Li Liu

Questioner
DISC Type : c

Director of Engineering at Zilliz

Redwood City, California, United States

Overview

Li Liu is the Director of Engineering at Zilliz, where he leads the development of the Milvus vector database. His expertise spans vector search, distributed systems, and stream processing for advertising platforms. He holds a Masters degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

He has a keen interest in the future evolution of vector databases, exploring characteristics beyond their current applications in probabilistic search.

He once solved a complex debugging challenge by analyzing a memory address that appeared to be noise but was actually a reversed string, revealing the root cause.

Personality Overview

Value Seeker

Not Easily Convinced

Cautious & Analytical

It is quite likely of them to ask for pricing or other concessions.  They generally do not appreciate an overfriendly approach and prefer to stay to-the-point. While they don't hesitate to ask questions, they are generally risk-averse and tend to be late adopters.

Topics They Care About

Vector Databases
As the engineering lead for the Milvus project, he actively contributes to and writes about the future development and unique characteristics of vector database technology.
Sparse Vector Search
He recently authored a blog series discussing the application of sparse vectors and models to improve the quality of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems.
Distributed Systems
His background includes building stream processing frameworks and troubleshooting complex issues in distributed engines, highlighting his expertise in large-scale system architecture.

Media Appearances

Podcast: Using AI to Supercharge Data‑Driven Applications with Zilliz. Featured in Zilliz Blog

See Now

Work History

10-2024
Director of Engineering at Zilliz
8-2023 - 10-2024
Principal Software Engineer at Zilliz
5-2022 - 8-2023
Staff Software Engineer at Zilliz
12-2021 - 5-2022
Senior Software Engineer at Meta
6-2020 - 12-2021
Software Engineer at Meta

Education

2017 - 2018
Master from Carnegie Mellon University
2016 - 2017
Education details unavailable from Carnegie Mellon University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 7 Location : Redwood City, California, United States Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Director of Engineering at Zilliz
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Insights For Selling To Li

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Emphasize on objective proof of ROI, help them do a thorough evaluation
  • Tell them that you will come back if you don’t have a good answer for a question
  • Keep some extra margin in hand as they will likely negotiate the pricing

DONT's

  • Don’t depend too much on anecdotal evidence, it reduces their confidence
  • Avoid phrases like ‘do not worry about’, ‘no one compares to’ etc.
  • Don’t overhype the product/pitch, keep it measured

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Li is

  • Ensuring that the product delivers ROI, cost-effective pricing and process compliance are very important for them.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Li

  • It doesn’t come naturally to them but they can say no if they are not convinced.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Li move?

  • If they have the information that they need, they can move fast at making their decisions.
  • Can Li take some risk or not?

  • They can take risk if they are convinced that they have analyzed the circumstances well.


You And Li

Personality Compatibility


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