Yiwei Zhao

Judge
DISC Type : Dc

Strategy & Business Operations Lead at RoboForce

San Francisco, California, United States

Overview

Yiwei is the Strategy & Business Operations Lead at RoboForce, focusing on Physical AI. With a background in machine learning and AI/ML data operations at Apple and Cruise, he combines deep technical expertise with business strategy, holding an MBA from Harvard and a Certified Scrum Product Owner certification.

Outside of his direct professional roles, Yiwei is deeply involved in fostering community and innovation. He actively participates in the Harvard Business School alumni network, helping to organize events and facilitate a new venture competition for the APAC region, connecting founders with investors.

He was instrumental in facilitating the 2025 Harvard Business School Alumni New Venture Competition in the APAC region.

Personality Overview

Fast But Wary

Generally Skeptic

Features Driven

They are not focused on building rapport and relationships.  They like to act fast and expect others to do the same. They like to be in a position where they can control the conversation and terms.

Topics They Care About

Physical AI
Currently serves as the Strategy & Business Operations Lead at RoboForce, a company focused on building scalable "Robo-Labor" for industrial applications.
ML Operations
At Cruise, he was responsible for productionizing Machine Learning Operations (ML Ops) and managing complex data pipelines for computer vision models.
Alumni Engagement
He is passionate about his alumni community, having helped host HBS Club events in Shanghai and facilitated the HBS New Venture Competition in APAC.

Media Appearances

Yiwei has no verified media appearances

Work History

3-2026
Strategy & Business Operations Lead at RoboForce
9-2024 - 12-2025
Product Strategy at Airwallex
2-2024 - 6-2024
Developer Marketing & Strategy at Zilliz
5-2023 - 8-2023
Strategy & Ops, Machine Learning Platform & Infrastructure at Apple
12-2020 - 5-2022
Senior Product Manager, AI/ML Data Operations at Cruise

Education

8-2022 - 5-2024
Master of Business Administration - MBA from Harvard Business School
2012 - 2016
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Brown University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 8 Location : San Francisco, California, United States Job Level : Middle Designation : Strategy & Business Operations Lead at RoboForce
URL has been copied!

Insights For Selling To Yiwei

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Hold your ground without indulging in one-upmanship
  • Objectively showcase the impact that your product creates
  • Speak about competitive differentiation that your product offers

DONT's

  • Don't try too hard to forge relationships with them
  • Don’t focus on process and rules, give the impression of being a ‘gets it done’ person
  • Do not hesitate from asking counter questions, just avoid challenging their authority

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Yiwei is

  • Confidence in impact is paramount to them, followed by a sense of achievement and ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Yiwei

  • If they decide not to go ahead, they will say no without hesitation.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Yiwei move?

  • They can take decisions very fast if you manage to convince them.
  • Can Yiwei take some risk or not?

  • The risks don’t matter much to them.

You And Yiwei

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.