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Eric O'Brien
Technical Product Director, Publishing at The New York Times
Professional Background
Eric O'Brien is a seasoned and highly creative technical product innovator with a wealth of experience in transforming cutting-edge technologies into commercially viable, engaging consumer applications. He has developed a distinguished record in managing large, complex technology ecosystems and navigating varying operational environments. O'Brien excels at creating strategic partnerships with major platform providers and has honed his ability to steer diverse teams towards common goals, even in the challenging and unpredictable territory of product development.
Throughout his impressive career, Eric has held several senior leadership roles in the media and technology industries. As the Technical Product Director at The New York Times, he has been pivotal in shaping the publication's approach to technical product innovations, enhancing user experiences, and integrating advanced technologies. His influential position allows him to marry creativity with practicality, ensuring that cutting-edge solutions are also commercially feasible and enjoyable for consumers.
Before his impactful tenure at The New York Times, O'Brien served as the Senior Director of Product, Venue Experience and Ticketing at Major League Baseball (MLB), where he was responsible for designing innovative ticketing experiences that significantly enhanced fan engagement. He held multiple roles at MLB, including Senior Director of Emerging Platforms and Director of Product Management, where he led efforts to leverage emerging technologies for better overall user experiences.
Eric began his career in more analytics-driven roles, having held the position of Manager of Business Strategy at ScreamingMedia. He transitioned into product management at Dow Jones / Marketwatch as a Senior Product Manager, where he further developed his expertise in creating robust product strategies and aligning them with consumer interests. He also served as a Staff Product Manager at Qualcomm, enhancing his repertoire of skills in developing wireless technologies that cater to a broad audience, including media outlets such as MLB Advanced Media.
Education and Achievements
Eric O'Brien earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Film and TV Production as well as Economics from New York University. His academic background signifies a unique blend of creativity and analytical thinking, essential for navigating the complex landscape of technology and product management. This diverse educational experience laid the foundation for his distinguished career and his ongoing drive to integrate art with technology.
Among his notable achievements, O'Brien's ability to successfully lead mixed teams through the uncertainties of product innovation stands out. He exhibits a commitment to fostering collaboration across different functions and departments, ensuring that each team member's strengths contribute to achieving overarching goals. His leadership style is characterized by his tenacity in pursuing innovative solutions while maintaining a balance between creativity and practical application. O'Brien's approach has not only driven his projects to success but has also inspired those around him to embrace change and innovation.
Achievements
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Innovative Leadership: O'Brien has played a key role in leading various high-profile projects at The New York Times and Major League Baseball, demonstrating his capabilities as a visionary who can steer organizations through the rapidly evolving technological landscape.
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Complex Project Management: With extensive experience in managing complex ecosystems, Eric has successfully orchestrated projects that require intricate coordination across diverse teams and stakeholders, delivering results that meet both technological and consumer expectations.
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Strategic Partnerships: Throughout his career, he has excelled in cultivating strategic relationships with major platform providers, enhancing the reach and effectiveness of his organization's products and services.
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Cross-Disciplinary Expertise: His unique combination of skills in product management, business strategy, and technical innovation has positioned him as a thought leader in the industry, allowing him to drive forward-thinking initiatives that elevate user engagement and satisfaction.
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Consumer-Centric Innovations: Eric consistently prioritizes the end-user experience in his product development strategies, ensuring that the solutions delivered are not only advanced but also enjoyable and accessible for consumers.
Conclusion
In sum, Eric O'Brien stands out as a forward-thinking leader in technical product innovation, backed by an impressive track record of achievements across various high-impact roles. His passion for creating engaging consumer applications, along with his proven ability to manage complex system integrations, establishes him as a vital asset to any organization targeting success in today’s competitive tech landscape.
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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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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 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 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.
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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.
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.