Liu joined Ancestry, the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, in 2021 as its new CEO just three months after investment management firm Blackstone bought the company and took it private for $4.7 billion. She was tasked with growing subscribers, a goal that required reaching out to more clients of color and expanding internationally.

Today, the fledgling CEO faces new stumbling blocks. The company must now confront an increasingly volatile market and an unremitting slowdown in the tech industry, an environment that Liu says is easier to navigate without the extra obligations that come with being public.

“I think in uncertain times, it’s actually better to be a private company because you can invest in the future and not worry quarter to quarter what you’re answering for,” Liu said on stage.