Zack Oates

Zack Oates is an American entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Ovation, a guest experience platform for restaurants that has raised $9 million in funding.^[5] The company, founded in 2016, serves thousands of restaurants with what Oates calls an "anti-survey" approach to customer feedback.^[3]

Before founding Ovation, Oates built and sold Imply Labs, an algorithm that translated social media data into gift recommendations, and co-founded KiLife Tech, which developed a smartband for tracking children in crowded spaces.^[1] He holds an MBA from Brigham Young University and previously worked as a customer experience consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.^[4]

Oates has been recognized by Nation's Restaurant News as one of the top 50 most influential suppliers in the restaurant industry.^[3] He hosts the "Give an Ovation" podcast, which focuses on restaurant guest experience and has produced over 200 episodes.^[7]

Oates is the son of Bart Oates, a former NFL center who won three Super Bowl rings during his career.^[1] Originally from Morristown, New Jersey, Oates learned early lessons about focus and capability from his father, who taught him "you can do anything, you can't do everything."^[1]

He served a two-year mission in Ukraine, where he supervised 120 missionaries.^[1] Oates earned a bachelor's degree in advertising before completing an MBA in business at Brigham Young University in 2015.^[4]

Early ventures (2009–2015)

Oates founded his first company, Imply Labs, in 2009 while still in school.^[1] The company developed an algorithm that translated social media data into gift recommendations and was sold in 2015.^[1] He also co-founded KiLife Tech, which created the Kiband smartband for tracking children in crowded spaces.^[1] The KiLife Tech team won $500,000 in cash and prizes at what Oates describes as "the world's biggest business competition," beating 41 competitors from top universities.^[1]

PricewaterhouseCoopers (2015–2017)

After completing his MBA, Oates worked as a customer experience consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he advised Fortune 100 companies on customer experience strategy.^[4] This role provided him with insights into enterprise-level customer experience challenges that would later inform his approach at Ovation.^[1]

Ovation (2016–present)

Oates founded Ovation in 2016 with the premise of creating an "anti-survey" approach to customer feedback.^[3] The platform uses a two-question survey system designed to be frictionless for restaurant guests while providing actionable insights for operators.^[2] The company has achieved a 99.4% customer retention rate and serves thousands of restaurants across multiple countries.^[3]

In 2021, Ovation completed a Series A funding round, bringing the company's total funding to $9 million.^[5] The platform has expanded beyond feedback collection to include AI-driven insights and real-time guest recovery capabilities.^[1]

Oates has been recognized by Nation's Restaurant News readers as one of the top 50 most influential suppliers in the restaurant industry.^[3] He was also named one of the top 100 entrepreneurs by Vspring Capital.^[1]

He hosts "Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast," which has produced over 200 episodes featuring conversations with restaurant industry leaders.^[7] Oates has also had the honor of ringing the NASDAQ bell.^[1]

Oates is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.^[4] He has traveled to 51 countries and describes himself as a hot tub aficionado.^[4] Oates wrote a book titled "Dating Never Works...Until it Does," which chronicles 100 lessons from over 1,000 dates before meeting his wife Annie.^[1]