美国杜克大学

Startup Mentor & Investor, Founder at Proficient Education

Shanghai, China

Active mentor to peers and seed investor (<100K RMB) in Shanghai entrepreneurial communities. Leveraging experience as a seasoned operations manager and entrepreneur, I provide mentorship, feedback, and resources to early stage start-ups and small businesses seeking growth.

Industry focus: F&B, education, FMCG, furniture.
Issues: China e-commerce, OEM sourcing, lean-start up agility and validated learning, market positioning, product rollout, burn-rate management, fundraising objectives, corporate supplying, negotiation, partnership structuring, strategy, etc.

1. IGenisus Entrepreneurship Training Program, Shanghai 01/2019-05/2019. - Member of 20-person community of Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs. Completed a 50+ hour curriculum with weekly sessions led by two key instructors (one angel investor, one serial entrepreneur) and guest speakers.

2. WeWork Labs, Shanghai 03/2019-10/2019. Member of WeWork China's flagship entrepreneurial community.

Startup Mentor & Investor

A social enterprise providing transformative education experiences through well-managed, immersive, rigorous academies for talented high school students from across the world.

Operations in Boston, Shanghai, Chicago, and other locations throughout the US and China.

Proficient Education

Founder

Measure success by the positive impact I’ve had on lives of former students and colleagues. Supported and mentored beyond formal consulting and work relationships on critical career decisions, in times of personal need, and writing reference letters for admission to Stanford GSB, Wharton Lauder, Stern, Sloan, Yale SOM, WUSTL, etc.

AIC Education

Partner

Assumed leadership of national operations during a time that required an evolution of our business model:

1. Management Culture - Under mentorship of a former executive who led an American Fortune 500 firm's operation in China, we re-installed a more nurturing, trust-based style of leadership and distanced from the more traditional corporate top-down, team of rivals culture that conflicted with with our inspirational mentorship and branding in the education industry and HR markets

2. EdTech Disruption - Helped recruit and on-board a senior CTO to assess our capacity and need to develop a technology-driven solution in anticipation of industry disruption. Studied dual-economy and user community eco-system models, ranging from funded edtech competitors and early internal prototypes. Concluded investment into an app and coding team was not strategic. Instead, more prudent to implement tech tools with national staff training to optimize:

sales (Salesforce: scrapped "black magic" CRM)
academic management (Trello: reduce email/excel inefficiency)
internal communications (Outlook: China-friendly)

3. Growing Leaders - Given our academic integrity and unique culture, hiring experienced talent within the industry proved difficult in certain geographic markets and problematic to service and sales quality. Thus, prioritized the development of internal leaders and hiring out-of-industry talent. Designed and implemented a 2-year "Manager Trainee Program" for Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hangzhou with financial incentives, close mentorship, and staged responsibility.

4. Target Market Re-Calibration - Given the proliferation of public information, DIY tools, and cheaper alternatives, our primary market focus on students had grown diluted and sales suffered. We pivoted to cater to families in which parents served as the primary client decision-maker. Revamped the entire customer-journey experience: branding, messaging content and language, service process, contract structure, etc.

Chief Operating Officer

Fostering an entrepreneurial corporate culture, empowered/mentored academic staff nationally and hired/trained FT marketing specialists to develop channels for client acquisition and brand exposure as the market evolved from blue to red ocean.

Sample Marketing Projects:
1. Creative social media - A viral month-long Facebook campaign led by a FT consultant in Hangzhou increased our client-alumni, corporate-alumni, and P2P alumni engagement via a photo competition on university campus cafeteria food. AIC alumni posted photos of meals. We gave awards for "best", "worst", and most "unique" food. Showcased to prospective clients the depth, intimacy, and utility of the AIC family, a result of our long-standing status in the industry.

2. Various Media - Audio podcast "AIC on the Air" led by a FT consultant in Beijing who interviewed and shared powerful stories about co-workers, leadership, and students and to enhance personal engagement and sentimentality of our passion for education advocacy. Short-clip videos capturing student and teacher connection.

3. Events - Wrote article for and supported organization of the 2015 Sanya Caijing International Education Forum (财经国际论坛) Education Sub-Forum. Invited guests from Duke Kunshan University, UPenn Wharton Center, Beijing University Affiliated High School, etc. Oversaw several large scale events drawing upon hired venue and internal staff from various offices - Beijing national college fair, Hong Kong test site lectures, Shanghai parent education KOL seminar, marketing seminars in Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Changsha, Xian, Ningbo, Zhengzhou, Kunming, Wuxi.

4. Online Presence - Set up corporate wechat, outsourced website, etc.

Director of Marketing

Established a national project management system from induction to post-evaluation completion. The system overhauled operations and unified culture across 8 offices governing 45 Chinese and 17 US employees in Mandarin and English. Transferred resource control from branch managers to younger project managers.

Reported to the CEO, utilizing GANTT and Basecamp management system to deliver projects that resulted in key partnerships (MIT, etc), brand enhancement, HR cost reduction, and the expansion of new growth areas.

Founded and incubated a project that became a national program with dedicated FT academic management and research & development teams, second-largest grossing and still operating today. In first few years, generated 2.8 million RMB, beating competitors to recognize changing consumer behavior and innovate guidance services upstream into younger age markets.

Director of Project Management

Oversaw all operations of start-up office. Growth +902.5% YOY against previous management. Conversion from cost-center to leading profit-center. Built up operation from zero employees, hiring and training sales/marketing/service/administrative roles for six employees (two US). As member of the national academic management team, advised over 50 client cases in peer offices in Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Nanjing.

Province Manager, Zhejiang

Responsible for 33 clients, design of consulting service materials, teaching admission seminar courses. Managed work of 10 US teachers.

Academic Manager, Senior Education Consultant

Mentorship Roles:

1. Invited by Vice-Dean of College to design and teach the university's first semester course in American Parliamentary debate.
2. Over a two year period, trained a team of 60 selected students in persuasive speaking, argumentative strategy, and critical thinking for competitions on campus, regional, and national levels, including College National FLTRP in Beijing.
3. Head adjudicator for US-China online debate hosted by college of business administration, adjudicator for various CCTV English speaking and Model United Nations student events.

Part-time: Self-directed Mandarin language student

Zhejiang University of Technology

Debate Coach

Funded Stanback Fellow through Duke University. Science-driven research and lobbying on pressing environmental issues - CAFOs, antibiotics, emissions.

Pei Yen