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Ian Cobb
Lifting Teams and People - Identifying, Developing and Deploying Workflows - Building Pipeline - Telling Dad Jokes - Changing the World
Professional Background
Ian Cobb is a seasoned creative professional with a rich and diverse background in graphic design, project management, and recruitment across multiple industries. With an impressive trajectory that spans from graphic design to senior project management roles at high-profile organizations, Ian has cultivated a unique blend of skills that makes him a valuable asset in any creative or corporate setting.
Ian is the founder of Left Brain - Right Brain Creative Consulting, where he leverages his extensive experience to help businesses enhance their brand initiatives and drive artistic innovation. His career features significant stints at renowned companies, including Google, Microsoft, and TEDxSeattle, where he not only honed his technical skills but also developed a keen understanding of the intricacies involved in managing creative projects and teams effectively.
His journey began as a Graphic Design Intern at Abracadabra Printing Inc., where he laid the foundational skills in visual communication and graphic design. This early experience equipped him with the essential tools needed to thrive in a highly competitive field. Ian's capability as a designer quickly propelled him into more significant roles, leading him to work as a Graphic Designer and Digital Asset Manager at Blue Nile, where he advanced his skills in digital asset management and brand storytelling.
Subsequently, he took on the role of Project Manager and Visual Designer at Microsoft, showcasing his ability to blend creativity with the rigorous demands of project management. Ian's tenure at SOG Knives & Tools as a Senior Graphic Designer and Project Manager further solidified his leadership ability, allowing him to oversee multiple projects while ensuring that the design aesthetics remained intact.
His expertise in navigating the creative landscape led Ian to a pivotal role at Creative Circle as an Agency Creative Recruiter and Coach, where he mentored emerging talent and connected them with opportunities that aligned with their creative passions. His experience culminated in his position as the former Creative Services Manager at Lighthouse, where he was instrumental in streamlining creative processes and implementing innovative solutions to enhance productivity.
Ultimately, Ian's path led to TEDxSeattle, where he served as a Senior Project Manager, managing high-stakes projects that demanded not only creativity but also strategic planning and execution. His diverse portfolio across various roles highlights his adaptability and commitment to achieving excellence in every endeavor.
Education and Achievements
Ian's formal education has significantly contributed to his professional growth and expertise. He studied Graphic Design at The Art Institutes, where he gained a comprehensive understanding of visual aesthetics, composition, and design principles. This foundational knowledge equipped him with the skills necessary to navigate the complexities of creative design.
Persisting in his professional development, Ian pursued PMP Certification Prep at StackSkills, underscoring his dedication to mastering project management principles and methodologies. This preparation has enabled him to manage large-scale projects successfully while ensuring adherence to deadlines and budgets, vital for any project manager.
Additionally, Ian earned an Associate of Arts - AA in General Studies from Spokane Falls Community College, providing him with a well-rounded educational background that enhances his critical thinking and creative problem-solving abilities. The combination of these academic pursuits positions Ian uniquely within the creative consulting space, allowing him to approach challenges from multiple perspectives.
Notable Achievements
- Founder of Left Brain - Right Brain Creative Consulting: Ian established his consulting firm, where he uses his extensive knowledge and experience to assist businesses in evolving their creative strategies.
- Significant Roles at Esteemed Companies: With experience at industry giants such as Google, Microsoft, and TEDxSeattle, Ian has consistently demonstrated his ability to thrive in high-pressure environments while driving creativity and innovation.
- Successful Project Management: Throughout his career, Ian has successfully managed various projects, often leading teams through complex creative processes with outstanding results.
- Mentorship and Talent Development: As an Agency Creative Recruiter/Coach at Creative Circle, Ian has played a critical role in nurturing young talent, helping them navigate the creative job market effectively.
- Diverse Skill Set: Ian's experience spans graphic design, project management, recruitment, and creative consulting, showcasing his ability to adapt and excel in varied roles within the creative industry.
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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.
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 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.