Nollan Xu

Nollan Xu

Sizes markets, prices products and builds pipelines for early‑stage companies.

Next
Business analyst intern, Arthur D. Little, Jun – Aug 2027
Now
Economics, USC, Aug 2024 – May 2028
Also
Vice President of Projects, RISE Consulting, Apr 2025 – present

Selected work

  1. May – Sep 2026Irvine, CA

    Olympian Motors, YC ’22

    Business strategy and operations analyst

    $2.4BEV commercial-fleet market, sized

    Sized the EV commercial-fleet market for a YC-backed EV maker: $2.4B, growing about 32% a year. Senior leadership adopted it.

    $18.2Mprojected pipeline of net‑new recurring revenue, from discovery calls with 15+ enterprise B2B clients

    • Built the go-to-market framework for the Model-01 launch, folding regulatory risk and technical data into an FMVSS compliance binder.
  2. Apr 2025 – presentLos Angeles

    RISE Consulting, USC

    Vice President of Projects, two terms

    50+startups sourced and evaluated

    Sourced and evaluated 50+ startups for the club, from bootstrapped to Series C; 75% of the prospects he called became engagements or waitlisted projects.

    • Directs operations across client engagements and is the main contact between client companies and project managers; every recommendation delivered on time.
    • Grew the club’s project pipeline 50% year over year.
  3. Jan – May 2025Los Angeles

    Semio AI

    Business analyst

    +35%conversion, after new pricing tiers

    Designed value-based, tiered pricing for its manufacturing clients. Conversion rose 35%.

    • Built a regression and price-elasticity model on historical client data to test price-sensitivity curves.
    • Advised leadership on bringing generative AI into industrial robotics to set the product apart.
  4. Sep – Dec 2025Los Angeles

    OatmealBaby

    Go-to-market intern

    $250Kpre-seed round, closed by the founders

    Co-led positioning and due diligence for a baby-sleepwear brand in a $5.5B market; the founders closed a $250,000 pre-seed round.

    • Advised the founders on valuation metrics during financial due diligence.
    • Designed a go-to-market playbook anchored on net revenue growth and margin.
    • Moved marketing spend into the highest-return channels, cutting customer acquisition cost by 25%.
  5. Aug – Dec 2024Los Angeles

    Laurel’s Coffee, a RISE Consulting engagement

    Project manager

    +38%direct-to-consumer sales

    Ran a go-to-market pilot of three pop-ups; direct-to-consumer sales rose 38%.

    • Reworked supply-chain logistics to distribute 4,000+ units of product.

Clients he brought to RISE Consulting

75%
of prospects became engagements or waitlisted projects
+50%
project pipeline, year over year

Fall 20263 clients

  • Replit
  • PopID
  • Audria

Spring 20265 clients

  • Olympian Motors
  • Vylist AI
  • Roam
  • Rubi
  • But Cute

Fall 20254 clients

  • AcePadel
  • Z PastaBar
  • MatchAPro
  • AtlasAI

About

Nollan studies economics at USC, with minors in consumer behavior and marketing. Outside class he goes backcountry skiing.

Nollan Xu, smiling, in a grey suit and black tie, standing in a brick arcade with stone columns
Education
BA Economics, University of Southern California, Dornsife College, Aug 2024 – May 2028. GPA 3.73.
Honors
Dean’s Honor List, every semester. Presidential Scholar.
Tools
Excel, PowerPoint, R, Stata, SQL, Capital IQ
Languages
English, Mandarin Chinese
Off the clock
Backcountry skiing, competitive dance, pickup basketball, mahjong, DreamWorks
A fresh ski-touring skin track climbing a smooth snow slope toward a col in cold morning light, with a calm range of snow peaks beyond.

His route so far

  1. 2024: Los AngelesProject manager for Laurel’s Coffee
  2. 2025: Los AngelesBusiness analyst, Semio AIGo-to-market intern, OatmealBabyVice President of Projects, RISE Consulting
  3. 2026: IrvineBusiness strategy and operations analyst, Olympian Motors
  4. 2027: San FranciscoBusiness analyst intern, Arthur D. Little