Yelp names Indian-American as Chief Product Officer

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP), a company that connects people with local businesses, announced the appointment of Vivek Patel to the newly created role of Chief Product Officer.

Patel, a graduate of Stanford University with an M.A. in Education: Learning, Design & Technology and a B.S. in Computer Science, credited his upbringing in an entrepreneurial family of small business owners, for his understanding of the industry served by Yelp.

Patel is seen by Yelp as a leader in product development and management with a record of nearly ten years of service at the company which has its headquarters in San Francisco and offices in numerous other locations.

As Chief Product Officer, Patel will oversee all aspects of Yelp’s product management function, including design, data science, and user research, among other areas, the company said in its Feb. 19, press release. In addition, as a member of the executive leadership team, Patel will ensure that the development of Yelp’s products is aligned with the Company’s strategic direction, especially its diversifying go-to-market strategy and focus on both business owners and consumers, Yelp added.

Noting that he was honored to be entrusted with the responsibility of his new position, Patel added, “Growing up with and working alongside a family of restaurateurs and small-business owners has provided me not only with firsthand knowledge of the complexities of this industry, but also a deep and personal connection to Yelp’s business owners and an understanding of products that serve them effectively.”

The company praised his “record of significant accomplishment” in product development and management and extensive industry experience, including spending nearly 10 years leading Yelp’s product efforts. It also credited him with the recent successful integration of Yelp’s consumer- and business-focused product efforts to drive user growth and maximize the Company’s revenue generation.

“During his tenure at Yelp, Vivek has played an integral role in accelerating the diversification of our business products and enhancing our go-to-market strategies, specifically through the development of key products such as our self-serve platform, Request-A-Quote and Yelp Reservations, and the integration of Yelp’s partnership with GrubHub,” Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder and CEO of Yelp, is quoted saying in the press release.

During his career at Yelp, Patel managed the business products team, which, under his leadership, grew Yelp’s advertising products from $25 million to nearly $1 billion in revenue, the press release said.

Patel also served as Yelp’s Head of Business Products from 2011 to 2016, during which he led the development of the company’s self-serve advertising platform, business-owner mobile app, Request-A-Quote and integration of Yelp Reservations and Yelp Waitlist.

Patel also led the integration of several Yelp-acquired products and businesses, including Turnstyle, a Wi-Fi enabled marketing platform for small businesses (2017); Nowait, the restaurant waitlist app now known as Yelp Waitlist (2017); and SeatMe, Inc., now known as Yelp Reservations (2013), and the integration of Yelp’s strategic partnership with GrubHub after the sale of the Company’s Eat24 division, the company noted.

Prior to joining Yelp, Patel spent four years at SugarSync, a provider of online file backup, syncing and sharing services. Before that he worked at several companies as a software engineer and also started his own entrepreneurial ventures, the press release said.