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James Feagin
Chief Strategist at Projects+PEOPLE
Professional Background
James Feagin is a distinguished urban practitioner who has dedicated his career to fostering inclusive economic development, particularly within the vibrant landscape of Detroit. His innovative approach strategically integrates insights from various environments, allowing him to think effectively "from the boardroom to the barbershop." This unique perspective has been pivotal in redefining Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially in the context of small business program development.
Since 2014, James has played a central role as a consultant for NEIdeas, a grant challenge managed by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation in partnership with the New Economy Initiative. Over the years, NEIdeas has transformed into a beacon of hope and opportunity, successfully attracting over 2,600 applications from entrepreneurs across every zip code in Detroit. Through this initiative, James has helped secure a remarkable $2 million in grants, directly benefiting neighborhood businesses and engaging thousands in the ecosystem of support services designed for aspiring entrepreneurs.
In addition to his work with NEIdeas, James is actively involved in delivering Motor City Match, an innovative initiative that aims to fill vacant commercial spaces with new businesses, and Motor City Re-Store, a program tailored to rejuvenate commercial corridors through façade enhancement for existing businesses.
His consulting expertise extends to the Knight Foundation's Knight Cities Challenge, where he contributes to shaping ideas that promote talent, opportunity, and civic engagement, distributing $5 million annually to impactful projects across 26 cities. James' influence is apparent in his work with Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures, where he aided in developing community strategies and conceptualizing Detroit Demo Day, which has notably invested over $1 million in local Detroit ventures.
James is also engaged with Place Lab's Principles of Ethical Redevelopment, a project initiated by the renowned artist, professor, and developer Theaster Gates. Leading a group of Detroiters, he focuses on the ethical dimensions of urban development, aiming to create equitable and sustainable urban landscapes.
Currently, James serves as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence and directs the FREC City Accelerator, recognized as a social mobility hub on Detroit’s Eastside, supported by the Ford Motor Company Fund. His leadership in this role further cements his commitment to enhancing economic opportunities for local residents and businesses alike.
Education and Achievements
James Feagin boasts an educational foundation that complements his extensive professional background. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) with a Minor in Entrepreneurship from Northwood University, where he developed the skills necessary to navigate the complexities of business management and entrepreneurship. Additionally, he studied Business at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, further broadening his knowledge in business dynamics.
His early foray into broadcasting with a Certificate in Radio Broadcasting and Broadcast Journalism from Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts laid the groundwork for his communication skills, an essential tool in his consulting and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Throughout his career, James has consistently engaged with various organizations that align with his mission of fostering inclusive economic initiatives. He has held key positions at notable entities such as the Rocket Community Fund, where he currently serves as the Director of Entrepreneurship. His role involves leading initiatives that empower small businesses and promote community development.
His previous experiences include a consultancy role for Self-Employed, where he harnessed his entrepreneurial spirit to advise and support various businesses. James' strategic insight contributed significantly to his position as a former Strategic Consultant at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, where he was instrumental in reimagining economic development strategies for the city.
At Search Optics, he directed digital marketing strategies as a Digital Marketing Supervisor for Chrysler/Fiat and a Senior Digital Marketing Specialist for Buick GMC, showcasing his versatility and expertise in digital transformation within the automotive sector. His journey began as a Business Organizer at Warren/Conner Development Coalition and a Business Coordinator at AmeriCorps, expanding his understanding of grassroots efforts in community development.
Achievements
James Feagin's contributions to Detroit's urban landscape and small business ecosystem have led to numerous achievements over his career. His role in the NEIdeas program is especially noteworthy, having impacted thousands of entrepreneurs and garnered significant grant funding for neighborhood businesses. The influence of his work resonates within the sentiments of the community, emphasizing a philosophy that no business should be left behind.
Additionally, his involvement with initiatives like Motor City Match and Motor City Re-Store has not only revitalized commercial spaces but has also brought fresh ideas and innovation to the local economy. His collaborative efforts with the Knight Foundation highlight his ability to connect varied perspectives, creating engaging projects that aim to enhance community cohesion.
Furthermore, as a moderator and voice for ethical redevelopment, his participation in discussions surrounding Place Lab’s Principles of Ethical Redevelopment showcases his commitment to ensuring that community-driven development remains at the forefront of urban planning practices in Detroit.
In his current capacity as the Entrepreneur-In-Residence and Director of the FREC City Accelerator, James is at the forefront of social mobility initiatives, providing essential support and resources to aspiring entrepreneurs, both within the city and beyond.
His impressive career trajectory, from hands-on community organizer to strategic consultant and thought leader in inclusive economic development, sets a remarkable example of how passionate individuals like James can contribute to transformative change in urban settings. With a steadfast dedication to uplifting local communities through entrepreneurship, James Feagin continues to make significant strides and lasting impacts in the field of urban economic development.
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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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- 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.
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.
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