James, a less conventional guy of science and technology, began his career by accidently joining a startup while doing scientific study in the lab.
Due to the pandemic, James had to work from home again after 20 years, and as a result, he had some personal insights on the business landscapes of China and the US.
He then penned this piece.
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Greetings, I’m James. He completed his undergraduate studies at East China University of Technology before enrolling as a PhD student in the chemical engineering program at the University of Washington in Seattle.
I’m not your average guy, and I’m not your ordinary coder in a plaid shirt. Wearing goggles, gloves, and white jackets is my everyday attire during the epidemic. Since masks are compulsory, I can’t identify who is who. I also spend my time in the chemical lab tinkering with bottles and cans and adding solid substances to match different colors.
Oh, sure, I was asked to build up a small factory to work on major machinery and equipment, do product amplification, and perform part-time job as a mechanic, carpenter, electrician, and plumber since these things were too successful and in short supply.
You can see that I don’t really introduce myself in two distinct ways in these two lines, which essentially characterizes me as having a somewhat split personality.
Conducting experiments is very enjoyable. It goes somewhat like stir-frying. Buying vegetables, cleaning them, chopping them, and preparing seasonings all take a lot of work, but the outcome is always the same: either you fail a lot and end up with less salt, more fire, or more soy sauce, or you succeed a lot and end up summarizing and thinking a lot before finally preparing a large meal.
■Our lab
This happiness is precisely the same as when our experiment succeeds and a product is innovative.
In actuality, I’m also really fortunate. I went to an internship at a foreign corporation while I was a senior. It wasn’t until I started doing different experiments on a regular basis that I really had a chance to work directly in this business.
The emotion that comes with taking action is that you are inspired to take the effort to accomplish it even if you are struggling financially. It is to completely understand its worth and importance and to realize that, despite your many failures, you should never quit up.
I was incredibly fortunate to figure out what I wanted to accomplish and where to go after a few months of an internship; every step after that was likewise certain and unambiguous.
01
The start of the business
My research was not going well during my postgraduate studies in the United States, and I once had to refocus my research since a co-tutor left to take a position at a different school. I sent in my résumé to try my luck at the time since there was a startup firm at the school searching for interns.
The firm is focused on developing novel membrane materials for applications such as desalination of saltwater, sewage treatment, and different battery systems. The school’s founder, a PhD candidate and post-doc, has effectively marketed his own research findings and hopes to create commercial goods.
Like this, maybe
Declaring that this is a business is essentially equivalent to registering successfully. The only two full-time employees are the founder and boss and an Indian brother; the other two are temporary workers that the boss recruited to assist out around the laboratory.
Our goods still had a lot of issues that needed to be resolved at the moment, and they ran into operational issues including a shortage of funding, personnel, and testing locations. Six months later, we continued to hire and perform better and better, renting a large office and laboratory with the money we received.
Subsequently, he relocated to a larger plant to facilitate mass manufacturing, and the crew increased from three members to eighteen.
02
Innovation and entrepreneurship
After the firm was founded and grew, I had a strong understanding of what it took to launch a business. Actually, there is a very positive and innovative environment in the United States as a whole. Innovation is not limited to catchphrases or immediately implementable “inventions.”
Universities, tech firms, and government labs make up the majority of research institutions in the US. Universities should mix industry-university research with fundamental research to better push these ideas into society and turn them into products that can really improve everyone’s life.
As a result, almost every institution has its own policy for assisting startups, particularly with regard to technology created by students. In addition to cash help, these services include office space, equipment, finance and investment, network resources, legal guidelines, and almost everything else.
Perhaps the only thing an entrepreneur with technology and ideas can do is concentrate on their goods, leaving the areas where you lack expertise to others with more experience.
Furthermore, there are several tax advantages offered by the government, as well as numerous business contests held by significant corporations and groups. Every year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DoE) grant start-up cash for a variety of startup initiatives. Successful businesses may use this funding for a number of years until they turn a profit.
The success rate and potential growth of entrepreneurship in this setting exceed our collective comprehension by a significant margin.
Through IPOs and acquisitions, a few firms have become unicorns or helped a few individuals reach financial independence; general companies may get many investment rounds or a consistent flow of project funding to support their ongoing growth. Even when there were further business failures a few years later, this had little impact on workers’ efforts to find other employment.
They believe that launching a company is a common decision, much like looking for a job, setting up a shop, or reading, and that failing to launch a business is the most typical outcome. Nobody will think less of you for this, nor would they reject you for any number of reasons just because you couldn’t get a job.
Instead, the majority of workers at startups are imaginative, diligent, and eager to take on new challenges. They also don’t work for financial gain. It’s the skill that every business need.
Many individuals also like the vibe of small businesses, which includes easier interactions between coworkers and quicker project completion. Instead, they may keep searching for new tiny firms to accomplish it since they can’t bear the giant organizations’ convoluted organizational structure, postponement of job efficiency, and frequent meeting training.
Upon receiving funding, these firms’ greatest need is not dollars but rather human capital. We can only successfully fulfill orders or secure the next round of funding by producing the goods as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the firm would constantly run the danger of going out of business if the next round of funding is unable to keep up.
Thus, these individuals with startup job experience have turned into their greatest asset. They are more knowledgeable about risk management and project advancement, and they understand that timing is more crucial than money.
03
The healthy growth of
To some degree, this also facilitates the healthy development of . Along with financial and policy backing as well as social acceptance of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship plays a significant role in innovation and the overall socioeconomic landscape.
An increasing number of major corporations will remove innovation, particularly fundamental research, from their operations due to the high degree of uncertainty associated with it and its lengthy development cycle (a new medicine, for instance, takes over 10 years to reach the market). This is done not just to improve performance but also to totally eliminate the hazards that a failed invention poses to the business.
However, this does not imply that big businesses are becoming less innovation-focused. They go above and beyond in today’s more advanced capital market to transfer this risk and time cost to entrepreneurial teams. When their goods reach a certain level of maturity, they immediately acquire the whole firm and incorporate its technology into their operations.
■A view of Seattle at night
Large corporations will therefore provide diverse forms of assistance to startups at different phases, including funding, resources, technology, and even collaboration on certain pilot initiatives. A lot of businesses nowadays have a specific Business Development or Scout to concentrate on different startups in the market, find out ahead of time what they are doing to innovate, form early collaborations, and clear the path for a final acquisition.
Large corporations are keen to have more and more new forces in the market rather than repressing and competing, based on the idea that startups are vital reserve forces and supplements rather than rivals. Large organizations can only become more competitive in the market by improving their innovation skills in this manner.
04
Disparities in the domestic business landscape
Upon my return to China with this concept, I discovered that the local business landscape is quite different.
First of all, most business owners want to enter the market and flee, seldom inventing new items or fundamental technologies in an attempt to get wealthy.
For instance, artificial intelligence and big data, photovoltaics, and fuel cells are now quite popular, and many small businesses are pursuing these opportunities since they may facilitate investment and capital favoritism.
For instance, a significant portion of the population shifted to new media when public accounts and headlines first surfaced a few years ago.
The fact that there are more people walking on these ostensibly better pathways might make them more challenging.
Perhaps the development of innovative business models like rapid grocery shopping, cab services, and errand running has made our lives easier, but what comes next? These advances are still far from the revolution of new technology, and they haven’t really added much value or made significant improvements to society as a whole.
It is quite simple to comprehend if you want to succeed and earn money, but a culture that is so focused on values and capital is in reality detrimental to the development of a positive environment for creativity.
Second, obtaining sufficient funding is very challenging for entrepreneurs.
Not only may universities and scientific research institutes provide funding after they reach a certain size, but they also provide relatively little assistance in the early stages of entrepreneurship. Numerous successful firms are also gradually assembled by instructors, mentors, or connections brought in from other businesses. For entrepreneurs with no social connections or finances, it is much more challenging.
Not only is the domestic entrepreneurial climate negatively impacted by the just-mentioned [innovation] and [funding], but the repression of young firms by established corporations poses a significant challenge.
The overall business climate of the country is very unpredictable. Businesses and enterprises themselves want to maximize profits, but when this becomes their primary goal, they often cement monopolistic positions, repress peers, and drive rivals into price wars, all of which have a detrimental effect on the industry as a whole.
Didi is the cab service, Eleme and Meituan are the takeout options, while WeChat and Alipay are the payment methods used in China. They performed well, but they weren’t flawless. And if a startup firm tries to take over a market niche and attempt to break into the whole industry, I fear it will fail before it ever gets started.
The absence of creative businesses will cause the sector as a whole to become less inventive. Monopolies keep becoming larger and more powerful in order to protect their vested interests, leaving others helpless.
05
“Entrepreneurship” that defies conventional wisdom
Not to mention, entrepreneurship is something that is not valued by the majority.
A recent college graduate would likely be seen as domineering if he declares his intention to start a company. He may as well have a steady job to get experience if he has the time. Why throw away his youth?
Stability is seen as the initial sin in traditional Chinese ideals. It is inappropriate to change jobs often, not get married and have kids, rent a home without a stable address, and other similar behaviors.
But launching a company comes with a lot of unknowns and dangers. How can one make money when everyone wants to be in charge but no one wants to take chances?
The corporation was present at the port in Seattle during that period. The view was pleasant.
Another barrier is society’s disdain of entrepreneurs. Ordinary company owners and workers run the danger of losing their jobs when a firm fails since it might be difficult to capitalize on their skills to get a new position.
Capable screws are what big businesses need, not wild entrepreneurs. Should you choose to work for other companies, you may find yourself in a similar situation in the coming years.
In such a setting, exceptional personnel would sooner join big businesses for a comparatively secure position that may allow for future growth than go to tiny businesses to take such chances. This creates a never-ending vicious cycle for small businesses by making it more difficult for them to hire competent employees and decreasing their chances of success.
Write a final note.
We have been promoting entrepreneurship and innovation for a long time, yet not much has worked.
It is simply not feasible for fundamental scientific research and innovation to depend just on national teams and huge corporations, especially when so many Chinese technologies are stalled and need to progress.
The market may fully realize the benefits and vitality of this invention and really increase the value of our nation’s innovation if it recognizes start-ups and supports entrepreneurs more.
