Katie Li

Data Associate

There are so many complex nuances in startups and venture. I love combining data and venture to dig deeper and uncover hidden stories about founders and their companies, revealing insights others might miss.

Katie is a Data Associate at Pear. In this capacity, she brings a data-driven approach to sourcing investments and tracking talent, along with spearheading projects that support Pear’s investment team and portfolio companies.

Previously, Katie was an investor at Zetta Venture Partners in New York, where she focused on early-stage investments in enterprise AI companies and led data-driven sourcing for the firm.

Katie was born in Chengdu, China and grew up in Dallas, Texas. She graduated from Cornell University, where she studied Operations Research & Information Engineering and Computer Science. At Cornell, she spent time as an autopilot engineer working on autonomous search & rescue drones, a hackathon organizer, and a campus scout for Sequoia Capital. Katie is based in San Francisco.

What is your most used emoji?

🎉

What’s your favorite book?

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I’ve always been fascinated by dystopian/utopian worlds and futuristic tech.

What career path did you want to pursue when you were a kid?

After a middle school field trip to a local hospital, I thought I wanted to be an anesthesiologist. Years later, I realized that I liked the anesthesia machine more than the job and wanted to work with technology, so I joined my high school’s robotics team.

What are your favorite sports teams?

I feel obligated to have one since my hometown loves Texas Friday Night Lights football and has multiple alumni in the NFL, but I don’t. However, I love watching Olympics gymnastics and figure skating!

What are your hobbies outside of work?

I like to bullet journal, visit national parks (20+ and counting!), try TikTok recipes, and find FAA-approved spots to fly my drone named Nimby.

Previous Experience

Investor, Zetta Venture Partners