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Erik Moga
Director and Head of Research, Messenger at Meta
Professional Background
Erik Moga is an accomplished technologist and visionary leader in the field of product design and software experiences. His extensive career spans various prestigious organizations, where he has demonstrated exceptional skills in driving innovative products from ideation through to execution. Erik's journey has included serving as the Director and Head of Research at Messenger for Meta, where he was instrumental in shaping user experiences and leveraging research to enhance product offerings. His passion for creativity and knowledge driven by both practical experience and academic rigor allows him to navigate and thrive in complex environments.
Before his impactful role at Meta, Erik led Financial Health Programs at IDEO.org. His expertise went beyond typical project management; instead, he stepped up as a leader who inspired teams and fostered collaboration. This hands-on experience at IDEO, and previously as a Senior Project Leader, equipped him with a rich understanding of design processes and the valuable insights that only come from directing multifaceted projects.
Throughout his career, Erik has held remarkable positions in various fields, including as the Global Insights Lead and Head of Research at Square. In this capacity, he directed strategic insights that informed product initiatives and optimization efforts, securing a legacy of user-focused solutions that break barriers in digital financial services. His foundational experiences, such as serving as a Campaign Manager at New York University School of Law and his research roles at Harvard and Yale, contributed significantly to his analytical skills and ability to mold ideas within academic settings.
Education and Achievements
Erik holds an MBA in Marketing and Management from the prestigious NYU Stern School of Business. This training has equipped him with a strong foundation in business principles, strategic marketing, and effective management acumen that continue to inform his work in technology. Furthermore, Erik also completed his BA in Psychology of Creativity and Music at the University of Michigan. This unique combination of studies not only nurtured his creative instincts but also deepened his understanding of how psychology intersects with user engagement and interface design.
Whether it’s deep-diving into customer insights at Square or innovating financial health models at IDEO.org, Erik's academic grounding enhances his professional endeavors. His blend of creative psychology with business acumen positions him uniquely in the fast-evolving tech industry, transforming nebulous concepts into actionable items.
Notable Achievements
Throughout his career, Erik has been recognized for his innovative approach and success in managing design processes and teams. He thrives when faced with ambiguity and complex challenges, steering projects toward effective solutions that yield satisfying results. By designing cohesive systems and networks, Erik lays the groundwork for groundbreaking products and services.
His contribution to research at leading academic institutions, coupled with his expertise in technological solutions, reflects his immeasurable impact on product design in prominent organizations. Erik’s ability to navigate intricate projects has not only led to successful launches but has also encouraged a culture of forward-thinking within the teams he has led.
Passion and Vision
Erik Moga’s ongoing commitment to innovation drives his passion for developing new software experiences. He believes that through thorough research, concepting, and systematic execution, teams can bring groundbreaking ideas to life. His dedication extends beyond products; it reflects a broader vision of enhancing user experiences and addressing complex challenges within the tech ecosystem.
Erik engages deeply with both established strategies and novel concepts, creating well-rounded solutions that meet user needs and drive effective business outcomes.
Through his multifaceted expertise, Erik Moga inspires those around him and is well-regarded as a leader who promotes collaboration and fosters creativity in technology.
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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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- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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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'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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