top of page
Colin Li.png

CTO and Co-founder who scaled engineering teams and led two startups that sold for a combined valuation of ~ $300 million

  • LinkedIn

Xiaosi ‘Collin’ Li

Partner

About Me

I am a tech leader with experience in startups, Amazon, and the Chinese tech ecosystem. Combining a unique perspective as a problem solver with strong data analysis skills and product development expertise, I thrive on building and nurturing high-performing teams and turning ambitious ideas into reality. With deep experience in the startup landscape of China, I have led five startups and sold two with a combined valuation of ~ $300 million. My passion for education and development led me to found Seattle Coding Mind School, where we dive into AI and programming, providing affordable AI education for everyone. Additionally, my nonprofit, Youth Growth Network, connects students to transformative internships, helping bridge the gap between academia and the professional world. I’m also an active angel investor and enjoy advising and mentoring emerging tech leaders.

Career Highlights

Experience

Experience 

 

Executive Roles

​Amazon 

Senior Manager, Software Development (AWS and Retail)

Manager, Software Engineer (Gift Card Business)

WangCaiBao

Co-founder

LA MIU

Chief Technology Officer

Saybot

VP of Software Engineering

 

Nonprofit Board

Youth Growth Network

Board Member

I began my career with Amazon, where I pioneered the development and implementation of Amazon's first Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to address challenges posed by monolithic software, leading to enhanced software development and deployment productivity and scalability. I also launched a new payment service within 9 months, enabling processing of $20B+ annually without encountering any performance, security, or financial issues. Most notably, I built and led a high-performing team of 20+ engineers, enabling processing of $19B+ in 2007 and supporting 50% year-over-year growth of the gift card business to $400M+ in 2009. 

 

After Amazon, I returned to China, where I led and sold several startups. I conceived, built, and launched a flagship online English teaching product,Alo7. I built and led the engineering team while fostering a data- and metric-driven culture to drive continuous improvement and innovation, rapidly growing to >2M users within a 3-year timeframe. I led China's largest women's e-commerce company in 2012, LA MIU, with responsibility for product, engineering, and support teams while driving successful operations and growth of the company with a user base of 1M+ mobile users and 10M web users. I led the creation of a new smart hardware solution, WangCaiBao, targeting the small business CRM market, replacing traditional reception desk phones with Android-based devices, and integrating CRM and marketing software. I oversaw two hardware releases within the first year that resulted in 1000+ subscriptions in the second year. I later returned to Amazon to spearhead, hire, and lead a team for the incubation of new initiatives for their retail business, resulting in the launch of new shopping programs that included Amazon Move and Custom Furniture, generating  >$100 million in revenue within the first 2 years. I also led a team of 70+ engineers in launching ACM Private Certificate Authority while expanding existing product offerings.

Techquity Solutions

I am passionate about collaborating with companies to grow and scale engineering teams and mentor emerging tech leaders. Drawing from my experience with startups and large organizations, as well as my expertise in the Chinese tech ecosystem, I advise companies with a customer-focused philosophy to prioritize quality, explore opportunities, and enjoy the journey. I also thrive on fostering opportunities for tech education within the nonprofit arena.

Innovation & Impact

  • Developed numerous products and services at Amazon, including one-click purchasing and gift card platform

  • Named on a patent for a workflow service at Amazon

  • Led two startups that sold for a combined valuation of ~ $300 million

  • Founded Youth Growth Network, a non-profit placing high school students in tech internships

Why Techquity?

I am a problem solver focused on product, customer, and market challenges. After years of working with startup companies or startups within a large organization, I was drawn to Techquity because of their approach to working on interesting projects that matter with clients looking to make an impact. Techquity also offers me an opportunity to help clients with my unique tech perspective and background, bringing expertise for navigating startups in the Chinese marketplace.

  • LinkedIn
bottom of page