Kevin Gao

Observer
DISC Type : ic

Head of Platform Engineering at Sierra

San Francisco Bay Area, United States

Overview

Kevin Gao is the Head of Platform Engineering at Sierra, leveraging his experience as a Senior Staff Engineer at both Slack and Quip. A Duke University engineering graduate, he specializes in building scalable, high-availability cloud platforms and has co-authored a patent in this area.

Kevin frequently expresses gratitude for his teams work, publicly celebrating their milestones and collaborative efforts. He emphasizes shipping reliability and performance as key customer-facing features, showing a deep commitment to both his team and the end-user experience.

He recently spoke at the Cloud Security Alliance’s first Agentic AI Security Summit, presenting on the topic of securing AI agents.

Personality Overview

Value Driven

Curious

Example Seeker

They often ask many questions and rely heavily on information and documentation.  They are generally strong communicators and are not easy to convince. They can sound friendly and charming but can quickly change gears to become inquisitive and probing.

Topics They Care About

Securing AI Agents
Presented at the Cloud Security Alliance's Agentic AI Security Summit, demonstrating active thought leadership in the security implications of emerging AI technologies.
Platform Reliability
Holds a patent for high-availability architecture and publicly praises team members for focusing on shipping reliability and performance as customer features.
Team Collaboration
Frequently and publicly praises his team's achievements and expresses gratitude for his colleagues, highlighting a focus on a positive and collaborative work environment.

Media Appearances

Kevin has no verified media appearances

Work History

5-2023
Head of Platform Engineering at Sierra
7-2021 - 5-2023
Senior Staff Engineer at Slack
10-2020 - 5-2023
Senior Staff Engineer at Quip
1-2020 - 5-2023
Group Technical Lead at Quip
10-2019 - 10-2020
Software Engineering Architect at Quip

Education

2009 - 2013
Bachelor of Engineering (BE) from Duke University
2005 - 2009
Education details unavailable from Neuqua Valley High School

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 8 Location : San Francisco Bay Area, United States Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Head of Platform Engineering at Sierra
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Insights For Selling To Kevin

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Share testimonials from known people and give multiple examples of product value
  • Help them realize that there is no personal risk in making this decision
  • Invite them for a social do but don’t rely solely on the relationship

DONT's

  • Avoid making offhand commitments
  • Don’t be too objective but make sure to pad your storytelling with data points
  • Don’t brush off any concerns, take all questions seriously

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Kevin is

  • Clear proof of product value matters to them, followed by others' testimonials and rapport.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Kevin

  • They are practical yet friendly, don’t expect a clear no very often.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Kevin move?

  • They like to analyze well and then make their decisions.
  • Can Kevin take some risk or not?

  • They systematically evaluate all decisions and are unlikely to take many risks.

You And Kevin

Personality Compatibility


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