Inc. Magazine's Jennifer Conrad did an incredible job capturing the magic of what Kareem Amin and Varun Anand are building at Clay. As Clay investor and CapitalG partner Jane Alexander explained in this fun and fascinating piece, “Clay is the product I wish I’d had when I was operating in sales and marketing,” such as in her previous role as CMO of Carta. Now with 15,000 customers and 9.6 million users at companies including OpenAI, Canva, Notion, and Anthropic, the team is showing #GTM leaders industry-wide the power of building with Clay.
When I first interviewed Kareem Amin, he surprised me by discussing magic, the art of clowning, and the singular culture he’d created at Clay, a software platform that helps users find sales leads. It was your typical interview with a B2B SaaS co-founder. (He also wants you to know that the gong in the company’s office is for sound baths, not for celebrating new deals.) “I think what made Silicon Valley great is the weirdness, the fun, and the quirkiness,” Amin told me. “People who keep thinking about how hard they’re working are not really focusing on the right thing. You have to work hard, but you also need to focus on why you’re doing that.” Then, I met his co-founder Varun Anand, who rushed into the conference room where I was waiting, and without introducing himself, launched into his theory of the proper seating arrangement for an interview: The two people should be next to each other, not on opposite sides of a table. As I learned, the two founders weren't sure they could work together when they met a few years ago—but they’ve settled into a productive partnership that resulted in Clay recently being valued at $5 billion. It's a hit with users, too, who band together in Clay Clubs to share tricks and tips. Consultants are making seven-figure incomes teaching others how to deploy Clay. If you only know Clay from the subway ads (“Michelangelo had marble. GTM has Clay.”), here’s everything you could ever want to know about the company. Thanks for chatting David Shamula, Khaled Azar, Jane Alexander, Mike Vernal, Alexander DeMoulin, and Derek Hernandez. Photo: Erik Tanner. Inc. Magazine https://lnkd.in/e5V49H6M