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David Zito
Founder/Startup Investor/Advisor
Professional Background
David Zito is a seasoned entrepreneur and technology executive whose professional journey is marked by significant contributions to startups and prominent companies in the tech industry. His extensive experience spans various roles, from founding and leading innovative startups to driving product development at well-established corporations such as Yahoo!, Chegg, and Idealab. David's aptitude for leadership and product excellence has consistently placed him at the forefront of technological advancements and entrepreneurial ventures.
Throughout his career, David has been privileged to collaborate with talented individuals and teams at various organizations, refining his skills and gaining invaluable insights into the mechanics of technology. His efforts have contributed to successful acquisitions and transformations, paving the way for innovation and growth across various sectors including education, advertising, and utilities.
Education and Achievements
David Zito's educational background is rooted in a strong foundation in engineering. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the world. This rigorous academic training honed his analytical and technical abilities, providing him with a unique perspective that he has harnessed throughout his professional endeavors.
In his early career, David held several impactful roles that highlighted his leadership capabilities and vision for technology. As the Director of Engineering at Yahoo! Publisher Network, he played a crucial part in shaping the technical landscape of one of the largest web media companies. His work at Yahoo! not only advanced his career but also established him as a thought leader in the realm of digital media and technology.
Transitioning into the startup ecosystem, David co-founded and led multiple companies that focused on innovative solutions in various industries. His role as Co-Founder and CEO of Miso Robotics exemplified his commitment to integrating technology in the culinary industry, while his position at Dap'd, inc. showcased his dedication to enhancing consumer experiences through applied tech.
At Chegg Inc., David served as the VP of Homework Help, a position that allowed him to drive product direction for a company dedicated to improving educational outcomes for students. His strategic contributions facilitated growth during a crucial period for Chegg, helping to establish it as a key player in the educational technology space.
Noteworthy Leadership Roles
David's leadership experience includes various prominent roles that have significantly influenced the companies he has been part of:
- Co-Founder and CEO at Idealab Stealth AI: Here, David worked on innovative AI solutions, pushing the boundaries of technology to create scalable and impactful products.
- Founder-In-Residence at M13: In this capacity, he utilized his expertise to mentor and develop the next generation of entrepreneurs and startups, sharing his knowledge and strategic insight.
- Head of Product and Technology at PayMyBills.com: David led initiatives that revolutionized how consumers manage their financial transactions, demonstrating his ability to align technology with user needs.
- Director of Engineering at Tickets.com: His role involved overseeing engineering projects that streamlined ticketing processes, showcasing his capacity to improve operations within the entertainment industry.
David's contributions extend beyond specific enterprises; his involvement at Enjoy Lighting, LLC, as Co-Founder and Board Member, attests to his dedication to sustainable and innovative energy solutions. These diverse experiences reflect his adaptability and commitment to using technology for positive change.
Throughout his career, David has been part of pivotal moments that not only mark significant professional milestones but also contribute positively to the industries he serves. His entrepreneurial spirit drives him to continuously innovate, ensuring that the future he envisions is not just a dream but a reality that is reshaping the technological landscape.
Achievements
David Zito has a history of notable achievements that stand out in the tech industry:
- Successfully led multiple startups to acquisition, demonstrating exceptional vision and execution that enhanced company value.
- Played a significant role in pioneering developments at companies like Yahoo! and Chegg, two major players in the tech and education sectors, respectively.
- Established a reputation as a thought leader in AI and robotics through strategic roles at innovative companies.
- Contributed to the growth of technology solutions in various sectors, including education, entertainment, and finance, while also mentoring emerging entrepreneurs.
Current Endeavors
Currently, David is immersed in creating and driving innovations that pave the way for the future. His vision for technology encompasses enhancing user experiences and providing scalable solutions to ongoing challenges. His commitment to fostering an environment of collaboration and shared knowledge is evident in his ongoing relationships with startups and other tech pioneers. With a dedication to making a positive impact in every project he undertakes, David Zito continues to be a driving force in the new wave of technology entrepreneurs.
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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
- 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.