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Derek Chang
CEO Friend MTS, Former CEO - NBA China, Director - Liberty Media, ISOS Acq
Professional Background
Derek Chang is a highly accomplished executive with extensive experience in the media and telecommunications industry, bringing over two decades of leadership and strategic expertise to his roles. Currently, he serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Friend MTS, a role that highlights his innovative approach to content security and distribution in the modern digital landscape. With a profound understanding of market dynamics, Derek has held prestigious positions that reflect his exceptional capability in steering companies towards growth, especially within international markets.
Prior to his current role, Derek made significant contributions to the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he served as the Chief Executive Officer of NBA China. In this position, he was instrumental in expanding the NBA's presence in Asia, leveraging partnerships and enhancing fan engagement across one of the world's most dynamic markets. His tenure at the NBA exemplified his ability to blend sports with broad business strategies, positioning the league for success in a highly competitive environment.
Derek’s professional journey has also included pivotal roles at Scripps Networks Interactive, where he served as both the Head of International Lifestyle Channels and Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region. Here, he successfully led content development strategies and expanded the international footprint of Scripps, significantly contributing to the organization's global reach and brand impact.
His experience is further enriched by strategic roles at DIRECTV as Executive Vice President of Content. By overseeing content acquisition and development, Derek played a vital role in enhancing the company's programming offerings and competitive stance in the industry. His leadership at Charter Communications as Executive Vice President of Finance and Strategy and interim co-CFO demonstrated his strong financial acumen and strategic planning expertise, leading initiatives that reinforced the company's financial health and operational effectiveness.
Education and Achievements
Derek Chang's impressive educational background lays the foundation for his accomplished career. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the prestigious Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he honed his skills in business management, strategic decision-making, and leadership. This advanced degree has equipped him with a unique perspective on managing complex organizational challenges and driving change in today’s fast-paced business environment.
Before earning his MBA, Derek received his Bachelor's degree in History from Yale University, which has contributed to his exceptional analytical skills and understanding of cultural dynamics—an asset that has served him well throughout his career in both media and business development. His education reflects a commitment to lifelong learning and a desire to integrate historical insights into contemporary business practices.
Achievements
Derek Chang’s career is marked by a series of notable achievements across various high-profile organizations. His board memberships highlight his strategic influence and governance skills. He has served as a board member at Liberty Media, ISOS Acquisition, and Vobile, where he provided valuable insights and strategic direction that have shaped organizational growth and investment strategies.
As Chief Executive Officer of Friend MTS, Derek has made a significant impact on the technology-driven content security domain, developing innovative solutions that protect intellectual property rights and enhance customer confidence in digital media products. His leadership there has been noted for fostering collaborative partnerships and advancing technological advancements that cater to the evolving needs of the media sector.
Derek's tenure at the NBA China was transformative; under his leadership, the league saw an increase in viewership and engagement, setting the foundation for future growth in the Asian market. His ability to navigate complex regulatory environments and cultural nuances has been a critical factor in his success in the region.
In roles at both Scripps Networks Interactive and DIRECTV, Derek was at the forefront of expanding content offerings and design strategies that significantly elevated viewer engagement and revenue. He is well-regarded for his ability to bring together cross-functional teams to drive successful business initiatives.
Overall, Derek Chang's commitment to excellence, combined with his substantial experience across multiple sectors, positions him as a leader of note in the media and telecommunications industry. His strategic insights, coupled with a deep understanding of market trends and consumer behavior, continue to drive success in his endeavors. His reputation as a trusted executive and industry thought leader is well-deserved, making him a key figure for any organization aiming for innovation and growth.
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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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- 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.
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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.
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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.