With over ten years of equity investment experience and eight years of fund management experience, she has worked in the software and education merger industries for six years and the manufacturing industry for three years. She is one of the founding and managing partners of the InnoAngel Fund in Guangzhou and Zhongshan, a well-known figure in China’s venture capital industry, and was selected as one of the “80 Risk Investors Born in the 1980s” in China.
Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, a large-scale city and the only national center city in South China and the core city of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is where Li Xiaoli’s career began. This city was also the most important station in her academic career. She graduated with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from one of the Project 211 universities in China, Jinan University in Guangzhou.
With a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in business administration, Li’s comprehensive knowledge gives her a keen insight into the science and technology industry and market operations beyond that of ordinary people. She has invested in notable start-up projects in the chip and new materials industries, such as Ruishi CreatChip, Mankewei, Yuanwei Electronics, Zuo Lan Microelectronics, and Tuan Yuan Composites, as in leading companies in the information industry such as RuoG Data, Tanjia, and Yinyun. Her rich investment experience has earned her various awards, including the Pencil Road’s Top 30 Young Investment People Influencing the Times in 2019, the Uncommon Business Excellent Investor Award for under 40s in 2018, the 80 Risk Investors Born in the 1980s of the China Mergers & Acquisitions Association in 2016-2017, and the 2016 EO New Investor Award. These awards are not only a recognition of her abilities but also a starting point for her to constantly reach new heights in life.
As an 80s risk investor with rich practical experience and international experience in fundraising, investment, management, and exit, she now focuses more on global technological innovation and China’s domestic substitution strategy in emerging industries. She has independently operated two angel investment funds with a scale of over 100 million yuan, one in Guangzhou, the only national center city in South China, and the other in Zhongshan, the hometown of Sun Yat-sen, the great pioneer of China’s democratic revolution.
Risk investment is long-term work, and Li Xiaoli is a long-term adherent. To retrospectively analyze the successful investment projects behind her, three key factors are crucial:
- Insight into the international and domestic macro environment. When the structural, institutional environment and macro policies are conducive to industrial development, investors can also go with the flow.
- A deep understanding of industry know-how can enable a scientific analysis of a specific industry.
- It is essential to clearly understand one’s own ability boundaries, knowledge structure, learning ability, and self-practice experience.
Li Xiaoli particularly emphasizes that risk investors should have a continuous zero-based mentality, actively learning from people who hold different opinions from yours. Especially in fundraising, investment, management, and exit of the fund, a determination is essential to drive the development of venture capital projects and force entrepreneurial teams and individuals to keep asking questions, exploring the unknown, and improving investment accuracy.
Regarding balancing risk and profitability in venture capital, Li Xiaoli believes that in the long run, it ultimately depends on the underlying values. Without the support of values, venture capital is easily affected by various short-term factors. Therefore, every major decision you make reflects your underlying values.
Li Xiaoli believes that a comprehensive analysis is needed for the differences in the investment environment between China and the United States. China’s technological innovation has the push of national will, a large enough market space, and the return of international talent. Innovation and entrepreneurship are entering an unprecedented period of rapid development. She gave an example that in 2020, the country completed poverty alleviation, and the permanent population of county-level cities and districts exceeded 250 million people. The pursuit of high-quality life by the people provides vast opportunities for county-level commercial opportunities alone. The huge and multi-level consumer market is a unique advantage and opportunity for China’s venture capital.
“America’s tolerance for innovation and the consensus on commercial civilization rules are worth learning from.” However, Li Xiaoli believes that there are differences in the historical development, institutional environment and policy support, and talent factors of the investment environment between China and the United States. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis is needed to make the correct investment choices in suitable environments.
Regarding how to choose investment directions, Li Xiaoli summarized from her own experience that communication with entrepreneurs and industry experts, reading patents and journals, and participating in representative industry exhibitions are necessary to enrich one’s knowledge and establish cognition constantly. Investment is a practical discipline, and sufficient learning and practice are necessary to hedge the uncertainty of investment.
Regarding the core elements and challenges for management institutions to achieve long-lasting success, Li Xiaoli believes that the core element of long-lasting success for management institutions is talent. The real investment talent the industry needs must have sufficient industrial accumulation, correct values, and experience in cycles. The structure of industry cognition and knowledge is a necessary factor for supporting an investor in making scientific decisions. Correct values can keep investors clear-headed when facing interference and adhere to long-term goals. In addition, experience in cycles can enable investors to use reverse thinking better.
Regarding the challenges of achieving long-lasting success for management institutions, Li Xiaoli believes that a flexible mechanism for interest distribution is the most realistic and practical problem. Furthermore, an effective incentive mechanism can make the team more cohesive and is also the core factor supporting the team to improve its combat effectiveness. Therefore, she emphasizes the need to design a good interest distribution and incentive mechanism in team management.
With rich practical experience and a strong passion for innovation investment, Li Xiaoli, a post-80s venture capitalist, is constantly climbing new heights in her life. Accompanying her are strong curiosity and an open, constantly learning mindset.
