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Sara Garson
Investing in + building startups at 25 Madison. Co-Founder at Coterie. Ex-Daily Harvest. Focused on Supply Chain.
Professional Background
Sara Garson is a distinguished professional, recognized for her extensive experience in the realms of business management, entrepreneurial ventures, and strategic consulting. She has honed her skills across various sectors, demonstrating a remarkable capacity to adapt and thrive in challenging environments. Sara's career showcases a blend of operational expertise and keen strategic insight, which she has applied in numerous leadership roles throughout her professional journey.
Sara began her career as a Risk Assurance Associate at PwC, where she was involved in critical assessment and analysis of risk management frameworks for clients, which laid a strong foundation for her subsequent roles in business development and strategic operations. Building on her success at PwC, she progressed to a Risk Assurance Senior Associate position, where she deepened her expertise in risk management, ensuring her ability to navigate complex business landscapes effectively.
Following her tenure at PwC, Sara joined Daily Harvest as part of the founding team and served as the Director of Operations. Here, she played an instrumental role in scaling the operations of the company, demonstrating not only her operational capabilities but also her visionary approach in a burgeoning food tech industry. Her ability to implement processes and create efficiencies has left a lasting impact on the company’s growth trajectory.
Sara's entrepreneurial spirit led her to co-found Coterie, where she served as COO. Her leadership at Coterie showcased her capability in bringing innovative products to market while maintaining a strong focus on customer experience and operational excellence.
In addition to her founding roles, Sara's tenure at 25madison as Managing Director and later as Director reflects her adeptness at fostering relationships and guiding startups towards sustainable growth. Her deep understanding of market dynamics and her strategic foresight have made her a valuable asset in the venture capital space, particularly during her time as an advisor at Alpaca VC.
Sara has also contributed her expertise as a Board Member at Denim, where she has helped shape the company’s strategic direction and positioned it for success in the competitive business landscape. As a former Board Observer at Silkline, she has leveraged her insightful perspectives to counsel the leadership team and ensure alignment with long-term goals.
Sara's versatility is further evidenced by her role in the Angel Squad at Hustle Fund, where she actively engages with early-stage startups, providing mentorship and strategic guidance, reinforcing her commitment to nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Education and Achievements
Sara’s educational background has significantly contributed to her success in navigating the complexities of the business world. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Marketing from the esteemed Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. This comprehensive educational experience provided her with a robust understanding of both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of business, equipping her with the analytical skills necessary for effective decision-making.
Following her undergraduate studies, Sara pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, one of the premier business schools globally. The rigorous curriculum at Booth, focusing on data-driven decision-making and innovative thinking, further refined her leadership abilities and strategic acumen, paving the way for her impactful career.
Sara’s blend of education and practical experience has culminated in numerous accolades and recognition, particularly within venture capital and startup ecosystems. She continues to be a vital contributor to discussions surrounding operational scalability, risk management, and entrepreneurial growth.
Notable Achievements
- Transformative Leadership: Sara has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership skills as a former COO and Director, overseeing operations and strategic initiatives at innovative startups, and her influence has been key in shaping their trajectories.
- Operational Excellence: As the Director of Operations at Daily Harvest, Sara was pivotal in systematizing processes that facilitated substantial growth and operational efficiency while maintaining a customer-centric approach.
- Venture Capital Involvement: Her roles as Managing Director and Advisor showcase her deep involvement in the venture capital landscape, where she has utilized her insights to guide startup teams towards success.
- Board Involvement: As a member of various boards, including Denim and Silkline, Sara has utilized her industry knowledge and strategic foresight to influence organizational direction and growth.
In conclusion, Sara Garson stands out as a business leader who has seamlessly merged her educational background with her expansive professional experience. Her remarkable journey encompasses strategic roles across various industries, highlighting her commitment to fostering innovation and operational excellence. With an unwavering dedication to mentoring and empowering future generations of entrepreneurs, Sara continues to be a driving force in the business community.
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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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- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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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.
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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.
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