Zachary Hamed - How using AI and design thinking made Clay the next generation rolodex!
ππΌ About the Guest:
Zach Hamed is a design-focused engineer who enjoys designing, building, and selling software. He is currently co-founder and co-CEO of Clay, a beautiful and private home for your personal and professional relationships. Previously, he helped build the product team at Goldman Sachs, co-founded a startup in the enterprise developer tools space, and writes blog posts.
ππΌ About the Host:
Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 24,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. He recently sold his second SaaS product, GuestLab, and he is working on a startup idea while hosting this show.
ππΌ Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for sponsoring The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! Theyβre the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
ππΌ About the Host:
Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 24,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. He recently sold his second SaaS product, GuestLab, and he is working on a startup idea while hosting this show.
ππΌ Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for sponsoring The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! Theyβre the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
ππΌ Description:
Listen in as Sharath and Zach discuss going from a startup to corporate and back to startups, identifying A players, design thinking, and more!
ππΌ Timestamps:
Listen in as Sharath and Zach discuss going from a startup to corporate and back to startups, identifying A players, design thinking, and more!
ππΌ Timestamps:
- 00:00: Episode Highlight
- 00:30: Shoutout to Acquire.com
- 02:56: Intro to Zachary Hamed - co-founder at Clay, a beautiful personal CRM, contact manager, and rolodex for people across industries who want to be more thoughtful with the people they know
- 05:35: Why Zach is building a startup in NYC vs Silicon Valley
- 10:38: Zach's experience going through the Thiel Fellowship
- 13:29: Going from building a startup to working at a large corporate
- 19:51: A process at Goldman Sachs that serves Zachary well today
- 25:15: Growth frameworks for Clay
- 33:53: How to spot and hire talent smarter than you
- 40:40: How to find A players
- 46:30: Why does Clay use .earth for their domain?
- 49:55: Why Zachary pursued a consumer-first approach
- 57:50: How AI is revolutionizing Clay's people-first approach
- 1:03:45: Using AI in Clay to catch up and schedule follow-ups
- 1:09:25: How Zach is building Clay using design thinking
- 1:17:35: Outro and closing thoughts
ππΌ Resources:
- Link to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
- Sparrow: https://sparrow.en.softonic.com/mac
- Mailbox: https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873268/why-dropbox-mailbox-shutdown
- Thiel Fellowship: https://thielfellowship.org/
ππΌ Where to find Zachary:
- Website: https://zmh.org/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/zmh
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharyhamed
- Clay: https://clay.earth/
ππΌ Where to find Sharath:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
- Website: https://5harath.com/
- Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/
- Founder Gigs: https://foundergigs.com/