Taro: Han Wang & Rebecca Fu
Two college students are helping to bridge connections and eliminate the feeling of loneliness in the midst of a pandemic.
What inspired you to start your venture?
After being sent home from Cornell this past semester, we felt socially isolated from our peers who we were used to seeing every day. We thought about how it was difficult to keep in touch with our college friends when we were away from campus, and especially now, we missed those relationships. After talking to a few of our friends, we realized that building connections with new people almost every day was one of the things that we Cornell students love the most about college. We wanted to build something to help students stay connected with each other even when we are all over the world. We call them Taro Chats, and it recreates the college experience of making new connections around campus.
What is the toughest part of being a student founder?
Rebecca: As a student, I still have a sense of imposter syndrome where I feel that I have a great deal to learn before I can be a successful designer or entrepreneur. As a result, it’s difficult to understand that it’s completely acceptable for your product or venture to fail. Many of us are taught to be ambitious, so it can be difficult sometimes to open your mind to new ideas and understand when something isn’t working.
Han: When I take on projects like Taro, I tend to devote more time than I can afford. Once we had the idea and prototype, I didn’t want to stop until we made the product real. I’ve been working on startups on the side since my freshman year at Cornell, and it’s always challenging to balance chasing a dream on top of schoolwork. Developing Taro has taken substantial time and energy because it required me to explore a new area of app development I didn’t understand that well. But it was very much worth it in the end.
What drives you to keep pushing despite the obstacles that came your way?
Rebecca and Han: For startups, timing really matters. We had this idea of building a product to help people connect with each other less than two months ago, and we recognized that now was the time to do it. It is more important now than ever before. As a result, we were really driven to get our product out as soon as possible to test its viability, so we could take our users’ feedback and continue iterating. More personally, Taro has given us the opportunity to enrich our own technical skills and understand how to design and build experiences for others. Though designing and developing an app on our own came with a significant learning curve, it was genuinely rewarding in the end.
When was a time you failed, and what did you learn from that experience?
Han: The last startup I was in completely failed. We did not get our product out quick enough. We worked on something that we rationalized in our heads, but in the end, our clients did not think that our product was worth investing in. It was disappointing at first, but from the experience I learned that founders need to listen to the user’s input instead of their own assumptions from early on. We’re now applying this mentality towards Taro. Everyone has a natural fear of failure, and so failure can be difficult to accept at times.
Rebecca: I fail on a daily basis. This question can be hard for me to answer because I can’t pinpoint just one failure that brought me to where I am. I think it can be really difficult to accept failure at times, especially if it doesn’t paint you in a picturesque light. What I’ve learned from my failures is to always look at them as ways to improve and wear them proudly on my sleeve, rather than hide from them.
What was a key decision you made that helped you get to where you are today?
Rebecca: Realizing I needed to get started on my dreams and not hold myself back any longer. I’ve wanted to be a designer since I was in high school, but my college coursework was taking me in a different direction. I remember getting coffee with a friend who told me I needed to stop telling myself it was too late. Whatever was holding me back, I needed to just take action! I’ve taken this mindset with me since then, and it’s brought me to a more clear headspace.
Han: Deciding that I would always be willing to take risks. I like committing myself to random projects in areas that I know absolutely nothing about, and I always learn an incredible amount from the process. With Taro, I prioritized learning completely new technologies to build the app over many of my commitments as a student. At the time, I wasn’t sure if that was the right decision, but in hindsight, it helped me grow so much as a person.
When you were growing up, what was an assumption you had about the world that ended up being incorrect?
Han: When I was young, I was quite cynical. I assumed people had the worst intentions. However, I realize now that cynicism is the absolute worst. I’ve learned that successful people are usually the most helpful and willing to share their insight. If I wanted to be like the founders I look up to the most, I needed to have a healthier and more positive outlook. In fact, if there is someone who you aspire to be like, I encourage you to reach out to them. Even successful people who seem way out of your network will be more willing to help you than you may think.
Rebecca: Growing up, I thought life was straightforward, You go to college, get a job, work 9–5, and eventually start a family. After coming to college and joining various online communities, I quickly realized this was not always true. There will always be curveballs that come at you when you least expect it, which will throw some excitement into your life. Life does not have to be straightforward, and there will always be opportunities to pursue new things. College taught me about the importance of having an open mind.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Han: Take school less seriously. I am a very exploratory person, and I learn best from doing. When I was younger, I was always focused on getting good grades and being a good student, but I realized later on that this wasn’t the right formula for my happiness. I’d argue that the most important skills I have, I learned from my own initiative. Paul Graham posted a cool tweet that I really like about how if you like something enough, you learn it yourself. If you don’t, you learn it from someone else.
Rebecca: Prioritize your personal relationships, because life moves more quickly than you realize. There are so many close friendships I’ve made doing the randomest things throughout my life, from going on a meditation retreat in the middle of rural Thailand, to studying for an exam at Olin and realizing the person across from me was studying for the same thing. If I were to go back, I’d tell myself to spend more time reaching out to these people and actively making them a part of my life.
About Rebecca Fu:
Rebecca Fu is a rising senior at Cornell University, where she is studying Applied Economics and Management. Her earliest aspiration included becoming a fashion designer, which later evolved into becoming an environmental lawyer. As she grew up, she continued developing her interests and searching for a way to combine everything into one career. Her experience at Cornell has offered the flexibility of studying business coursework while exploring her creativity through extracurriculars. She has since realized her passion for designing technology with social impact and is pursuing various side projects in product design. In the future, she hopes to be able to help larger communities through design.
About Han Wang:
Han Wang is a rising junior at Cornell University, where he is pursuing a major in Information Science. For as long as he can remember, his aspiration was to develop technology that would significantly impact others. In middle school, he began his exploration of computer science and started fiddling with small projects. He ended up creating an iOS application for students at his school to gain knowledge about events happening at school. Through that experience, he realized his passion for creating products that people could utilize to enrich their lives. He also understood how software has the power to solve issues.
Transcribed by Reva Jariwala, ORIGIN Content Manager
