I’m the co-founder and head of operations at Clay, the best way to turn any growth idea into reality. 

Here's a little bit more about me:

I started my career in politics and government, working in a variety of roles for Hillary Clinton, including on her 2016 campaign. When that ended unceremoniously, I decided that—for now—building in technology felt like the higher-impact path. These days, I’m channeling that same energy into helping people grow their businesses using Clay.

I enjoy (occasionally) beating my co-founder Kareem at racket sports, scouring NYC for the best Indian food (Musaafer is elite), and reading essays and narrative non-fiction—David Foster Wallace and Erik Larson are staples.

Varun Anand

Today Clay is announcing our second employee tender in just 9 months at a $5B valuation. 

Employee tender offers are rare at private tech companies, and repeat tenders at this frequency are rarer still. Under the traditional model, employees take on years of risk with no path to liquidity until an IPO or acquisition. 

We’re not building Clay that way. We believe that companies hitting their milestones should offer equity as part of people’s journey, not just at the end. And we want all our employees to benefit meaningfully from the value they create.

There are two reasons companies don't do tenders: 1) you don't have the demand for your stock; 2) you think your team will get demotivated if they sell their shares. 

Re: the first -- I can't help you much there (but maybe DM me and I can do a LinkedIn video consulting on your biz problems). On the second -- in our experience, the opposite happens! When people feel trusted, supported, and happy, they stay longer and build with more conviction. Our teams are more loyal, energized, and motivated to make a big outcome happen because they know we care about doing right by them. 

The tender will allow employees to sell up to $55M of Clay shares at a $5B valuation, and is led by DST Global, with participation from Conviction, avra, Operator Collective 🔆 and Frontline Ventures, alongside a stellar roster of angels and customers, including Stripe's Claire Hughes Johnson, Figma CMO Sheila Joglekar Vashee, Superhuman CEO Shishir Mehrotra, and product leader Lenny Rachitsky.

Thank you to our team, community, and customers for making this milestone possible. We're hyped for the journey ahead!

→ Check out The New York Times feature by Michael de la Merced and our blog post in comments.

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We have 6 life coaches available to everyone at Clay. 

They are sort of like therapists (I'm not really supposed to say that!) because they do a lot of emotional labor. Every employee can book time with them and no topic is off-limits. It's one of the best things we've done. 

Before this, here's what would happen: 

Someone's struggling with impostor syndrome. Or they're thinking about a career change. Or they don't know how to deal with people issues on their team. They'd either bottle it up, dump it on their manager (who isn't trained for this), or let it fester until it became a performance problem. 

Now? They book time with a coach and get real support. Letting managers actually focus on managing without (as much) emotional labor.

The coaches keep everything confidential but they do share themes with leadership. Not "Varun is struggling with X"—but "we're seeing a lot of first-time managers who need more support and confidence". And that signal is valuable.

Let's go through the details of how this works so you can consider if it makes sense for your company. We have each coach on a $5k/mo retainer, and they have open slots for the team to book and can go over if there's too much demand. That's like 2 employees' salaries to help the other 300 be better. 

Most companies reserve coaches for executives. But here's a way you can give everyone on your team a coach in a way that helps us all win together.

Someone just applied to Clay and wrote the below in their application. This means more to me than you could know!

We are building Clay to not only help businesses grow, but also to help our teammates grow. Kareem Amin and I are in this for the long haul, and it's important to us that the people we work with represent our values, feel like their own personal growth is keeping pace with the company -- and most importantly, are cool humans who we like to have lots of fun with.

P.S. I'm glad the subway ads are doing something! Check out this surround sound ROI Karan Parekh ;)

I want to give every startup founder permission to hire candidates based off vibes. But I'm going to give you the vocabulary to feel better about it.

Leaders resist "vibes hiring" because it sounds lazy. Like you’re not doing due diligence. People don’t love feelings-based decisions and revert to only what the evidence says. But recruiting is a human game and humans have feelings. That’s why you must incorporate how someone makes you feel in the decision.

So, what does this mean in practice with candidates? It means that you pay attention to the intangible. Do you get energy from the conversations? Do they inspire you with confidence and peace of mind? Do you feel excitement not anxiety when you see their caller ID on your phone? Do you feel conversational chemistry? Do you naturally gravitate towards and want to spend more time with them? Good news - at a startup, you’re basically living with them.

With these hires, everything just feels right. Decisions are made easily, conflict and arguments resolve in seconds not hours, and the building blocks of trust stack on top of each other. You have people like this on your team right now. You know who they are.

Interviewing is an information gathering exercise, and how a candidate makes you feel (The Vibes) is as important as their take home assessment, behavioral interview and specific competencies. 

Even if someone is perfect on paper, you can’t get things done at the quality and speed a startup requires if you keep having those little moments of friction that fracture the trust and communication needed to excel.

You are about to spend your life building with them. You need to enjoy the vibes!

Our new Head of Sales Development has one job: don't embarrass us. Here's an inside look at how we're building Clay's first ever SDR (ClayDR!) team:

You might be thinking, "Wait, what's up with that? I thought Clay was making it so there would never be SDRs ever again?" Wrong. So, I sat down with Rob Cook to walk through how we're re-thinking the SDR role in the age of AI.

We get into:

- What Clay-powered SDRs actually do all day
- The two types of salespeople we're hiring and why the goal is to turn them into one
- Our key success metrics for the ClayDR team (it's not just pipeline)
- When to go bespoke vs. scale: How we decide between 10 custom touches for always-on accounts and many-to-one plays for awareness
- Why "don't embarrass us" is actually the most important charter and what that means for how our SDRs engage with prospects

Plus, much, much more. In the end, Rob shares why it bothers him so much when folks say they feel badly for SDRs and "how hard the job is." And why our #1 goal is to bring the joy back to business development.

Watch below 👇

P.S. Do you want to redefine what being an SDR looks like at the company redefining growth? Come work with us. Link to apply in comments.

Three years ago, Patrick Spychalski was an intern on our team selling Clay tables for $200. Last week he sold his Clay agency in a multi-million dollar deal (I'm guessing, he won't tell me the numbers). If you want to start your own Claygency, here's the inside scoop on how he went from Clay intern to exited founder:

First off, this moment is particularly meaningful for me. I've had a front-row seat to The Kiln getting started, setting the standard for what's possible, and emerging as a leader within the Clay ecosystem. But more than that, it's been so cool to see how much Patrick and his co-founder Mathias Powell have grown over the years, and I'm so so proud of them and their team and all they've built to this point. 

Now to the fun stuff... The Clay ecosystem is bopping, and the people want to know the dirty deets!! And how they can make bank too. So I sat down with Patrick and got into them:

- The pricing journey that took The Kiln from $200/table to $20K/month retainers and their real retention numbers
- How bringing on Mathias was the inflection point that made the business scalable
- Why specialization matters now in a way it didn't 2 years ago (and examples from Clay agencies crushing it in Europe)
- Why Patrick says they "could have been significantly bigger", but staying smaller made them more valuable
- The hardball questions Patrick asked 2X that proved they would be better together

At the end, Patrick shares what made 2X actually want to acquire The Kiln and his advice for anyone starting a Clay agency in 2026.

Watch below!

P.S. What do you want to know about building and selling a Clay agency? Patrick said he would do a little AMA in the comments. Ask away 👇

It took me 7 months and dozens of interviews to hire an executive assistant. Fortunately, I think we got it right with Tess Hokin. Here's my advice to any leader looking to hire an EA:

First, let me empathize with you - this is a hard role to hire for! It's probably the first time you're interviewing EAs, and it's challenging to evaluate them in a traditional behavioral interview process.

There are two things that matter most:

1) Remember that this is a deeply personal hire. It's important to find someone who gets you and you really like as a person (because let me tell you, you'll be spending a lot of time with them) .

2) As much as possible you should incorporate real world scenarios into your process. Here are two main things we did:

During my interview, I did two role-plays with Tess. One was about booking a reservation for a team dinner. Most candidates approached this like... What type of food do you like? Let me look at some options. I'll send you 3 restaurants to choose from. Tess walked into restaurants in person to feel out the vibe, befriended the staff and then sweet-talked the GM directly to book a reservation!

The other was about not getting sick during all my travel. Most suggested rest or vitamins. Tess built me a complete travel kit and process - specific teas for the hotel, preventative supplements, a whole system I wouldn't have thought of myself.

The thoughtfulness and attention to detail and taste (so important!!) set her apart.

But most importantly -- Tess and I really vibe! We're both pastry aficionados, feed off each other's energy, and say Okurrr too much. I get energy when I'm with Tess, not drained from it when discussing logistics. It's easy to lose energy when going through the minutiae of scheduling, find someone where it feels like fun.

P.S. I linked the take home assignment in the comments below, if you want to copy it.

P.P.S. I was once an EA myself so I have a lot of empathy (and maybe too high of a standard) for this role!

Wrapping up Day 2 of the Clay Revenue Kick Off and I could not be more pumped for 2026. We have 100+ Claymates in a ballroom at the ACE Hotel in Brooklyn. Today, we're focusing on "Igniting the Outbound Engine" as outbound will be a HUGE focus for us this year, and had Evan Peters, Head of RevOps at Notion, share how they are innovating with velocity in GTM with Clay. 

Want to get in on the fun? We're hiring across the board -- GTMEs, Growth Strategists, ClayDRs and more! Apply here: https://www.clay.com/jobs

PS we had everyone write down their most ambitious goal for 2026. This one spoke to me ... what's yours?!

Let's talk about impostor syndrome and my own experience with it.

In early 2024, Clay was growing quickly and I started questioning why I was leading the GTM functions. Many talented executives wanted to work with us. Shouldn't we hire them? And if we did, why should they report to me? What could I possibly teach them? What was I even contributing? More importantly: was I putting my own ego and ambitions ahead of the interests of the company?

Eventually, I went to my co-founder Kareem. I told him that I wasn't the right person, I'm happy to do whatever we needed, and let's go find the right leaders. I was completely at peace with it.

So we interviewed candidates. Spent real time with them. All incredibly impressive, with strong track records, but ultimately we realized they weren't the right fit. We still needed the unique alchemy that got us here for our next leg of the journey. And an insight from my friend Oliver J. helped me understand that I'm not supposed to teach marketing to a CMO, but rather help them get more done in the organization I know best and stay authentic to Clay's approach. Because that authenticity is actually what marketing is all about.

I shared this story with the Clay team recently because I wanted them to understand something crucial about their own journeys here. I know many of them feel impostor syndrome -- not a surprise when dozens are doing their role for the first time. You need to understand what makes you specifically valuable in this role. What uniqueness do you bring that no one else does? And at the same time, you have to stay unattached enough to keep asking: am I still the right person to do this job? Is this role still the right fit for me and the company? 

You can't answer that honestly if your ambition and ego is in the way.

Success starts with letting go. Only then can you see things clearly and do your best work.

Thanks to Christopher Pedregal and the Granola team for hosting this fun conversation a few months ago!

We just did a big analysis of Clay's 10,000 monthly support tickets. If you're running a support team, here's what you need to know:

A few weeks ago, George Dilthey (Head of Support), went to Karan Parekh  with a problem, "Hey, the org is growing really fast. We're hiring all these support people, but they still feel underwater. Help me figure out what's going on."

The obvious answer? Hire more people. But candidly, we hadn't really studied the data yet. The thing we needed to know first was, how are we getting through ticket volumes? When are they coming in? What time of the day? From what geography?

Then once we had that data, we had to go back to first principles: What is the actual point of support? Of course, I want to give our customers an excellent experience. I want it to be world-class. I want it to solve their problem quickly and expediently. But how would you define expediently? Is it zero wait-times? 10 minutes? 60 minutes? 

In this video, Karan and I break down:

- The bimodal curve we discovered -- tickets aren't flat, there's a pattern you can plan for
- Why Thursday-Friday have half the volume of Monday-Wednesday (and what we do with that capacity)
- How to staff for sub-1 hour response times without having people idle most of the day
- Our weekend coverage strategy (that doesn't burn people out and eliminates the Monday morning queue)
- What our support team actually does during low-volume periods

If your support team feels underwater, watch below 👇

PS I don't know why the team chose a thumbnail where my eyes are closed 🙈

Justin Zimmerman

Integrations ≠ partnerships | 2,485+ day-in-a-row running streak 🏃‍♂️ (everyday since Nov 29, 2018)

Virtual event producer

My marketing & partnership strategy... treat people like friends & family! 

Every year I send out 250 post cards (right around the start of the year).

I ❤️ sending New Years card because:

(1) Hardly anyone sends New Years Cards (they stand out)

(2) They capture the spirit of gratitude / new beginnings

(3) They show up in mailboxes as one last gift after the holiday rush

Honestly, I get a buzz off of sending them. 

It's rewarding to prep the mailing list. I see all the names of the people who've helped make my last year(s) in business possible.

And there's a true joy that comes from imagining the smiles on their faces as they retrieve their mail.

Now, it cost about $500 to print and send them all. 

But I know it's good marketing and good for my business & personal brand!

My thinking is...

When you're a small company (or team), you need the best relationships, friendships, and partnerships to grow from zero-to-one!

If you've ever tried...

Starting any program / business from scratch is wildly difficult. If you ask any startup / new team / founder they'll tell you:

• It's lonely
• It's exciting
• It's stressful
• It's rewarding
• It's uncertain
• It's motivating

Treating key relationships as friends and family (and delivering results) is how I've managed to grow (stay relatively sane) over the last 3 years.

So every year I send out post cards.

It's my way of "showing up" and saying thank you for their time, investments, and effort to create a better partnership ecosystem / community.

And despite the headlines and world news...

When you zoom in on innovation and opportunities (think AI), 2026 looks like it's going to be the biggest best year ever! 

PS: I've got some big things planned for us all (for my followers / subscribers). If you're not already on my partnership success / playbook list, join it. The link in comments. 

PPS: That's Pico (my 🐕). He insists on going everywhere I go. He's kinda of the company mascot.

Integrations ≠ partnerships | 2,557+ day run streak 🏃‍♂️ (daily since Nov 29, 2018)

I am slightly embarrassed to say... up until recently, I didn't really know much about AI (outside of ChatGPT).

I watched Youtube videos.
I started following "guru's".
I downloaded prompting guides.

Mind you...

I've built some serious RevOps and PartnerOps systems. But I still couldn't find my "AI starting point".

I felt lost.
I felt behind.
I couldn't separate the hype from the helpful.

Then over the holiday break my fanatical vibe coder friend Joe showed me what AI can really do for partnerships.

Forget the ChatGPT web interface. 

I'm talking about Claude Code, GitHub, and Terminal. I was VERY impressed. It opened my eyes.

I then realized...

Most of us don't know where to start or which problem to solve 1st.

Most of us don't know which models / tools to choose for our programs.

Most of us don't know "someone" who can "open the door" and show us.

So a lot of us are in the same boat...

We feel behind and want to catch up.
We know must learn this stuff.

But who's really using AI in partnerships??
And who's really getting results??
This is who I want to learn from!

So with the help Tyler Calder (CMO PartnerStack) I'm hosting our first webinar of the year, focused on practical uses of AI in partnerships.

We're calling it The 2026 AI Playbook Kickoff!

Here's the lineup of people we handpicked for you...

• Jay McBain: See the state of AI & Partnerships for 2026

• Nancy Mai Harnett: AI-powered affiliate program at HubSpot

• Brian Jambor: Head of Partnerships at Synthesia (AI Video)

• Guy Yalif: AI search results expert (AEO) at Webflow

• Ed Chater: AI powered marketing / content creation at Evertune AI

• Alexander J. Buckles: Co-sell automation expert at Forecastable

• Scott Murtaugh: x-Reachdesk partner dir turned vibe code expert

• Nelson Wang: x-Airtable partner leader turned AI-powered partner consultant

• Rob Moyer: x-Gong partner leader turned AI-powered Partner RevOps consultant

So if you're feeling "this is your year" to "catch up on AI"... 

Then this free half-day webinar will kick you off in the right direction!

📆 Thursday, January 29, 2026
⏰ 8am PT | 11am ET | 5pm CEST
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eubNPUky

Signup and we will give you real use cases and simple starting points.

Plus, I will send you the recordings + AI transcript summaries.

PS: I work hard to create events that showcase the best ideas, but also balance men and women speakers. In this case I asked 4 additional female speakers to join the event. But they could not make it or declined. So if you know of any articulate female leaders in partnerships who are implementing AI, comment their names below. I'd love to include them in future events.

I'm NOT AI expert, BUT....

I wrote 57 prompts for my partner marketing program last month AND they literally 10X'd my output at 100th of the cost. 

My takeaway...

The hype around AI as a productivity booster is 100% true!

Previously I would:

• Write a requirement brief
• Meet with marketing 
• Meet with design
• Wait for them to prioritize my tasks
• Wait for drafts
• Wait for approvals
• Wait final reviews
• Wait wait wait

Instead:

I took my 15 yrs of partnership and marketing experience and I trained my AI to write, edit, design, and proof my playbooks in hours — not weeks!

Now, instead waiting waiting waiting: 

I deploy my "Justin Playbook Agent" to do it for me — without the messy time consuming back-and-forth workflow and project management!

Are my playbooks perfect? 
No.

Does speed to beat perfection? 
I believe so.

GO SEE THEM FOR YOURSELF (link in comments)! 

You'll see how I transformed 100 partner webinars into 100 playbooks in 30 days. This is how I spent my holiday break 🤓

SO WHERE ARE WE AT WITH ALL OF THIS?

My opinion is we're at the point where AI can take real work off your plate (remove a bunch of steps and tasks in your workflows).

BUT YOU NEED TO GET HANDS ON!

• The hard part won't be finding AI tools (there's 1,000's of them)
• The hard part will be finding the right workflows to solve
• AND finding people who've started solving them with AI

GOOD NEWS ON THE ABOVE.

I teamed up with Tyler Calder (CMO PartnerStack) and 9 other "AI in partnerships practitioners" who are waaaay more advanced than me!

TOGETHER ON THURSDAY... 

This group will show you what AI tools they use and what partnership / marketing workflows they apply them to:

• Jay McBain: See the state of AI & Partnerships for 2026
• Nancy Mai Harnett: AI-powered affiliate program at HubSpot
• Brian Jambor: Head of Partnerships at Synthesia (AI Video)
• Guy Yalif: AI search results expert (AEO) at Webflow
• Ed Chater: AI powered marketing / content creation at Evertune AI
• Alexander J. Buckles: Co-sell automation expert at Forecastable
• Scott Murtaugh: xReachdesk partner dir turned vibe code expert
• Nelson Wang: xAirtable partner leader turned AI-partner consultant
• Rob Moyer: xGong partner leader turned AI-Partner RevOps consultant

JOIN THE 2026 AI PARTNER PLAYBOOK KICKOFF WEBINAR!

📆 Thursday, Jan 29, 2026
⏰ 8am PT | 11am ET | 5pm CEST
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eubNPUky

No matter your skill level, they'll show us how to speed up our results. 

PLUS: I will also send you the recordings + slides + AI summaries from this 1/2 day free webinar!

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