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James Diel
Founder and Entrepreneur
Professional Background
James Diel is a highly experienced entrepreneur and leader with over two decades of expertise in various sectors, particularly in electronic payment processing and organizational leadership. James successfully founded and serves as the CEO at Textel, where he has applied his innovative thinking and strategic approach to develop cutting-edge messaging as a service solutions. His leadership at Textel exemplifies his commitment to enhancing communication technology for businesses, making a substantial impact on the industry's development.
His impressive career is not limited to entrepreneurship; James has also made significant contributions to the community as a board member for several prominent organizations. His tenure as a Board Director at Friendship Villages of St. Louis highlights his dedication to improving the quality of life for individuals in senior living communities. In addition, he served as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner for the City of Kirkwood, MO, where he contributed to the development and strategic planning processes that shape the community's infrastructure and growth.
Throughout his career, James held several notable positions that showcase his versatility and leadership abilities. As President at Gravity Payments, he drove initiatives that focused on customer relationship management and enhanced payment processing services. His role as a Council Member at the Secretary's Council on Library Development emphasizes his commitment to promoting literacy and access to educational resources in the community. James's experience extends to the healthcare sector as well, where he served on the Institutional Review Board at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, ensuring ethical standards in clinical research and patient care.
James's journey also includes a solid foundation in sales and consulting. His experience as a Sales Consultant at Merchant Services Consulting honed his skills in relational selling and client engagement, allowing him to build lasting relationships with customers and stakeholders. Furthermore, his early role as a Political Consultant for various clients gives him a unique perspective on the intersection of business, governance, and community development, which enhances his leadership abilities across different sectors.
In addition to his consultancy and leadership roles, James has previously managed Seminar Support Services at the Institute in Basic Life Principles. This experience equipped him with valuable skills in organizational development and team dynamics, further enriching his repertoire as a leader.
Education and Achievements
Throughout his career, James Diel has continuously pursued professional development and education. While the specifics of his formal education are not detailed in this overview, it is clear that his extensive experience plays a critical role in shaping his approach to business and organizational leadership. James's diverse skill set is a product of hands-on experience and a commitment to lifelong learning, helping him remain at the forefront of industry trends and innovations.
Notable achievements during his career include his successful establishment of Textel, which has become a significant player in the messaging service arena, showcasing his ability to innovate and lead a tech-based enterprise. His strategic thinking and organizational leadership have not only benefited his ventures but also positively impacted the communities he serves through his participation in non-profit organizations and local government.
Achievements
- Founding Textel: Under James's guidance, Textel has grown into a comprehensive solution for messaging services, offering innovative products tailored for businesses of all sizes.
- Leadership in Non-Profits: As a Board Director at Friendship Villages of St. Louis, he significantly influenced policies and initiatives aimed at enhancing the lives of seniors.
- Community Development Contribution: His role as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner exemplifies his commitment to responsible urban planning and community enhancement.
- Advancements in Payments: James's leadership at Gravity Payments helped to redefine customer experiences in payment processing, greatly enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of client transactions.
- Impact on Library Development: Through his council membership, he has contributed to shaping library policies that broaden access to books and educational resources, promoting community literacy and enrichment.
- Healthcare Ethics Oversight: As a board member of the Institutional Review Board, his role was crucial in maintaining high ethical standards in medical research and safeguarding patient rights.
- Expertise in Sales: As a consultant, he improved client relationships and business practices, empowering clients to achieve growth through effective sales strategies.
- Political Consultancy: His work with various political entities provided him a deep understanding of the importance of governance and responsible leadership.
- Training and Development: His experience in seminar management at the Institute in Basic Life Principles prepared him to lead teams effectively and develop educational programs that inspire both personal and professional growth.
In summary, James Diel’s remarkable career is a testament to his passion for innovation, community service, and leadership. His extensive experience as an entrepreneur, coupled with his active engagement in various boards and commissions, reflects his unwavering commitment to making a positive impact. James continues to inspire those around him with his dedication to excellence and his vision for creating a better future for businesses and communities alike.
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Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
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
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- 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.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
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.