Meet William Siyuan Li | Incoming Technology Investment Banker @ Citi and Partner @ Crescent Fund

We had the good fortune of connecting with William Siyuan Li and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi William Siyuan, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
The power of a cold call.

Every morning, I wake up to a conversation with a stranger. Since freshman year, I’ve spoken with 200 strangers from various walks of life. Investment bankers, venture capitalists, professors, founders, the list goes on.

I never know what to expect.

Some conversations are mechanical, some go exactly the way I expect. Yet, every once in a while, a conversation comes along that makes my day. And, if I’m really lucky, a conversation will come along that changes my life.

I want to take this opportunity to share one of my favorite conversations.

My first taste of the power of a cold call came from a conversation with Josh, an MBA student at UCLA Anderson and founder of Tech Startup BLCK UNICRN.

Prior to our call, I had been searching for a summer internship for months to no avail. I had applied to over 100 places on linkedin, handshake, and every other job site. I scoured the internet, tailored my resume, and applied to everything from accountant to data engineer. Nothing. Then, one day, I stumbled upon Josh’s linkedin profile and decided to send him a cold email.

Days later, we hopped on a 30 minute zoom call. I voiced my fascination with Josh’s startup BLCK UNICRN, an immersive music experience platform. I had worked on several immersive projects in Montreal and we really bonded over our shared passion for immersive spaces and creative fan engagement. By the end of the call, Josh asked me to join the team as a summer intern.

I went into the call with no expectations, yet I left with a fantastic conversation and the ideal summer internship.

I would go on to join Josh’s team as a corporate relations and immersive design intern. That summer, Josh entrusted me to pitch BLCK UNICRN at LA Tech Week in front of 300+ investors and help design the first flagship location. I loved my experience and went on to recommend many more interns to the team.

Josh would later introduce me to a great number of conversations, connecting me with amazing professors and researchers. Shoutout to Josh, I am beyond grateful for his continued support, and for chatting with a freshman with limited experience but a passionate heart.

Cold calling has become a habit. The power of a cold call lies in its unlimited potential. The best calls leave you with new perspectives, new questions, and new opportunities.

Most importantly, they lead to many more new calls.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a kid, I really struggled to find my passion.

What do you want to be when you grow up? This age-old question always tugged at the back of my mind, waiting to be answered.

Everyone around me seemed to have it all figured out. Amongst my friends, there were determined future surgeons, politicians, rappers, and professional BMXers.

I admired my older sister, a bold and creative movie director. Even my little brother, who as a 12 year old, seemed so determined to become an architect.

To me, a passion is like a superpower, one that drives us to reach beyond our limits and accomplish amazing feats. Without my passion, I felt powerless, like Peter Parker without the spider bite, or flash without his speed.

I was determined to find my spark, and it shaped me to become a very explorative and experimental person.

Was I an athlete? I tried fencing, swimming, and basketball.
Was I a man in STEM? I stumbled through robotics, coding, and engineering.
Or, was I a politician? I practiced debate, mock trial, and model united nations.

Safe to say, whilst I enjoyed and grew to perform well in a variety of these things, nothing really clicked.

I grew to realize two key things: 1) not everyone will have a singular defined passion and that’s ok. 2) Not all passions are tangible defined careers.

When I stopped trying to look for the singular click, I started to love many of my ventures. I found passion in the thrill of the competition and in the joy of meeting like minded individuals.

Coming to college at UCLA, I knew I faced a new exploration. As a public school with limited resources and a ton of people, you have to climb to the top of the pyramid to gain access to the best resources.

Yet, I didn’t want to climb the pyramid in a conventional way.

As a Chinese international student, I was told from the get go that it’s extremely hard to find success. We need job sponsorship, do not fit into any diversity criterias, and face social and communication barriers. This was most prominent in finance, a world dominated by the WEIRD.

My freshman fall, over 1000 kids applied to the top 4 investment banking clubs, only 40 received offers, I was the only Chinese international student.

All my previous explorations gave me a distinct advantage. It gave me the ability to bond with a wide spectrum of people with any passions. In coffee chats, I built connections over talking about my love for fencing and robotics, and piqued interest by sharing my travels across South East Asia.

In the same vein, when official banking recruiting began, I found it very intuitive. Whilst many people dreaded the dozens of networking calls, I viewed every call as an exploration. Every call was an opportunity to learn about something new, whether it was insights on a new M&A deal, or tips to navigate the current technology fundraising environment.

Banking recruitment was the opposite of smooth, and I experienced major downs as I failed to convert my first two superdays. Yet, instead of letting myself be defeated, I asked myself, would it be okay if I didn’t get any offers from this cycle? Upon reflection, I realized that the answer was yes. The voice in the back of my head rang clear – “you didn’t do this for the offer”.

A week later, I successfully ended the recruiting season with three offers. I ended up accepting an offer with a 1 in 10,000 acceptance rate.

My identity as an explorer is my passion. Experimentation is my superpower.

What do I want to be when I grow up? I still don’t know the exact answer, but I know that I will never stop being an explorer and love every step of the process.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would start the day bright and early in the beautiful neighborhood of Brentwood. As the quiet sister of Westwood and Beverly Hills, Brentwood is truly one of LA’s hidden gems. It’s a paradise for morning strolls, with quiet streets surrounded by luscious trees and beautiful gardens.

One of my favorite things to do is house seeing. Two blocks away, we enter a world of beautiful, unique houses with designs so distinct you almost feel like you know the homeowner. My favorites are the Zen Tea House nestled in the trees, and the “witches” house, a cozy cottage surrounded by mystic flowers. I know that you’ll find a house that speaks to you.

After our stroll, we would head to Sawtelle, a vibrant neighborhood with a thriving Japanese American community and busy restaurants. We’ll start our culinary experience at Sushi Tsujita which offers an amazing omakase menu and overflowing sake. You’ll love the owner, a cheerful and spirited Japanese uncle. After we’ve savored the sashima and nigiri, we will head to Millet Crepe for a sweet dessert. Trust me, the long lines are worth it.

With all that food in our stomachs, we need to find a way to work it off. In the afternoon, I’d bring you to John Wooden Center, my favorite spot at UCLA. Between the beautiful indoor basketball courts, climbing wall, and massive gym, Wooden is the best playground. We can enjoy a couple pick up basketball games and hit a quick bench session, turning food into gains!

Finally, although we aren’t in China, LA’s diverse food offerings brings home to us. We can’t miss out on San Gabriel, the single greatest spot for authentic Chinese food. I’ll teach you the Chinese traditional tile game of Mah Jong. With a couple friends, we’ll fight to make the best combinations. May the best player win! At night, we’ll wrap up the day over a couple beers and barbecue at Little Skewer in Monterey Park. If we get lucky, we might even catch a live performance.

LA is a city far from my home in China, over 7000+ miles away. Yet, every single one of these spots have made it feel like home. I hope that through this day trip, you will feel the warmth of my home away from home.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mom and I have a unique relationship. We have similar eyes, similar lips, and similar brains. In many ways, we are spitting images of each other.

There’s an old chinese adage that goes, “一山容不下二虎: a single mountain cannot house two tigers. We are like two tigers in the household, driven by bold opinions, stubborn attitudes, and a relentless determination to achieve our goals. As a result, our dynamic wasn’t always harmonious.

I wasn’t very close to my mom growing up. She worked long hours and went on frequent business trips. Most months, I would only see her twice or three times in between business trips.

It wasn’t until COVID hit that our relationship took a turn. As my family traveled to New Zealand for winter vacation, the pandemic hit our home in China. A 10 day vacation transformed into a month-long trip as we avoided the pandemic, traversing across all of New Zealand. For a full month, we lived together, booked travel plans together, and cooked together. It was the longest time we had spent in each other’s continuous company since I could remember.

During that trip, I discovered my mom’s vulnerable side. She told me stories of her upbringing through the culturally turbulent times of China. She shared her insecurities and struggles through countless nights of stories, revealing a new side I had never seen before.

I learned of her struggles as a woman doing business in China and the glass ceiling she faced in the workplace. When she first joined the family business, she was only known as the wife of my dad. Now, she is the CEO of a thousand-employee public firm, leading the company to a brighter future. Despite all her accomplishments, it took her over a decade to gain genuine recognition.

Learning about her story helped me forgive her for the times that she wasn’t perfect in my childhood.

I grew up thinking that she was invincible and faulted her for our distant relationship. Yet, despite all the challenges she faced, she never levied those burdens on me. We grew closer than ever before.

Mom, thank you for helping me realize that nobody is invincible, even you, and that vulnerability does not make us weak. Thank you for teaching me how to be a true leader, one that is open to trusting others and accepting of our own insecurities.

This shoutout goes to my mom. A woman who is fearless, capable, and never takes no for an answer.

You are my role model.

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamsyli/

Other: email: williamlisy@outlook.com, feel free to reach out!