Zachary Hamed - How using AI and design thinking made Clay the next generation rolodex!
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Zachary Hamed - How using AI and design thinking made Clay the next generation rolodex!

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ 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.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ 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.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Sponsor Corner:

Shoutout to Acquire.com for sponsoring The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re 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/


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ 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!
 
πŸ‘‰πŸΌ 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
πŸ‘‰πŸΌ 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/
πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Zachary:
  • Website: https://zmh.org/
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/zmh
  • Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharyhamed
  • Clay: https://clay.earth/
πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Sharath:

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