# Evan Liang

> Evan Liang co-founded LeanData in 2012 after encountering CRM integration and data problems as an operator. A former Battery Ventures and Shasta Ventures investor with experience at Microsoft, eBay and Caring.com, he led LeanData as CEO before moving to chief strategy officer in 2025. In 2026 he introduced Pareto Agent, a venture applying AI agents to B2B sales and renewals.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at LeanData; Founder at Pareto Agent
- **Organizations:** LeanData, Pareto Agent, Battery Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Microsoft, eBay, Caring.com
- **Education:** B.S. in Industrial Engineering, Stanford University, MBA, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
- **Known for:** Co-founded LeanData in 2012 and led it as CEO until its 2025 leadership transition., Personally sold LeanData’s first 20 customers while also handling customer service., Helped launch Xbox 360 while working in Microsoft business development.

## Career timeline

- **—** — Started his career at Battery Ventures, investing in software and e-commerce and gaining operating experience during the dot-com bust.
- **—** — Worked in business development at Microsoft, helping launch Xbox 360, and in product management at eBay.
- **—** — Joined Shasta Ventures as a senior associate before moving to Caring.com as vice president and general manager.
- **2012** — Co-founded LeanData with Kelvin Cheung.
- **2013** — Kellogg alumni notes documented a first-time-founder peer group with Ryan Fuller of VoloMetrix.
- **2024** — Discussed buying groups and the evolution of LeanData in interviews.
- **2025** — Moved from CEO to chief strategy officer; Katy Keim was appointed CEO on July 22.
- **2026** — Introduced Pareto Agent; said its pre-seed round of more than $3.5 million closed in January.

## Achievements

- Co-founded LeanData in 2012 and led it as CEO until its 2025 leadership transition.
- Personally sold LeanData’s first 20 customers while also handling customer service.
- Helped launch Xbox 360 while working in Microsoft business development.
- Led LeanData through expansion from deduplication to account matching, routing and meeting scheduling.
- LeanData reported more than 1,000 customers by the 2025 CEO transition.
- Founded Pareto Agent and announced more than $3.5 million in pre-seed funding in 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Introduced Pareto Agent publicly on LinkedIn and said more than $3.5 million in pre-seed funding had closed in January.
- **2025-10** — Appeared with Katy Keim and Jim Bell in the OpsStars 2025 keynote, reflecting on the community’s tenth year and AI-driven change.
- **2025-07** — LeanData announced Katy Keim as CEO following Liang’s transition to chief strategy officer.

## Links

- Website: https://paretoagent.ai/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanliang/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/evanliang

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/evan-liang
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11