Zara Zhang

Critic
DISC Type : C

Building AI product at ByteDance

San Jose, California, United States

Overview

Zara Zhang builds AI-powered products at ByteDance, leveraging her experience in venture capital and go-to-market strategy. A Harvard graduate, she previously worked as a TMT investment analyst at GGV Capital across their US and China offices and led marketing for ByteDances enterprise SaaS product, Lark. She holds a Japanese N1 proficiency certification.

Passionate about technology storytelling, Zara is a prolific content creator who launched and co-hosted the globally recognized "996" podcast on US-China tech. A language enthusiast fluent in Japanese and French, she also holds a Licentiate in Violin Performance and enjoys exploring different cultures, particularly through food and travel.

She co-hosted the worlds most listened-to English podcast on tech in China.

Personality Overview

Precise

Information Seeker

Critic

It is very likely that they will negotiate pricing or other important terms.  Unless the value is proven by data, they are unlikely to value fancy features. They prefer to do logical analysis and value evidence over emotions.

Topics They Care About

AI Product Development
Currently focused on building new LLM-based applications at ByteDance, with a specific interest in AI for learning and content creation.
Technology Storytelling
A self-proclaimed passion, demonstrated by creating the popular "996" podcast and writing extensively on technology trends and cross-cultural collaboration.
Cross-Border Tech
Her career spans roles in both the US and China, including focusing on cross-border TMT investments at GGV Capital and her work at the global company ByteDance.

Media Appearances

Side projects > everything else - ByteDance’s Zara Zhang. Featured in Job Hunting UX

See Now

Work History

1-2024
Building AI product at ByteDance
8-2023 - 1-2024
Head of US Marketing (Enterprise SaaS product) at ByteDance
1-2020 - 1-2024
Product Marketing Lead (Enterprise SaaS product) at ByteDance
9-2019 - 1-2020
Business Development (Enterprise SaaS product) at ByteDance
5-2019 - 9-2019
PMO, Efficiency & Services at ByteDance

Education

8-2013 - 5-2017
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Harvard University
1-2011 - 1-2013
Education details unavailable from Raffles Institution

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 11 Location : San Jose, California, United States Job Level : N/A Designation : Building AI product at ByteDance
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Insights For Selling To Zara

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Keep some extra margin while sharing pricing, they are likely to negotiate later
  • Be ready to answer many clarity-seeking questions and requests for information
  • If you can, show them industry reports or analyst comments instead of sharing anecdotal stories

DONT's

  • Don’t try too hard to build a relationship with them
  • Don't give superficial answers, they are easily rattled by them
  • Don’t try to give too many examples of other users, they like to make their own decisions

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Zara is

  • Strong evidence of ROI, effective pricing, and proven data points matter the most to them.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Zara

  • It is not very hard for them to say no if they are not convinced about the decision.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Zara move?

  • Their decision-making is neither very fast nor very slow, they are somewhere in between.
  • Can Zara take some risk or not?

  • They can take risks if their analysis shows that it would be worth it.

You And Zara

Personality Compatibility


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