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John Down
COO/CFO - Leads The Dots' operations, commercial, finance, people, legal, board & investor relations
Professional Background
John Down is a distinguished leader in the realms of operations, finance, and strategic development within the creative industry. Serving as the Chief Operating & Financial Officer at The Dots, which is recognized as the largest 'No Collar' creative professional network in the UK, John oversees critical functions, including operations, commercial strategy, people management, finance, legal and regulatory compliance, board governance, and investor relations. His comprehensive experience in the creative and digital media sectors allows him to drive initiatives that foster innovation and collaboration among diverse professionals.
Passion for Diversity and Inclusion
Beyond his impressive professional qualifications, John is deeply committed to promoting diversity within the start-up and creative contexts. His involvement as a Board member with Series Q, an LGBT+ professional network targeting entrepreneurs, exemplifies his dedication to advocating for underrepresented voices in the industry. Through this role, John actively supports initiatives that empower and uplift those within the LGBT+ community, ensuring that diverse perspectives and talents contribute to the growth of creative entrepreneurship.
Comprehensive Career Experience
John's career trajectory has included a myriad of roles that span strategy, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), consulting, and operations. His breadth of experience allows him to bring valuable insights and expert knowledge to various clients and organizations, from nimble start-ups to well-established corporates. John's noteworthy positions include:
- M&A and Strategy at AMP - In this role, John was at the forefront of strategic deal-making, driving value through careful analysis and market understanding.
- Freelance Consultant in M&A and Strategy - As a consultant, John advised clients on strategic growth initiatives, leveraging his extensive knowledge of market dynamics and organizational efficiency.
- Group Strategy - M&A at HBOS Australia - Here, John contributed to corporate-level decisions that shaped the investment landscape in Australia, focusing on strategies that ensured sustainable growth and competitive advantage.
- Private Equity Intern at Fleming Family & Partners - John gained valuable insight into the intersection of technology and digital media investment strategies, particularly in a private equity context.
- Audit Executive at Ernst & Young - His foundational experience in audit provided him with rigorous analytical skills and a comprehensive understanding of financial principles, vital for his future roles in finance and operations.
Education and Achievements
John Down's academic journey is marked by excellence and rigor, laying a solid foundation for his successful career. He holds an MA (Hons) in Sociology from The University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with first-class honors, showcasing his commitment to academic excellence. Additionally, he participated in a scholarship exchange program at the University of California, Davis, achieving a perfect GPA of 4.0/4.0, which is a testament to his dedication and capability as a scholar. Furthermore, his studies at the prestigious Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV) and Eton College further underscore his diverse educational background and commitment to learning in various cultural contexts.
Community Involvement and Networking
John Down believes in the power of community and collaboration, which is reflected in his engagement with networks like Series Q. His role enables him to connect with other professionals, fostering environments where collaboration can thrive and diverse entrepreneurial spirits can flourish. He encourages others to reach out and connect, furthering his mission to create inclusive opportunities in the creative sector.
Overall, John Down combines exceptional professional expertise with a deep-seated passion for diversity and inclusion. His impressive career achievements, combined with his commitment to uplifting others in the creative and entrepreneurial spaces, position him not only as a leader within The Dots but as a pioneer for change and inspiration in the industry. As he continues to drive innovation and implement strategic initiatives, John remains a vital resource for aspiring creatives and established professionals alike, making significant contributions to the UK’s creative economy.
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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 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.
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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