Clay
Clay is one of my favorite products and one of the most important apps on my phone.
Between advising, investing, and speaking events, I’m fortunate to meet and connect with hundreds of new people each year. While I used to try and keep track of these in contact cards in my phone or a database somewhere, I’ve been using Clay for almost two years and I can’t imagine going back.
Clay, at its most simple, is a contacts app that updates itself. But thinking that’s all Clay is does a massive disservice to the product. While the video on their homepage does a great job highlighting some of the key features, I want to talk about a couple of the things I find most valuable in Clay.
Notes — This one seems hilariously obvious, but most notes I take fall into one of two categories — either about people or about projects. All project-based notes live in whatever document is related to that project, everything else lives in Clay.
I’m taking a first meeting with a potential client? Clay. I’m catching up with an old coworker and want to write down their book recommendations? Clay. Talking to a founder I’ve invested in? Clay.
Because Clay is organized around people, it has become the best home for any people-related notes. This is especially true since Clay lets you create reminders (as you type), turning “Follow up with Caroline about her promotion 10/28” into a reminder to “Follow up with Caroline about her promotion” that will trigger on 10/28.The Home Feed — I love seeing people’s Twitter bio updates, news articles about them, and birthdays all in one place. I’ll scroll through the home feed while I’m having coffee in the morning, and send a birthday text or a note of congratulations thanks to Clay. The home feed also reminds you to reconnect with folks based on your communication rhythms.
Search — The video does a great job of communicating this, but I can’t say enough good things about search in Clay. Whether it’s traveling to a different city or trying to find someone who works/worked at a company, Clay is where I start. It’s both easier and more effective (IMO) than LinkedIn, and it also is more valuable because each person has notes attached to them in Clay (unlike other services).
The iPhone Widget — This is a little thing, but right below my calendar widget on my phone is the Clay widget, so that I don’t just see what meetings I have that day, I also see who I’m meeting with. It both humanizes the day a bit and makes it easy for me to tap in and see notes for some of my upcoming meetings.
Congrats to Zach, Matthew, and the entire Clay team on your Product Hunt launch today! You are two of the most thoughtful people I know and I’m excited to see Clay get into more people’s hands. Thanks for letting me be a part of the journey.
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