Chi-Kai Chien

Enthusiast
DISC Type : i

VP, Engineering at Pave

San Francisco Bay Area, United States

Overview

Chi-Kai is a hands-on engineering leader with a Ph. D. from UC Irvine, skilled in scaling teams from startups to large tech companies. He specializes in AI, data, and SaaS innovation, focusing on aligning technology with business goals and solving customer pain points. Colleagues describe him as an inspiring, innovative, and detail-oriented manager.

He founded Literal, a B2B SaaS startup described as “Figma meets Mixpanel, ” which visually analyzes mobile app user flows for product and design teams.

Personality Overview

Amiable & Agreeable

Optimistic

Story Driven

They are generally friendly, so be careful when relying on their word.  Unlike D or C types, they are convinced more by stories and testimonials. They are more about building relationships than just cutting deals.

Topics They Care About

AI & ML Innovation
He has led teams in advancing ML and generative AI features at both Pave and Calm, including building embedding-based recommendation systems and ML models for predicting user behavior.
B2B SaaS Products
As the founder and CEO of Literal, a B2B SaaS startup, he was heavily involved in product development, including writing core frontend code and creating Figma/Miro plugins.
Scaling Engineering Teams
His career highlights building and growing high-performing engineering, product, and data teams from small groups to organizations with hundreds of members at companies like Pave and Calm.

Media Appearances

Chi-Kai has no verified media appearances

Work History

3-2025
VP, Engineering at Pave
6-2023 - 2-2025
VP, Engineering at Calm
1-2019 - 6-2023
Founder & CEO at Literal
11-2017 - 12-2018
Head of Data at CareZone
8-2015 - 10-2017
GM, Pharmacy at CareZone

Education

Ph.D. from UC Irvine
B.S. from The Johns Hopkins University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 14 Location : San Francisco Bay Area, United States Job Level : Senior Designation : VP, Engineering at Pave
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Insights For Selling To Chi-Kai

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Maintain high, positive energy and convey confidence
  • Refer to interesting customer testimonials and stress on great customer experience
  • Compliment them about their personality if you get a chance

DONT's

  • Don’t ask too many questions in one go, weave them into the flow
  • Don’t be too formal with them, they trust informality more
  • Don't be critical or challenge them openly, they can react defensively

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Chi-Kai is

  • Relationships and rapport matter to them, but so does the value of the product.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Chi-Kai

  • They will hardly ever say a direct no.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Chi-Kai move?

  • Even when they are constantly engaged, they do not reach decisions quickly.
  • Can Chi-Kai take some risk or not?

  • If it seems really necessary, they can take small risks.

You And Chi-Kai

Personality Compatibility


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