials. His podcast not only educates but also connects crypto enthusiasts, fostering a deeper understanding of the evolving financial technologies.
Brad is also the founder of Blacknox, a venture devoted to creating powerful cryptocurrency products that aim to transform investing and business operations. The Blacknox team, which combines decades of experience in technology, marketing, and business management, actively collaborates with portfolio companies to drive their success within the competitive crypto landscape.
Furthermore, Brad co-founded Material Indicators, a company dedicated to building effective trading tools for a variety of markets, with an initial emphasis on cryptocurrency trading. These tools have been rigorously tested and validated over a year, with valuable community feedback that will refine the products ahead of their commercial launch.
Education and Achievements
Brad Nickel's educational background includes studies in Theater and Political Science at Drew University, as well as further studies in Political Science at Texas Wesleyan University. This diverse education has equipped him with a unique perspective, blending creative thinking with analytical skills, which he applies to his professional endeavors.
Throughout his career, Brad has celebrated numerous significant achievements:
- He has been crucial in the innovation and development of software products, standing as a pioneer by building one of the world's earliest Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms and driving its growth to significant success.
- Brad is credited with the creation of one of the first tabbed web browsers, a contribution that facilitated a more organized and user-friendly browsing experience.
- He has been instrumental in defining a network printing standard that is now utilized by virtually every printer and copier manufacturer globally, showcasing his technical prowess and commitment to advancing industry standards.
- His experience includes targeting and negotiating partnerships with industry giants such as Microsoft, HP, Xerox, Canon, and IBM, thereby leveraging his networking skills to forge vital connections that promote growth and innovation.
- Brad has consulted, mentored, and managed dozens of startups, providing the guidance necessary for them to develop, fund, launch, and market their unique ideas successfully.
Achievements
As an accomplished public speaker, Brad utilizes his teaching and motivational skills to empower groups, inspiring them to excel and embrace effective practices in launching companies, managing technology products, and implementing successful strategies. His experience as a lecturer at Florida International University further highlights his commitment to sharing knowledge and fostering the next generation of innovators.
Brad's extensive work history includes notable positions such as the Vice President of Marketing & Product Development at Landry & Kling, Inc., and Seasite.com, along with roles as VP of Product Management & Marketing at Venali and Director of Marketing at Equitrac. His ability to tailor channel marketing strategies and manage integrators showcases his strategic capabilities and deep understanding of marketing mechanics.
In the past, he has also held positions as a Senior Advisor at various companies including Encrypgen, LLC, GoByte Network, and FA Enterprise Systems Inc. As a Managing Partner at Mark 5 Strategies and a Partner at Captiva Companies, he has played a crucial role in shaping the strategic directions of multiple enterprises, ensuring they adapt successfully to rapidly changing market dynamics.
Having co-founded ClickBrain.com, a company focused on web strategy, marketing, and technology development, Brad has consistently displayed his entrepreneurial spirit and knack for innovation. Moreover, his experience at Interliant as VP Appsonline and his early role at J. M. Family Enterprises as a reengineering and technical consultant further demonstrate his diverse skill set and adaptive expertise in the field.
Brad Nickel continues to be a driving force in the tech and cryptocurrency industries, serving as both a mentor and leader. His multifaceted capabilities, combined with his commitment to fostering innovation and success within the DeFi space, solidify his reputation as a key influencer in transforming the way we perceive and interact with our financial futures.
Highlights
I know you. You are excited about this. You want the military to march into US cities and take out the people you don’t like.
You are no longer an American. You are a traitor to the ideals of democracy.
You are willing to shit on the memories of the people that fought and died for those ideals.
Seriously bro, you really thought $MSTR was going to make the S&P?
Let’s check in:
Sells nothing Does nothing Provides zero value to the world Buys something you can buy anywhere Volatility is epic The coin it buys is arguably the most useless ever created Speculative nonsense Founder is a space cadet
But yeah, you were robbed… 😂
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Clay 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, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
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.
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