The Start:

Matt Achariam began with a B.A. in Mandarin and Computer Science from the College of the Holy Cross.

He honed his skills at Custora, a Y Combinator-backed analytics firm, leading product development. Noteworthy achievements include serving Fortune 500 giants like Tiffany & Co. and Marriott International.

Before his time at Custora, Matt played a pivotal role at LayerVault and FortySix, showcasing his versatility and proficiency.

His passion for technology and innovation led him to spearhead NYC's Designer News, a prominent hub for designers, demonstrating his commitment to fostering communities.

The Problem:

Matt identified that many individuals struggled with scattered and unorganized contact information, making it challenging to maintain and leverage their personal and professional networks.

Traditional CRM tools were primarily geared towards sales teams and didn’t cater to the personal touch needed for managing individual relationships.

With Clay.earth, he aimed to solve this problem by creating a visually appealing and user-friendly relationship management platform that consolidated contact information, tracked interactions, and provided context-aware insights.

The goal was to help users nurture meaningful connections and stay engaged with their networks effortlessly and efficiently.

Getting their first customers:

The founder of Clay wrote an article on Rockefellers's rolodex cards and how use used it to build his wealth.

This narrative was tied into Clay, which got people excited. So more than anything, Clay founders rallied people around an idea and posted their thoughts via an article.

They then posted it on twitter saying " Hey we have made Clay and this is why - they ask people to sign up for Clay and come back to read the thread".

A few hundred people gave their email to try out Clay.

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