09 Sep 2026
On 5 September 2026, the 2026 IBSS Alumni Conference took place on XJTLU’s South Campus. As one of the conference’s three parallel panel sessions, ‘Homecoming for Innovators: Dialogues Among Creators’ was moderated by Dr Jianwen Zheng, Associate Professor and Director of Research Impact in the Department of Strategic Management and Organisations at IBSS. The panel featured Wencan Wang, Founder & CEO of Hengbao Technology; Jingchang Gu, Founder & CEO of Puyin Farm; Lisa Chen, Founder & CEO of DuoDuo Land; and Dr Bingqing Zhao from the Department of Strategic Management and Organisations, IBSS.
Spanning artificial intelligence, ecological agriculture, social media platforms and entrepreneurship research, panellists drew on their personal journeys to delve into entrepreneurial motivations, minimum viable products (MVPs), market validation, continuous iteration and business growth. Several panellists are XJTLU alumni; with their studies and wider campus experiences helping to shape their subsequent careers in entrepreneurship and venture capital.
During the session, guests shared how their entrepreneurial journeys began. Wencan Wang, an XJTLU alumnus of the 2008 intake, pursued further studies at the University of Liverpool through XJTLU’s 2+2 programme. With a background in investment and financing, he founded Hengbao Technology in 2020. The company focuses on AI‑agent technologies for specific sectors and digital transformation solutions, serving industries including intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine and smart buildings.
Jingchang Gu, a Business Administration alumnus from the 2010 intake, recalled how entrepreneurship modules at XJTLU sowed the seeds for his later ventures. Having moved from the finance sector into entrepreneurship, he first built an overseas Chinese‑food business before shifting to ecological agriculture. In Suzhou he practises natural farming and the Community‑supported agriculture (CSA) model, exploring how to balance commercial returns with social value.
Lisa Chen became an entrepreneur straight after graduation, building an AI‑powered social networking platform for the younger generation. She advised young founders to be honest about their underlying motivations and identify an “anchor point” where personal values align with their business.
Dr Bingqing Zhao, an XJTLU graduate from the 2009‑intake in Financial Mathematics, brings dual experience in primary‑market investment and university teaching. She observed that entrepreneurial ideas rarely unfold exactly as originally planned, yet their value often lies in prompting action and then evolving through real-world experience.
Turning ideas into market‑ready solutions made the MVP the core theme of the panel. Wencan Wang argued that the primary objective for start‑ups is “survival”. Product value must be validated through genuine customer willingness to pay; technical moats can then be built incrementally, and technological innovation must never be decoupled from real‑world demand.
For Jingchang Gu, small‑scale pilots are not merely for product refinement: they are opportunities to gather first‑hand industry insights into costs, supply chains and regulatory policy.
Dr Zhao offered a distinctive perspective: making good use of an MVP hinges on mindset. Entrepreneurs need the courage to accept that “I might be wrong”, to allow their initial assumptions to be disproven by market feedback and to avoid working in isolation. Lisa Chen encouraged young entrepreneurs to step outside their existing circles and engage with experienced industry professionals to refine their judgement.
Panellists agreed that iteration runs through the entire entrepreneurial lifecycle and is far more than simple product upgrades. Wencan Wang noted that products, teams, capital and overall strategy all require dynamic adjustment at different stages of business growth.
Lisa Chen placed particular emphasis on founders’ “mental‑resilience”. Entrepreneurship offers few moments of limelight and is mostly defined by pressure and set‑backs; stable mental wellbeing and ongoing self‑reflection are essential for long‑term resilience. From her observations of technology‑sector founders, Dr Zhao highlighted a necessary personal transformation: technical specialists must evolve into well‑rounded business leaders capable of management and collaboration.
In the Q&A session, the guests discussed core entrepreneurial building blocks: brand, marketing, channels, product and customers. They reached a shared conclusion: whilst the weight of each factor shifts at different stages of development, products must always respond to genuine market needs. Even cutting‑edge technology cannot sustain a viable business model without customer acceptance.
This panel gave alumni an opportunity to share their experience with the next generation of entrepreneurs at XJTLU. Alumni have taken knowledge and perspectives gained on campus into diverse industries; returning to share practical experience helps connect classroom learning with commercial reality. The discussion offered current students and young alumni practical insights into entrepreneurship, while helping to foster a culture of innovation both on and beyond campus.
09 Sep 2026