# Jonathan Taylor

> Jonathan “JT” Taylor is the Houston-based co-founder and chief executive of Zoovu. A software engineer turned enterprise technology leader, he spent nearly eight years as Zoovu's CTO before becoming CEO in January 2026. His career has centered on a deceptively stubborn problem: turning unruly product catalogs into structured knowledge that can help people choose what to buy.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer, Director, and Co-Founder at Zoovu
- **Organizations:** Zoovu, Actito (formerly SmartFocus), AGT International, IntraLinks, Tata Consultancy Services, Sentillian, 3i-MIND
- **Education:** BSc (Hons), Software Engineering and Computer Science, Durham University
- **Known for:** Helped evolve Zoovu from a guided-selling product into an enterprise AI search and discovery platform., Led Zoovu's product organization as CTO while working with global B2B and B2C customers including Microsoft, Bosch, Canon and Dyson., Oversaw product initiatives including Advisor Studio, the Zoe shopping assistant and governed product knowledge for AI agents.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2014** — Held technology and architecture roles associated with Tata Consultancy Services, IntraLinks, AGT International, Sentillian and 3i-MIND, working across software, real-time interaction and personalization.
- **2014-2018** — Served as Chief Technology Officer of SmartFocus, later part of Actito.
- **2018-2025** — Co-founded Zoovu and served as Chief Technology Officer, leading product and technology as the business expanded from guided selling into AI search and product discovery.
- **2022** — Helped guide Zoovu through a growth chapter that included $169 million in funding led by FTV Capital.
- **2023** — Presented Zoovu's approach to product-data management and oversaw the launch of Advisor Studio, a generative-AI solution for ecommerce.
- **2026** — Became Chief Executive Officer of Zoovu effective January 1; in May, Zoovu acquired XGEN AI to combine search, recommendations, personalization and guided discovery.

## Achievements

- Helped evolve Zoovu from a guided-selling product into an enterprise AI search and discovery platform.
- Led Zoovu's product organization as CTO while working with global B2B and B2C customers including Microsoft, Bosch, Canon and Dyson.
- Oversaw product initiatives including Advisor Studio, the Zoe shopping assistant and governed product knowledge for AI agents.
- Became Zoovu's CEO effective January 1, 2026 after nearly eight years with the company.
- Led Zoovu through its 2026 acquisition of XGEN AI, creating a combined platform for search, recommendations, personalization and conversational discovery.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Zoovu acquired XGEN AI; Taylor described the combined business as one AI-native engine for search, recommendations, personalization, guided selling and conversational discovery.
- **2026-03** — Taylor argued that brands should own and govern their AI shopping-assistant experiences, ground answers in trusted product data and begin with focused use cases.
- **2026-01** — Taylor became Zoovu's chief executive, succeeding James Novak, after serving as co-founder and CTO.
- **2025-04** — Published an essay on ecommerce personalization and Zoovu's ontology-based assistant, Zoe.

## Links

- Website: https://zoovu.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-edward-taylor

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jonathan-taylor
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27