Suggestions
Dan Heller
Retired Executive
Professional Background
Dan Heller is a visionary entrepreneur and experienced executive with an impressive track record that spans more than three decades. Starting his entrepreneurial journey in 1990, Dan made a significant impact in the tech and startup ecosystem as he launched the first commercially available email system for the internet. His innovative spirit and keen understanding of technological trends have led him to either establish his own enterprises or lend his expertise to numerous startups throughout the 1990s. His roles have commonly included fundraising, product launches, and strategic consultancy, showcasing his versatile skill set in business management and technological innovation.
In the 2000s, Dan transitioned into the digital imaging and photography sector, where he honed his expertise in hardware, software, social networking, and both legal and economic analysis. This phase of his career reflects his ability to adapt and thrive in evolving markets, once again highlighting his commitment to leveraging technology for practical applications.
In 2010, Dan made a tremendous contribution to academia by founding the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This initiative was groundbreaking in its aim to intertwine education and entrepreneurship, allowing students and researchers to collaborate on starting new companies based on university intellectual property. The primary focus areas for these startups included biotechnology, computer software, social media, and generalized technology solutions. Through this center, Dan not only nurtured young minds and fostered innovation but also significantly contributed to the commercialization of intellectual property, encouraging entrepreneurship from within the academic realm.
Dan took on a pivotal role in the startup environment when he became the CEO of Two Pore Guys in 2013 (now known as Ontera). This ambitious venture focuses on producing cutting-edge solid-state molecular sensors that are capable of detecting individual molecules, serving applications in human health diagnostics and agricultural technology. His leadership at Ontera reflects his mastery in merging scientific insight with commercial viability – a hallmark of his career.
After a fulfilling career, Dan Heller retired in 2018, embarking on a new journey that includes exploring his passion for writing and photography. He shares his insights and experiences on Medium, where he provides valuable commentary on entrepreneurship, technology, and the creative process. Additionally, Dan continues to showcase his impressive photography skills on his personal website, danheller.com, combining his love for travel with his eye for captivating imagery.
Education and Achievements
Dan Heller possesses a strong educational background, having earned both a Master's degree and a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His foundational studies underscore his technical skills and innovative mindset, both key to his success in the technology field. Prior to his time at UCSC, he further developed his academic pursuits at Kent State University, where he studied music, math, and computer science, showcasing a breadth of interest that spans both the arts and sciences.
Dan's career is marked not only by his entrepreneurial successes but also by a series of significant professional roles. He served as the Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at UCSC, where he encouraged and facilitated a synthesis of academic research and commercial application. His extensive experience includes roles such as Executive Vice President at Network Computing Devices (NCD), President and CEO of Z-Code Software, and an Industry Analyst as an Independent Consultant. Moreover, his work as an author with O'Reilly & Associates highlights his recognition as a thought leader in the tech industry, sharing knowledge and insights through published works.
Aside from his executive roles, Dan has also stepped into technical roles earlier in his career, demonstrating his versatility and foundational understanding of technology. He worked as a Software Engineer at Island Graphics and as a Systems Engineer at both Sun Microsystems and SRI International, preparing him for his later managerial positions in tech companies.
Achievements
- Pioneering Email Technology: Launched the first commercially available email system for the internet in 1990, setting a precedent in digital communication.
- Center for Entrepreneurship: Founded the Center for Entrepreneurship at UCSC, novel educational initiative promoting startup culture within a university setting.
- CEO of Ontera: Led the charge at Two Pore Guys (now Ontera) focused on solid-state molecular sensors, contributing to advancements in diagnostics for health and agriculture.
- Author and Thought Leader: Authored informative pieces for O'Reilly & Associates and continually shares insights on entrepreneurship and technology through various writing platforms, including Medium.
- Diverse Technical Background: Developed foundational skills as a systems engineer and software developer in notable tech companies early in his career, which greatly complemented his later executive roles.
- Creative Pursuits: Post-retirement, Dan has embraced writing and photography, merging business with the arts and providing a holistic view of his life experiences.
In conclusion, Dan Heller’s career exemplifies the dynamic intersection of entrepreneurship, technology innovation, and education. With a commitment to fostering new ideas and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, his legacy continues to influence the startup landscape and inspire others in the field. Whether he’s creating opportunities for students or pioneering advancements in molecular detection technology, Dan maintains an unwavering dedication to innovation and creative expression.
Location
People also viewed
Related People
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
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- 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
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.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
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.