Stayzilla ropes in former Twitter director Pankaj Gupta as CPO and President of Tech

Stayzilla has hired Pankaj Gupta as Chief Product Officer and President of Technology. Pankaj was most recently at Twitter in San Francisco where he joined as an early employee and led the Personalization and Recommendations team. He and his team were behind many of Twitter’s successful search, discovery, and other data products and technologies across web and mobile. Yogendra Vasupal, Co-founder and CEO, Stayzilla, says, “We are delighted to have Pankaj join us at Stayzilla. Pankaj brings with him years of experience leading product and technology for a platform built around a huge community. With Stayzilla’s growth in homestays and community-based hosting, we could not have found a better person or time for him to lead our Product and Technology." Pankaj Gupta adds, “I’m excited to be working with Yogi and Stayzilla wherein I can put my passion for innovation and building consumer products together. I look forward to working with a great team on this amazing opportunity.” Before Twitter, Pankaj has founded two startups that were both acquired. He has a Ph.D. from Stanford University in Computer Science, and an undergraduate from IIT Delhi where he stood first in the Dept. of Computer Science. He has published more than 30 papers and holds more than 20 patents. Pankaj will be shifting base from San Francisco to join Stayzilla at their Bengaluru office.