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Rob Borm
EVP Gaming at 'Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment'
Professional Background
Rob Borm is an accomplished and growth-focused professional with extensive experience in the video game, esports, gaming, publisher relations, and brand sponsorship industries. His career spans multiple high-impact roles where he has demonstrated a profound ability to drive business growth, establish valuable partnerships, and execute strategic sales plans. As the EVP of Gaming at Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company, he is at the forefront of the gaming and entertainment industry, leading initiatives that shape the landscape of esports.
Rob's expertise lies particularly in maximizing media sales, where he has successfully propelled revenues from $200,000 to an impressive $20 million. This substantial growth can be attributed to his innovative strategies, including the creation of data-driven audience profiles and the implementation of streamlined advertising categories. These efforts have not only attracted new revenue streams through SSP programmatic and direct non-endemic consumer brand advertisers but have also enhanced the overall profitability of the companies he has worked with.
In addition to his media achievements, Rob has also excelled in securing meaningful partnerships. His notable work includes generating an additional $5 million in incremental sales by meeting stringent qualification guidelines in the beer and spirits industry. This accomplishment showcases his ability to perform targeted research and deliver compelling presentations that resonate with clients and stakeholders alike.
Rob’s strong foothold in the esports sector is evident through his ability to secure prominent endemic and non-endemic brand sponsorships for esports leagues and tournaments. He has a talent for forging relationships that lead to successful collaborations, which are invaluable in the fast-evolving world of esports. Collaborating with AAA game IPs, Rob has played a critical role in tournament organization, reflecting his strategic vision and operational capability.
Rob’s responsibilities also extend to designing and launching North American esports tournament series, where he actively drives all activities of league partnerships, including those with high-profile entities like the NFL. His strategic oversight of these initiatives has positioned him as a key player in the development and promotion of esports at a national level.
Education and Achievements
Rob Borm's educational journey began at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he studied for a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. This foundation in communications has been essential in his career, enabling him to articulate ideas effectively and collaborate with diverse stakeholders in the fast-paced gaming and esports sectors.
Rob's professional journey includes several significant roles, each contributing to his reputation as a leader in the gaming industry. He served as the Head of Partnerships for Esports & Gaming at LeagueSpot, where he further honed his skills in brand sponsorship and partnership building. His expertise in this area not only illustrates his versatility as a professional but also highlights his commitment to impactful collaborations.
Prior to this, Rob was an Associate Publisher at Game Informer, where he played a key role in a publication that became the 3rd largest consumer magazine in the U.S. and the largest digital magazine globally for an impressive run of 10 consecutive years. His contributions to the magazine helped solidify its position as a trusted source of information in the gaming world.
Rob also founded and served as the Executive Producer at POV Films, demonstrating his entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision. His diverse experiences reflect a deep understanding of the gaming landscape, allowing him to navigate and contribute effectively to the industry.
Rob's notable achievements have earned him recognition in various industry circles. His ability to drive business results, coupled with his expertise in publisher relations and business development, sets him apart as a respected leader in the field.
Achievements
- Promoted business growth to achieve the title of 3rd largest consumer publication in the U.S. and the largest digital magazine globally for 10 consecutive years.
- Maximized media sales from $200K to an extraordinary $20M by developing data-driven audience profiles and attracting new revenue streams through innovative advertising strategies.
- Generated incremental sales of $5M in the beer and spirits industry through targeted research and compelling presentations.
- Successfully secured brand sponsorships for esports leagues and tournaments, enhancing their commercial viability and reach.
- Played a pivotal role in securing AAA game IPs for tournament use, illustrating his influence in the esports ecosystem.
- Designed and launched a North American esports tournament series while driving partnerships and activities with leading organizations such as the NFL.
With a robust background in multiple facets of the gaming industry, Rob Borm has established himself as a leading expert in driving growth and fostering partnerships. His commitment to excellence and innovative strategies make him a valuable asset in the gaming and esports fields, paving the way for future developments and successes in these dynamic industries.
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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:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- 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 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.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
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.