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Lihi Gerstner
Co-Founder at WOM
Professional Background
Lihi Gerstner is a distinguished architect and entrepreneur with a remarkable career spanning numerous leading international architecture firms and her own successful ventures. Throughout her career, Lihi has been involved in high-profile projects across various cities, including New York City, Paris, Brussels, and Tel Aviv. Her architectural expertise encompasses designing private lofts, fashion stores, and trade show exhibits that merge functionality with aesthetic sophistication.
From the outset of her career, Lihi was recognized for her exceptional talent and commitment to innovative design. She commenced her professional journey at prestigious firms like Peter Eisenman Architects and Bernard Tschumi Architects, where she honed her design skills and gained invaluable experience in architectural practice. Later, she would go on to establish her own practice in New York City, a move that showcased her entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to creativity in the built environment.
In addition to her architectural practice, Lihi has enriched the academic landscape by leading courses, seminars, and workshops. Her teaching stints include notable institutions such as Columbia University where she served as a lecturer in the architecture studio and design seminar formats. Furthermore, she has shared her insights and creative vision at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Technion - Architecture School, and Holon Institute of Technology (HIT), fostering the next generation of architects through her dedication to education.
In 2010, Lihi returned to Israel and became a partner and designer at Gerstner Architects, where her innovative approach informed collaborations with fashion designers and artists. Her work extended beyond architecture into the realm of cultural contributions, as evidenced by her role in planning the annual Israeli Photography Festival. Lihi not only designed the festival's main exhibitions but also contributed to elevating the event's significance within the artistic community.
Lihi's entrepreneurial pursuits continued with the co-founding of Splacer.co in 2014, an influential online platform revolutionizing the way people connect with event spaces. As Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Lihi led the company’s marketing initiatives, cultivating brand awareness and driving partnerships that resulted in the impressive achievement of raising over $13 million. Her strategic thinking and marketing acumen were crucial to Splacer's success in promoting a community marketplace that brought together space owners and event organizers for unique collaborations.
In 2019, Lihi launched staywom.com in partnership with Din Gerstner and the Brown Boutique Hotels, pioneering the concept of the Pod Hotel in Israel. With two operational hotels in Tel Aviv, Lihi continues to demonstrate her innovative mindset and commitment to enhancing hospitality experiences in her home country.
Most recently, in 2020, Lihi founded the 3x3 Active Gallery, a platform dedicated to exhibiting and supporting activist art and artists. With three locations in Tel Aviv, the gallery stands as a testament to her belief in the power of art to incite change and promote dialogue within society. Alongside her artistic endeavors, Lihi serves as a marketing and business advisor for various startups and companies in Israel, leveraging her extensive experience and industry knowledge.
As Lihi looks to the future, she remains open to new opportunities and adventures that will further her impact in architecture, arts, and community engagement.
Education and Achievements
Lihi Gerstner's academic achievements are as impressive as her professional milestones. She earned a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University and completed her Bachelor of Architecture at Pratt Institute, both with the distinction of Highest Honors. This rigorous educational background has equipped Lihi with a comprehensive understanding of architectural theory and practice, which she applies in her projects and teaching.
In her various educational roles, Lihi has not only imparted knowledge but has also inspired students to explore their creativity and develop their design sensibilities. Her commitment to education is evident through her long-standing affiliations with esteemed institutions, where she continues to engage in nurturing emerging talent within the architectural field.
In 2013, she made significant contributions to the Israeli art scene by assisting the planning of the annual Israeli Photography Festival, further emphasizing her interdisciplinary approach to art and design. As a co-founder of 3x3 Active Gallery, she has cultivated a supportive environment for activist art, encouraging essential conversations on social matters.
Achievements
- Co-Founder and CMO at Splacer.co, an award-winning platform that raised over $13 million in funding.
- Launched staywom.com, establishing the first Pod Hotel in Israel with two operational locations in Tel Aviv.
- Led the design and planning for the main exhibitions at the annual Israeli Photography Festival.
- Founded and operates the 3x3 Active Gallery, with three locations in Tel Aviv, showcasing activist art and promoting community engagement.
- Extensive teaching experience across prestigious institutions such as Columbia University, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and Technion.
Lihi Gerstner’s journey exemplifies the fusion of architecture, entrepreneurship, and social awareness, making her a significant figure in both the architectural and artistic communities. Her passion for creating meaningful spaces and fostering collaboration resonates throughout her body of work, positioning her as a leading voice in the intersection of architecture and culture.
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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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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.