Colin Li on What Internet Managers Do After Leaving Big Companies

In February 2023, Zhang Xiaojun spoke with Colin Li Kelin about the choices internet-company managers made after leaving their roles. The episode image is dated February 16, 2023.

Li argues that organizational changes and talent mobility increased after a period of rapid internet growth. He distinguishes involuntary departures, decisions to rest or invest, and active searches for opportunities in other industries.

He recounts work at P&G, Boston Consulting Group, Baidu, and Midea, followed by a venture combining consumer, internet, and biomaterials experience.

He describes Aibo Xingchen, the company he led at the time, and its aim of developing functional skin-care products using a shareholder’s biomaterials capabilities.

Asked about the departure rate, he offers a high estimate; the host asks whether it applies only to Baidu. He provides no systematic survey, so the figure should not be treated as an industry statistic.

He argues that rapid expansion left some companies with organizational redundancy that became harder to sustain as growth slowed. Companies, individuals, and roles experienced this differently.

Li recalls joining Baidu during the mobile-internet transition in 2013 and later expansion in hiring, promotions, and businesses. In his view, a larger organization does not automatically produce more innovation.

He says companies needed coordination and clear goals to prevent new projects and headcount growth from creating internal friction. This is his interpretation of his experience.

Some people leaving large companies invest; others enter cross-border commerce, consumer businesses, industrial services, manufacturing, or new technology. Li treats these as different paths, not one shared outcome.

Looking back, he sees 2015–2016 as a period when many important companies offered investment opportunities. Hindsight is easier than the choices investors faced at the time.

For employees, he identifies several periods of opportunity, including the early internet, the post-financial-crisis years, and the mobile transition. Individuals entered along different paths.

He recalls not joining the internet industry at its earliest stage but says consumer and consulting work gave him useful experience; a career choice need not be judged by one entry date alone.

P&G developed his consumer experience, consulting broadened his management view, and Baidu and Midea exposed him to different internet and manufacturing problems. He hopes to combine these experiences in his venture.

There is no universal best time to leave an industry, Li says. The question is what a person wants and whether previous experience supports the next step, not whether everyone follows the same timetable.

He believes internet growth may slow, but technology, user research, and rapid iteration can still be combined with other industries. Opportunities may be more varied and require deeper industry understanding.

He argues against reducing the combination to online marketing or transactions, favoring improvements across research, product development, supply chains, and manufacturing.

Using Shein as an example, he argues that data and algorithms can connect trend detection, supplier management, and product iteration. His description of the company’s model and speed is personal analysis, not an audit.

In his account, market feedback can inform product and production adjustments. The key is not only sales traffic but how information affects supply-chain decisions.

He summarizes three transferable capabilities: using data in decisions, continuing to innovate, and improving products through iterative work. Each still needs to fit the industry context.

He discusses content platforms connecting user signals with products and supply chains, but says industrial digitization must also reach production and research rather than stop at the consumer-facing end.

Traditional promotion paths can build experience, but he worries that excessive reliance on past success can constrain innovation. Different mechanisms and skills may create new options.

Internet managers entering traditional companies face difficulties too: resources no longer come from the old platform, industry knowledge must be learned, and existing and new teams must adapt to one another.

He says judging the other side only from one’s familiar position increases collaboration costs. Building a team together and learning from one another may make new approaches easier.

He suggests that a new team or company can sometimes create room for innovation. What matters is not which industry members came from but whether technology, experience, and execution fit together.

On managers becoming founders, he says they must distinguish personal capability from the resources of their former platform and rebuild products, teams, and partnerships.

Running a business brings autonomy as well as constraints: founders answer to customers, investors, teams, and partners and must continually build resources and confidence.

Li says both managers and founders can find fulfillment, depending on personal motivation. He cites Midea executive Fang Hongbo when discussing the development of professional managers.

He says succession requires long-term development and selection rather than a last-minute search when a founder leaves. Companies must consider internal growth, outside experience, and continuing innovation.

Moving from leading a division to leading a group requires a broader understanding of the value chain, organization, and stakeholders. Previous results show only part of a candidate’s potential.

He compares management approaches: traditional firms often emphasize execution and hierarchy, while internet firms place more emphasis on iteration and collaboration. He acknowledges differences among companies.

He argues that user experience and new technology can complement manufacturing capability, and that industrial upgrading must cover research, products, production, and supply chains, not only promotion.

Comparing manager compensation from personal observation, he predicts internet and traditional industries may converge. The high-income examples he cites are exceptional cases, not typical pay levels.

Looking ahead from 2023, he favors consumer businesses with research capability, industrial digitization, and applications of new technology. This was a judgment at the time, not a guarantee of returns or economic performance.

He sees AI’s generality as a reason it could enter many industries, but says actual opportunities depend on whether it solves specific product and industry needs.

He expresses optimism about the economy and career opportunities while acknowledging the difficulty of prediction. His advice to younger people is to keep learning and innovating while taking time to understand an industry or product.

He thinks some investors value teams with industry experience because improving research, manufacturing, and supply chains requires deep knowledge; experience does not guarantee startup success.

Meeting former internet colleagues, he observes conversations shifting from investing to more direct participation in operating businesses and building teams. This reflects his circle, not the whole industry.

The conversation ends with parenting. Li shares different choices among families he knows and says parents should respect a child’s individuality and provide room to explore, rather than assume one method fits all.