# Shelly Li

> Shelly Li is co-founder and CEO of Sprout, an enterprise technology lifecycle business. An economics and philosophy student at Duke and a published science-fiction writer, she built her career around recovering value from discarded electronics and keeping hardware in use.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Sprout
- **Organizations:** Sprout, Smart Metals Recycling / SMR Worldwide (earlier company names), Morgan Stanley, McKinsey & Company
- **Education:** Undergraduate study in Economics and Philosophy; completion not independently verified, Duke University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Sprout., Co-founder of the venture that won Duke’s 2015 Borchardt Prize for best undergraduate startup., Published science fiction in Nature and other outlets before and during college.

## Career timeline

- **2011** — Profiled as a Duke freshman and published science-fiction author.
- **2013** — Interviewed as founder of Smart Metals while studying economics and philosophy at Duke.
- **2014** — Sprout’s official founding year; early venture partnered with L. Gordon Iron & Metal Company.
- **2015** — Smart Metals Recycling received Duke’s Borchardt Prize for best undergraduate startup.
- **2019** — New Capital Partners invested in the company.
- **2020** — SMR Worldwide adopted the Sprout name.
- **2024-12** — Recognize acquired a majority stake; transaction announced January 2025.
- **2026** — Sprout expanded its full-lifecycle positioning and introduced Velerity Compute.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Sprout.
- Co-founder of the venture that won Duke’s 2015 Borchardt Prize for best undergraduate startup.
- Published science fiction in Nature and other outlets before and during college.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the lifecycle and residual value of enterprise GPUs; video dated August 24.
- **2026-06** — Sprout described a planned Garland flagship of more than 127,000 square feet, scheduled for the second half of 2026; opening not independently confirmed.
- **2026-04** — Sprout announced a new brand and website emphasizing services across the technology lifecycle.

## Links

- Website: https://www.sproutup.com/shelly-li-chief-executive-officer
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelly-li-sprout
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Shelly_Li

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/shelly-li
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21