Prior to Gradient, Clayton served enterprise and consumer tech companies on business strategy, sales and marketing at McKinsey & Company. He worked with cybersecurity, automation, media and entertainment, and vertical software organizations to scale new business units and accelerate growth through effective go-to-market motions. He also advised executives on building products in the evolving metaverse and creator economy ecosystems. Before McKinsey, Clayton was a software engineer and studied computer science at Texas A&M University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

He lives in San Francisco and loves to cook, host dinner parties, and attend Formula 1 races in new countries.