Roland Tao

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT ROLAND TAO

My journey began as a curious boy in a bustling city in China. One of my earliest memories is from when I was six years old. My mum bought me an automated toy bus—a small marvel that moved in circles on its own. My instinct wasn’t to just play with it but to take it apart and understand how it worked. Inside, I found circuits and a motor that brought it to life. I couldn’t reassemble the toy, but instead, I used the motor to build a propeller-driven ship. It sank, but my love for creating and innovating was born.In high school, I explored remote-controlled cars, especially 1/8 scale buggy racing, deepening my passion for experimentation and innovation.In 2003, I pursued a Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Bristol. Courses on engines and gearboxes fueled my curiosity further. The highlight came in 2005 when, as an exchange student at the University of Washington, I became the first author of a published journal paper titled “Bio-Inspired Actuating System for Swimming Using Shape Memory Alloy Composites.”Meeting my wife, Coco, changed everything. Together, we invested in UK rental properties, achieving financial freedom and allowing me to focus on creating and innovating.In 2017, I founded Rentalist, an online letting agency to modernize the industry. After setbacks, we rebranded as iletpro in 2020, serving Chinese landlords successfully. By 2023, I sold a subsidiary, enabling me to focus on my most ambitious project yet: Nestflo.Nestflo began as a solution to inefficiencies I encountered running iletpro. I developed it into a fully realized platform that automates and streamlines agency processes.Over the years, my ventures—Rentalist, iletpro, and Nestflo—secured seven grant funding awards totaling over from organizations including Innovate UK, Innovate UK Edge, Business Innovation Fund, Digital Innovation Fund, and Scale Up 4 Growth.Guided by an insatiable curiosity and passion for innovation, my journey has been about learning, creating, and building meaningful solutions. Thank you for reading my story. Let’s connect and explore how I can serve or collaborate with