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Laura Howes
Head of Origination at Key Capital Partners LLP (KCP)
Professional Background
Laura Howes is a dynamic financial professional who brings extensive expertise in corporate finance and investment management. Currently serving as the Head of Origination at Key Capital Partners LLP (KCP), Laura plays a pivotal role in aligning KCP’s new fund with promising investment opportunities throughout the UK. Her position allows her to work closely with the national team, emphasizing strategic research, benchmarking of investment prospects, and assisting with deal origination. Laura's contributions are vital in navigating the complexities of the investment landscape, and her proactive approach ensures that KCP remains at the forefront of emerging financial opportunities.
Throughout her career, Laura has accumulated a wealth of experience across various roles within corporate finance. Before her tenure at KCP, she was a Corporate Finance Manager at RSM UK where she expertly managed client portfolios and led teams in delivering tailored financial solutions. This role honed her skills in financial analysis and strategy, allowing her to assist businesses in realizing their growth objectives through informed financial decision-making. Furthermore, Laura's previous roles as a Corporate Finance Executive at both Garbutt & Elliott and Armstrong Watson equipped her with a solid foundation in financial advisory services and transaction execution. Her journey began with hands-on experience as an Accounts Assistant at Armstrong Watson, where she developed a keen understanding of financial operations.
In addition to her thriving corporate finance career, Laura is an entrepreneur at heart. Having previously owned Divine Invitations, she showcased her ability to blend creativity with business acumen, successfully bringing a unique product to the market. This entrepreneurial spirit continues to influence her approach in the financial realm, where she seeks innovative solutions for her clients and stakeholders.
Education and Achievements
Laura Howes has an impressive educational background that has laid the groundwork for her successful career in finance. She pursued the prestigious Association of Chartered Accountants (ACA) qualification at FTC Kaplan in Leeds, a rigorous program that imparts essential knowledge in accounting, finance, and business management. Achieving this qualification is a testament to her dedication and commitment to professional excellence in the financial sector.
Before embarking on her ACA journey, Laura completed her studies at Wakefield College where she focused on Maths, Geography, and Dance. The blend of these subjects showcases her analytical abilities as well as her unique creative perspective, both of which serve her well in the finance industry. During her earlier education, she also completed her GCSEs at Brayton High School, where foundational skills in various subjects were grounded, shaping her into the proficient professional she is today.
Laura’s academic credentials, combined with her practical experience, enable her to bring a comprehensive approach to financial endeavors. Her constant pursuit of knowledge and skill development is evident through her career progression and her ability to adapt to evolving financial landscapes.
Achievements
In her current role at KCP, Laura has already made noteworthy contributions by identifying high-value investment opportunities and successfully facilitating deal origination processes. Her proactive engagement with potential investments highlights her strategic mindset and her commitment to delivering value for KCP’s stakeholders. She is a notable figure in the investment community, recognized for her meticulous approach to research and analysis, which equips her team with the insights needed to make informed investment decisions.
Moreover, Laura’s history in corporate finance is marked by significant accomplishments in deal execution and financial advisory, enhancing the service offerings of the firms she has worked with. Her expertise in managing complex transactions and her ability to cultivate relationships with clients and investors alike have undoubtedly contributed to her reputation as a trusted advisor in the financial sector.
Furthermore, her entrepreneurial venture, Divine Invitations, showcases her capabilities beyond the realm of finance, demonstrating her diverse skill set and ability to inspire creativity in business. This dimension of her career adds a rich layer to her professional identity, as she combines finance with innovation.
In summary, Laura Howes is not only a dedicated professional but also a passionate advocate for growth and development in the financial sector. Her diverse experiences and robust educational background enable her to navigate the intricacies of corporate finance effectively, while her entrepreneurial spirit continues to drive her toward new opportunities for making a positive impact within the 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 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.