Yashar Behzadi

Inspirer
DISC Type : di

VP, Partnerships and AI GTM at Upwork

San Francisco Bay Area, United States

Overview

Yashar Behzadi is a technology executive and three-time CEO with a Ph. D. in Bioengineering from UC San Diego. He specializes in AI product strategy, having founded Synthesis AI, a pioneering synthetic data company. At Upwork, he now leads AI go-to-market efforts and partnerships, focusing on human-AI collaboration.

Inspired by his architect parents, Yashar developed a passion for building companies and products from the ground up. He has spent over 14 years in Silicon Valley scaling data-centric technology companies in AI, IoT, and medical technology, and holds over 30 patents.

Pioneered the use of synthetic data for AI, founding a company recognized by MIT Tech Review for its breakthrough technology.

Personality Overview

Generous

Confident & Optimistic

Charming & Persuasive

They measure a product on its merit but can be influenced by strong testimonials.  They don’t mind taking a stand if they believe in something. They usually prefer to drive the conversation.

Topics They Care About

AI Go-to-Market
His current role at Upwork is focused on spearheading agentic AI go-to-market efforts and building the company's end-to-end partnerships strategy.
Human-AI Collaboration
His work at Upwork involves building the future of human and AI collaboration, a topic he frequently highlights in his professional posts and company research.
Synthetic Data
As the founder and former CEO of Synthesis AI, he is an evangelist for using synthetic data to build more capable and ethical AI.

Media Appearances

Yashar has no verified media appearances

Work History

10-2025
VP, Partnerships and AI GTM at Upwork
10-2023
DeepTech Venture Scout at Alumni Ventures
9-2019 - 10-2025
CEO, Founder at Synthesis AI
9-2017 - 9-2019
CEO at Neuromation
1-2017 - 1-2018
Chief Product Officer at Medibio Limited

Education

2003 - 2006
PhD from UC San Diego
2001 - 2003
MS from UC San Diego

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 8 Location : San Francisco Bay Area, United States Job Level : Senior Designation : VP, Partnerships and AI GTM at Upwork
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Insights For Selling To Yashar

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Clearly address the competitive aspects
  • Acknowledge their status and position during the conversation
  • Keep your pitch focused on the impact but insert some anecdotes into it

DONT's

  • Avoid focusing only on the product or its ROI, keep building trust subtly
  • Don’t be too verbose or overly friendly; a little bit, however, is fine
  • Don’t be very informal even if they are being so themselves

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Yashar is

  • Product value plays a big role, followed by relationship and a sense of achievement.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Yashar

  • If they do not firmly believe in you, they will refuse without hesitation.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Yashar move?

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

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

You And Yashar

Personality Compatibility


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