How Does Clay Fit Into Automattic’s Ecosystem?

In this episode of The WP Minute Podcast, Eric Karkovack welcomes Zachary Hamed and Matthew Achariam, co-founders of Clay, a personal relationship management tool recently acquired by Automattic. They examine how Clay unifies fragmented contact data from various platforms, like Gmail, iMessage, Notion, Facebook, and ChatGPT, into a beautifully designed and user-owned system for managing relationships.

Zachary and Matthew discuss Clay’s origin story, their strong focus on design, data ownership, and privacy, and how AI features like Nexus are transforming personal outreach. They also share how their deep-rooted history with WordPress and open-source culture helped make the acquisition by Automattic feel like a natural evolution. Looking ahead, they tease potential WordPress integrations focused on people and relationships, and how Clay can amplify identity and CRM use cases across the Automattic ecosystem.

Key Takeaways:

• Clay is a personal relationship manager built around privacy, portability, and thoughtful design.
• The product consolidates contacts from fragmented platforms and enhances memory and outreach with AI tools.
• Automattic’s acquisition aligns with Clay’s mission to build human-centric, long-lasting software.
• Possible future integrations with WordPress include features centered around people and identity.
• Clay’s team will remain intact and continue development with increased velocity and support from Automattic.

Important Links:

• The WP Minute Podcast: thewpminute.com/subscribe
• Clay’s Website
• Acquisition coverage:
  – Accelerating Clay’s mission with Automattic
  – Automattic Welcomes Clay
  – Play With Clay
• Clay’s co-founders on LinkedIn:
  – Matthew Achariam
  – Zachary Hamed