Diane Yu is the co-founder and CEO of TidalWave, an agentic AI mortgage startup. Tidalwave uses AI to solve critical inefficiencies in the mortgage process for both borrowers and lenders. By leveraging AI, Tidalwave aims to reduce costs, improve accessibility, and accelerate loan approvals. Tidalwave addresses the outdated, manual-heavy mortgage process by making it faster, more affordable, and more accessible for all parties involved.
Before TidalWave, Diane Yu was the chief technology officer for Better, a digital mortgage company, from January 2021 to April 2022. At Better, Diane Yu led the company’s platform and technology strategy, was responsible for upscaling the engineering teams as well as the purposely built platform, driving toward a mission to create innovative solutions making homeownership faster and simpler with superior customer service along the way. In this capacity, she worked closely with the founder, board members and the rest of the exec team, defined the company growth and transformation strategy, implemented and deployed tech solutions, leading the path via tech innovation.
Prior to that, Diane Yu served as the chief technology officer for Comcast Advertising as well as the co-founder of FreeWheel, A Comcast Company. In this capacity, Diane led the architecture and operation of FreeWheel’s video monetization platform, with oversight of a global engineering team spanning the Americas, Europe and China. Diane also oversaw the engineering operations and complete lifecycle product development, and led organizational and high level technical architecture design.
Diane came to Comcast via acquisition of the company she co-founded, FreeWheel. As co-founder and CTO of FreeWheel, she built and evolved the company’s research and development hubs from ground up, architected and created what was known as the most advanced adTech platform purposely designed and built for premium TV in the industry, serving global media conglomerates for their most complex and advanced advertising needs.
Diane has been a vocal champion for female leadership, with years of continuous efforts and determination, she has created a team that 30 percent of whom are female engineers, reflecting Diane’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Formerly with DoubleClick/Google, Diane played a critical role in architecting and managing the development of the company’s advertising product suite, including DART ad serving and big data processing, Motif/Rich Media, Advertiser (DFA) and Search Performics, while leading engineering teams across DoubleClick’s global offices.
Diane is a frequent honoree by Cablefax as one of its “Most Powerful Women” and “Most Influential Minorities” in the media industry, was named 2021 working mothers of the year by She Runs It.
Diane serves on the board of directors for Magnite (Nasdaq: MGNI) since March 2022.
Connect with Diane on LinkedIn
Interview questions:
TidalWave | TidalWave is focused on using AI as a white box for mortgage lenders. Can you provide an introduction to TidalWave and how the company is incorporating AI?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac | How did you get approval for TidalWave to be integrated into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
Borrowers | How is SOLO making it easier for borrowers?
Loan Officers | What impact is SOLO having on loan officers? How does it reduce staffing needs?
Technology | Can you explain how your technology is closer to White Box? How is your AI co-pilot Solo working with the consumer? How does this compare with legacy lender technology?
Security | How are you incorporating security into your solution?
Better.com | You recently served as the Chief Technology Officer of the mortgage disruptor Better.com How did that experience incubate the launch of TidalWave?
Capital | Where is TidalWave in fundraising?
FreeWheel | In 2014, you sold the video ad-serving platformFreeWheel to Comcast for $360 million. Can you share some highlights of that entrepreneurial journey?
Growth | What are the growth plans for TidalWave?
We knew there had to be a better solution to the challenges of the Mortgage industry – a tech solution creating consistency and ease for lenders and consumers.
There’s always been human bias at play when it comes to getting a loan, and an approval has never been transparent to the end consumer. We want to change that.
We seek to create an AI-based game changer in a stagnating industry – something that puts the lender at the forefront and in control.
TidalWave can drastically transform your business on multiple fronts. By creating equity and transparency for end consumers, as well as building consistency and lowering costs for lenders, we can effectively reshape the mortgage industry on the back of our super-strong AI engine.
Together, let’s reinvent lending.
Recent Blogs: https://www.tidalwave.ai/blog
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