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Nate Barnson
Managing Director at NorthMarq
Professional Background
Nate Barnson is a seasoned expert in the commercial real estate industry, bringing more than 20 years of extensive experience to the table. He embarked on his professional journey in June 2005 at Western Capital Realty Advisors, where he displayed exceptional talent and dedication to his craft. This opportunity laid the foundation for a flourishing career in the competitive landscape of commercial real estate.
In June 2017, Western Capital Realty Advisors underwent a significant transition when it was acquired by Northmarq Capital, a move that showcased the organization's strength and stability in the industry. Following this acquisition, Nate was retained and advanced to the position of Vice President Production at Northmarq. His leadership skills and vision were recognized when he was promoted to Managing Director of the Salt Lake City office in January 2020. In his capacity as Managing Director, Nate oversees a multifaceted team and manages numerous high-profile projects, demonstrating his commitment to excellence in commercial real estate financing.
Nate’s industry acumen is evidenced by his participation in financing a multitude of projects across various asset classes, including office buildings, medical offices, grocery-anchored and unanchored retail, industrial properties, multi-family apartments, and many others. His portfolio also includes complex project types such as the acquisition and development of land, condo conversions, hospitality endeavors, mini-storage operations, student housing, and specialty properties. With such a diverse experience base, Nate has developed a keen ability to cater to the unique financial needs of each project.
Education and Achievements
Nate’s impressive educational foundation supports his professional reputation. He earned dual Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Spanish from the University of Utah, where he honed his analytical skills and linguistic abilities. Furthering his education, Nate obtained an MBA with a focus on Finance from Westminster College. This comprehensive academic background equips him with a robust understanding of both economic theory and practical financial applications, essential for success in the real estate arena.
Achievements
Throughout his career, Nate has successfully originated, underwritten, and closed over $4 billion in construction, permanent, and bridge financing. He excels at nurturing relationships with a diverse array of capital sources, effectively negotiating with banks, insurance companies, CMBS, credit unions, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, private capital sources, and equity partners. Nate's strong borrower advocate attitude is a hallmark of his work, ensuring that his clients receive the best financing solutions tailored to their individual needs. This client-focused approach has solidified Nate's reputation as a trusted partner in the commercial real estate financing landscape.
Beyond his work in real estate, Nate has made significant contributions to his community. Before joining Western Capital, he dedicated two years to a private developer, remediating and transforming brown-field sites. His entrepreneurial spirit is reflected in his co-founding of The Utah East Africa Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to humanitarian efforts, most notably in building an AIDS relief clinic in Uganda, Africa. This initiative demonstrates Nate’s compassion and desire to make a positive impact on global health issues.
Outside of work, Nate enjoys a variety of outdoor activities. He is an avid golfer and skier, finding joy and relaxation in these pursuits. He also cherishes spending quality time with his wife and five children, embracing family togetherness and outdoor explorations. Nate's passion for life extends into his professional ethos, where he continually seeks to inspire and enrich the lives of those around him.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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