Last Saturday, the Entrepreneurship Sub-forum of the Yale US-China Forum was held at the Yale School of Management. Under this year's theme "China Acceleration", discussions focused on hot topics such as China's urbanization, macroeconomics and state-owned enterprise reform, healthcare industry and entrepreneurial innovation, family funds and social responsibility, and the art market.
"Sustainable Mass Innovation" is the theme of this year's entrepreneurship section. The Yale US-China Forum invited eight young entrepreneurial talents from different fields to share their success stories. The leaders discussed topics such as their entrepreneurial journey, differences between entrepreneurship in China and the US, and the advantages and disadvantages of international students returning home for employment. Among them, the speech by Mr. Chen Yonghao, CEO of CheersYou（清柚教育）, became the focus of students' attention.
Topic 1: What surprised you the most when the company first started?
Many people don't think that Chinese students studying for undergraduate degrees in the US also need study abroad services, believing that with their undergraduate study abroad experience, applying to prestigious graduate programs is very simple. In fact, the opposite is true. Heavy academic pressure and limited information channels make US undergrads need guidance and help even more than domestic students. In the early days of our establishment, I was surprised by the enthusiasm and support from US undergrad students; I had not expected such a mismatch between the supply in the North American study abroad market and student demand. But all of this also strengthened CheersYou（清柚教育）'s original aspiration and philosophy: to start from the needs of each student wholeheartedly, and use professional spirit and innovative technology to help everyone realize their dreams.
Topic 2: If you could go back to before the company was founded, would you still choose to start this company? In what areas would you make improvements?
I would still firmly choose to found CheersYou（清柚教育） and firmly dedicate myself to the education industry, providing the most professional services for all students with dreams of studying abroad. Through these three years of development, we have confirmed that our original choice and market insight were correct. The seemingly saturated study abroad market actually does not provide enough study abroad products tailored to students' actual needs. The support and recognition CheersYou（清柚教育） has received over these three years prove that our path is the right one. If I could go back, I would still choose the same path, with even greater determination and fearlessness. Of course, over three years of entrepreneurship, we have encountered many problems, such as human resource management, hidden cost estimation, etc. If we could do it again, we would learn from the setbacks and reduce many trial-and-error costs.
Topic 3: What is the biggest challenge for Chinese students when applying to American schools?
Based on our long experience helping Chinese students apply, there are two main difficulties Chinese students face when applying to American universities. First, they cannot fully showcase their comprehensive strengths. Domestic students may have done many projects and internships during their undergraduate years, but in the application process, they simply pile projects onto the application documents without reflecting the significance of the projects and their real impact on themselves. At the same time, information asymmetry is another challenge they encounter. On one hand, domestic students cannot access foreign websites and are unfamiliar with the application process abroad. On the other hand, many Chinese study abroad agencies engage in pay-per-click ranking on Chinese search engines, causing confusion, so many students cannot access first-hand resources and information.
Topic 4: Last year, 350,000 Chinese students studied in the US. Now that there are more and more international students, have Chinese employers' views on overseas returnees' qualifications changed?
Indeed, in recent years, more and more Chinese students have chosen to study in the US, so the scarcity value of overseas returnees has definitely decreased compared to before. However, no matter what, Chinese students who have studied abroad possess skills, vision, and life abilities that have been marked and shaped by their overseas experience, more so than those who haven't. Therefore, on a level playing field with the same requirements and skills, I believe Chinese employers will still tend to prefer returnee students.
In Conclusion
As an entrepreneur and a former international student, Chen Yonghao was invited to speak at Yale not only to offer application advice as a senior to students who wish to continue their studies in the US, but also to share his entrepreneurial insights as a founder.
In today's saturated study abroad market, CheersYou（清柚教育） has become a breath of fresh air with its emphasis on innovative technology and genuine reputation. Through in-depth market research and target audience analysis, CheersYou（清柚教育） starts from each student's individuality, strictly controlling personnel review and product design, winning 100% satisfaction and word-of-mouth from parents and students. In 2018, CheersYou（清柚教育）'s independently developed latest application system went online. Students can bind their personal application system with WeChat and email to check the latest application progress in a timely manner, minimizing concerns for students and parents, and distinguishing itself from traditional domestic agencies, opening up new possibilities for the study abroad market. In the future, we look forward to even better performance from CheersYou（清柚教育）.
