Are you excited about what you learned during the Career Pathways Week and want to explore different career paths? Then you're in luck! We invited Yige Li, who started her own business as an international graduate student at UCR, to share her insights, experience, and advice on being a student entrepreneur.

[Image Description: Yige Li smiling at the viewer.]

I hope my experience as a student entrepreneur can help more students to think differently and join the entrepreneurial path.

Firstly, I would say thank you to UCR GradSuccess for inviting me to share my story and insights.

1. What did you get your degree in, and what are you doing now? 

I got my Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering. My research focused on energy storage and specifically lithium-ion batteries, which are considered the next-generation clean energy storage solution.

And currently, I am running a startup company. The company is called IQHi. Here is our website: www.iqhibattery.com.

The company’s mission is to help the world achieve the zero CO2 emission goal five years in advance using data technologies. Right now, we are closing a deal with our first investor.

2. What has inspired you to become an entrepreneur?  

A lot of things, and I guess this question to me comes down to wanting to do something meaningful, and what is considered meaningful a thing.

While I was in middle school, my dad told me that you must work hard to be able to join the elite group of society. Because of that, I studied hard during all my school years and hoped this could help me form a habit of hardworking and one day bring me to the elite group.

 

[Image Description: The LED electronic video display at The Nasdaq MarketStie]

Pictured: Make money to join the elite group of society

However, after I stepped into my 20s, I realized that spending all my effort to become great was meaningless unless I was doing something meaningful. After that, I have been actively searching for meaningful things for my career that are worth all my effort and passion. And very luckily, I found one.

While I was researching for my oral exam during my grad school, I found that our earth was having ongoing serious energy depletion problems. The total natural gas and crude oil reserves on earth are less than 50 years. When I first read this, I was shocked. To put it another way, we are literally reaching the deadline of energy depletion. If we continue to consume, the future generation will have no natural energy resources left. This means a serious global energy crisis that will bring issues to the entire society. And in the meantime, the cause of global warming also struck my attention. With that, I was thinking, if I can devote my career to solve these problems, no matter big or small, it is meaningful.

[Image Description: Several types of mining equipment on bare ground. The sky is grey and the clouds are dark.]

Pictured: Traditional ways of extracting energy

After diving into the clean energy industry for some time, I realized that although the government and big corporations all have ambitious goals to achieve zero CO2 emissions, there are still a lot of technical and technological problems that need to be solved to achieve the goal. For example, the Green New Deal was advocated for by President Biden; however, this document is only a 14 pages long resolution without a specific plan. There is a lot of work that needs to be done by scientists, engineers, and small businesses to fill the gap between resolutions and reality. This requires a lot of effort and innovation from startups and businesses to participate in this big plan, and this is where I found I could devote my expertise and passion.

 

[Image Description: Windmill generator with blue sky, white cloud, and green grass.]

Pictured: Clean energy that can help achieve zero CO2 emissions

[Image Description: A photo taken by Yige Li on the freeway when she was evacuated from a wildfire. There were a lot of cars on the freeway. The mountains near the freeway were on fire.]

Pictured: A wildfire happening near the place where Yige Li lives

This photo depicted one moment in my life that made me more determined to chase my mission. This photo was taken on October 26th, 2020 while I was evacuated from a wildfire happening near the place that I live. On that day, there were several places that caught on fire. This was the closest time that I’ve experienced the causes of climate change. I still remember in the morning that day, I woke up, ran around the neighborhood, had my breakfast, and was just about to start my normal workday schedule. Then at 9 am I received mandatory evacuation order on my phone, and when I went outside, I saw a huge amount of smoke in the sky. No longer than half an hour later, my room was full of smoke to the point that I could not breathe without coughing. Everything just happened all of sudden. Luckily, there was no property damage where I live. However, imagine people who lost their homes during the wildfire. It is so sad to see.  

After this event, I became more determined to fight for my company’s mission and devote all my effort to solve the most important problem in this century -- environmental issues caused by burning fossil fuels.

3. What resources/tools at UCR have helped you to start your own business?  

Firstly, the I-Corps Program held by UCR Office of Technology Partnership was helpful for me to get an idea of how business owners should think. Secondly, my grad school research and study prepared me with sufficient knowledge to understand the technologies and trends in this field.

4. What has been the biggest challenge for you to start your own business as an international student? How have you overcome this challange?  

The first challenge is the funding issue. Who will be the person writing the first one-million-dollar check for your company? Before you get there, you must be actively searching for funding. This requires great effort.

 

[Image Description: A one-million dollar check]

Pictured: Finding funding can be a big challenge to start your own business

When I graduated from grad school, I only have $10,000 of savings in my bank and no guarantee that my parents would lend me any money. Then I took a leap of faith and started the venture, hoping that I could get funding along the way. Luckily, I got sporadic small grants and funds along the way that helped the company pay legal and operational expenses.  

The second challenge is getting the correct visa. As international students, we need to have a valid visa to work in the United States. Especially when you are starting your own company, the visa process becomes overly complicated. Firstly, you need to talk with an immigration attorney to figure out all the different visa solutions for you, and then you must make sure the company complies with laws and regulations related to immigration from the employer's perspective. My advice is to reserve sufficient time and funds for getting your visa and paying for legal expenses.

How to overcome the problems? My answer is: be positive.

To quote Elon Musk (quoting Albert Einstein): “I’d rather be positive and wrong, than negative and right.”  I really agree with him.

 

[Image Description: A woman doing yoga under the sun.]

Pictured: Finding ways to stay positive is the key

5. What did you like best about your graduate work? What did you like least?  

I love my graduate work as a researcher. I like it best because it helped me develop a better way of thinking -- a philosopher way of thinking. Because when you are a researcher, you have the time to dive deep into a small problem and investigate it, and to me it was fun. Also, sometimes, you think like a philosopher to dive deep to find the nature of things. This was a fun process and trained me to think logically with all sorts of tools and reasonings. 

6. What advice do you have for other graduate students at UCR about finishing their degrees, going on the job market, or life in general?  

When I am thinking about this question, I kind of look back on my grad school journey and think what would be a good piece of advice that I would have liked to hear back then.  

Without a doubt, grad school is a critical time when you choose your career and life goals, and sometimes even your significant other. You must take this very seriously and figure out what you would like to do in your life and what you are passion about. Also, don’t forget to explore and try new things.

With that, here is my advice in general:

• Expand your vision and try new things, do your own research on the things you want to know
• Figure out what you are passionate about and do not be afraid to think big
• Stay positive, think of your final goal and your future will come to you

If you are considering going on the entrepreneurial path, it would be great that you can prepare yourself with the necessary knowledge and skills. Here are some necessary knowledge and selected books that I recommend:

1. Finance and accounting knowledge.  [Financial intelligence (Karen Berman) and books about accounting basics]
2. Basic corporate legal knowledge. (Nolo book series)
3. Customer discovery and marketing knowledge; [Startup owner’s manual (Steve Blank)]
4. General business owner mentality. [Trump never gives up (Donald J. Trump). Think like a Champion (Donald J. Trump)]

When the company scales up, you will also need management knowledge and skills. However, I believe the above shall be sufficient to start your own business.