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Mauro Furno
Executive MBA & PhD - Technical Marketing Manager - R&D Manager - Innovator
Professional Background
Mauro Furno is a highly accomplished senior manager with over a decade of experience in the fields of product marketing, research and development (R&D), and innovation strategy. His extensive career spans across various sectors, including chemicals, semiconductors, and power electronics. Currently, Mauro holds the pivotal position of Head of the B2B Customer Support Group within the organic electronics industry, specifically focusing on AMOLED technology. In this role, he is responsible for product management and roadmapping, technical marketing, technical sales, and ensuring effective customer communication.
Throughout his career, Mauro has taken on multiple transformative roles that have significantly contributed to the businesses and organizations he has been involved with. His previous experiences include serving as the head of innovation management, conducting thorough technical and strategic assessments of new business opportunities, managing R&D teams, and assuming the responsibilities of R&D project manager. He also has a wealth of experience in managing public projects supported by national and EU funding, further underscoring his strategic insight and leadership capabilities.
Mauro's strengths lie in his unique combination of a solid technical background and business acumen, supported by both a PhD and an Executive MBA. He possesses extensive customer-facing experience and exhibits strong communication skills with an innate multicultural awareness. His proven ability to lead cross-functional and international teams is a testament to his leadership quality, making him a key figure in any organization he joins.
Education and Achievements
Mauro's educational background is impressive and has laid a strong foundation for his successful career. He earned his PhD in Electronic Devices from the esteemed Politecnico di Torino, where he also completed his Master's degree in Materials Engineering. Furthermore, he pursued a Master of Science in Physics Engineering at the renowned Institut national polytechnique de Grenoble. To complement his technical expertise with business knowledge, Mauro also completed an Executive MBA in Business Administration and Management at MIP-Politecnico Di Milano. This diverse educational experience equips him with a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between technology and management, enhancing his effectiveness in leadership roles.
Career Development and Key Competences
Mauro's career trajectory is certainly indicative of his dedication and expertise. He has held pivotal roles at Novaled, where he worked on developing innovative devices and technologies. Notable positions include Head of Customer Projects Team and Technical Marketing Manager, as well as R&D Team Manager. His journey at Novaled began as a Senior Research Scientist, advancing to R&D Engineer and Materials Application Engineer, which provided him with a deep understanding of the technological landscape in organic electronics and OLED materials.
In addition to his extensive tenure at Novaled, Mauro has been involved with various organizations, further enriching his professional repertoire. His roles as Strategy and Technology Advisor at talenteco, Device Engineer at Vishay, and Research Associate at the Institut für Angewandte Photophysik (IAPP) at TU Dresden reflect his diverse experiences in the industry. His impressive background also includes software development, where he contributed as a Software Developer at sim4tec GmbH and completed an internship as an Undergraduate Researcher at ST Microelectronics.
Mauro's key competences encapsulate a wide spectrum of essential skills such as R&D management, innovation management, technical marketing, product marketing, B2B customer support, strategic business development, leadership, and expertise in sectors such as semiconductors and organic electronics. His depth of knowledge in display technologies, OLED materials, energy generation, energy storage, and software development positions him as a significant contributor to any organization within the high-tech landscape.
Achievements
Some of Mauro's notable achievements include:
- Successfully leading diverse R&D teams that pioneered research and development of innovative materials and technologies in the AMOLED sector.
- Managing and directing public-funded projects that involved collaboration with national and European institutions, showcasing his ability to navigate complex regulatory and funding environments.
- Spearheading technical marketing efforts that enhanced customer relations and communication across B2B platforms, significantly impacting product visibility and customer engagement.
- Contributing significant thought leadership in innovation management through strategic assessments that facilitated the identification and capitalization on new business opportunities.
Through these experiences and achievements, Mauro Furno has established himself as a valuable asset in the high-tech industry, leaving an indelible mark on the organizations with which he has been associated.
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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.
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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.
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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.