Kent Wills

Inspirer
DISC Type : di

Member, D2 LP/Advisor Network at ELC

San Francisco, California, United States

Overview

Kent Wills is an engineering leader at Yelp, where he directs the Relevance and core Consumer Experience groups, focusing on next-gen search and GenAI product integration. A University of Maryland alumnus, he actively advises for ELC, Next47, and 645 Ventures, coaches other leaders, and contributes to the broader tech community through speaking engagements.

Beyond his primary role, Kent is a US Army veteran who served as a Battalion Tactical Director in Okinawa, Japan. He is passionate about mentoring, having founded a veterans mentorship program at Yelp, and advises developers to build hobby projects to demonstrate passion and hone their skills outside of work.

He co-authored a paper on "AtmoSPHERE, " a novel system for an interactive Zen garden that represents space and movement using sand traces.

Personality Overview

Decisive

Confident & Optimistic

Achievment Oriented

They don’t mind taking a stand if they believe in something.  They respond well to objective pitches but also attach some value to relationships. They usually prefer to drive the conversation.

Topics They Care About

Consumer-Facing AI
Currently leads Yelp's efforts to integrate GenAI and natural language search into consumer products, including the recent launch of the Yelp Assistant.
Engineering Leadership
Coaches engineers and leaders, maintains a leadership reading list, and engages with networks like ELC and LeadDev to discuss topics such as AI fluency and team effectiveness.
Developer Productivity
Has a decade of experience building Yelp's developer productivity from the ground up and frequently speaks on topics like managing monoliths and making the business case for platform teams.

Media Appearances

Kent has no verified media appearances

Work History

10-2024
Member, D2 LP/Advisor Network at ELC
9-2024
Member, Executive Advisor Network at Next47
3-2025
Member, Executive Advisor Network at 645 Ventures
2-2024
Director of Engineering at Yelp
10-2019 - 2-2024
Director Of Engineering at Yelp

Education

2012 - 2014
Master of Science (MSc) from University of Maryland
2003 - 2007
B.S.E. from University of Pittsburgh

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 8 Location : San Francisco, California, United States Job Level : Junior Designation : Member, D2 LP/Advisor Network at ELC
URL has been copied!

Insights For Selling To Kent

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Get them to a point where they are ready to bat for your product internally
  • Focus on the big picture and the strategic value of your product
  • Refer to testimonials from well known people to highlight the value of your product

DONT's

  • Don’t keep repeating the same information, it could make them impatient
  • Don’t be too verbose or overly friendly; a little bit, however, is fine
  • Don't be unorganized, be prepared for the pitch

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Kent is

  • Belief in the value of the product, relationship and a sense of accomplishment matter the most.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Kent

  • They are not shy of saying no if they do not develop trust in your product.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Kent move?

  • If they develop confidence in your product and you, then they can make fast decisions.
  • Can Kent take some risk or not?

  • If necessary, they have the ability to take risky decisions.

You And Kent

Personality Compatibility


More Profiles

Discover additional public profiles from our index.

Search more profiles

Looking for someone else? Search here for anyone.

Or visit Humantic AI to know more.