About

Hi, I'm Alex. I'm a technical founder building AI and vertical SaaS for industries the rest of tech ignores. Currently CopperCore—modern operations software for traditional industries. Previously early engineer #20 at DoorDash.

Background

I started my career as employee #20 at DoorDash, where I was a founding engineer on Drive (the B2B arm of delivery) and helped scale the company through its hypergrowth years and IPO.

After DoorDash, I started building my own companies: first Kickit (B2C consumer social app), then Avogadro (B2B SaaS for chemical manufacturing). After Avogadro, I wanted to round out my skillset and as a founder—so I went to Wharton.

Education & Current

I'm completing a joint MBA/MPA at Wharton and Harvard Kennedy School (Wharton 2026, HKS 2027). At Wharton, I served as co-president of the Entrepreneurship Club and the Gaming Club.

Today I'm building CopperCore—modern operations software for traditional industries.

How I Work

I like hard problems and fast-moving teams. Whether it's architecting a system from scratch or figuring out how to convert our next customer—I'm happiest when I'm in the weeds building something that matters.

Outside of Work

I'm a lifelong gamer (you can see what I'm playing on my games page). I'm a certified scuba diver (AOW), an RYA Day Skipper, and a licensed private pilot. I speak Mandarin natively in addition to English, and I'm working on my Spanish. I love to travel; I've been to nearly 50 countries. Check out my travel and photos sections.

Working Together

Outside my own companies, I love building alongside other founders—especially in industries the rest of tech ignores. I bring the technical chops to ship and the business instincts to know what's worth shipping.

If you have an idea you want to bring to life, let's talk. Book a call or email me at me@xilinliu.com. You can also find me on LinkedIn and GitHub.