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Elly Chao
Product Designer at Coda
Professional Background
Elly Chao is an accomplished product designer currently making waves at Coda, where she combines her extensive experience in design with a passion for creating user-friendly products. With a diverse career trajectory that spans several high-profile companies, Elly has honed her skills in visual communication and design thinking, making her a valued asset in the technology sector. Before her current role at Coda, Elly showcased her talents at Microsoft, where she worked as an Icon Designer and Production Artist, contributing to various innovative projects and helping shape the visual identity of their products.
Prior to her time at Microsoft, Elly served as an Interaction Designer at iSoftStone, where she played a crucial role in enhancing user experiences by designing intuitive interfaces. Her freelance work as a Visual Designer allowed her to collaborate with various clients, further sharpening her design prowess and adapting to different design aesthetics and project requirements. Prior to these roles, Elly gained hands-on experience as a Graphic Designer at the Husky Union Building while attending the University of Washington, where she contributed to numerous branding and design initiatives. During her early career, she also worked as a 3D Modeler, Video Production & Web Intern at BlackSmith, LLC, which allowed her to develop multifaceted design skills and understand the scope of design in a corporate environment.
Education and Achievements
Elly Chao's academic background is as impressive as her professional journey. She earned her Master of Science in Management with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership from Babson College's esteemed Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business. Her education has equipped her with essential management skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, enabling her to approach product design from a business-oriented perspective. This unique blend of business acumen and design expertise positions her to lead innovative projects and propose strategic design solutions that align with organizational goals.
Elly also holds a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication Design from the University of Washington. This foundational education has given her a thorough understanding of design principles and practices, setting the groundwork for her future roles in product and graphic design. Having graduated from such reputable institutions, Elly not only possesses the technical skills required in the design world but also the leadership and strategic planning skills that are essential in today’s competitive market.
Achievements
Throughout her career, Elly has earned recognition for her creative approach to design and her ability to merge functionality with aesthetics. Her work at Coda has been instrumental in developing user engagement strategies through innovative product design. The experience gained from her previous positions at notable organizations such as Microsoft has further solidified her expertise in the field. Her ability to craft visually compelling designs that enhance user experience has made her stand out in her profession.
In addition to her professional roles, Elly has engaged in various projects and sporting events that reflect her commitment to design and excellence. Her diverse portfolio showcases her ability to adapt to different design challenges and produce high-quality work under tight deadlines. Elly’s continued involvement in the design community, as well as her dedication to learning and evolving in her craft, speaks volumes about her passion for design and innovation.
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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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- 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.
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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.
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