Research Foundation News

June 13, 2017

Purdue students create startup to provide coaching, acclimation guidance to Chinese students, visiting parents

Martinez bound Jennifer Martinez (left), a Purdue senior in the Krannert School of Management and trained coach for We-YouBond, assists Michelle Huang, a senior in management, during a coaching session. We-YouBond is offering paid coaching services to students from China to help them adapt to local college life. (Photo provided by We-YouBond) Download image

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Incoming Purdue students from China who are learning about a new culture have a new resource in a Purdue-affiliated student startup offering personal coaching services.

We-YouBond allows incoming students from China and their parents to sign up for a service that offers one-on-one coaching with an experienced student on topics ranging from study habits to local housing.

“The problem facing international students is that when they come to an American university they don’t know how to access available resources,” said co-founder Bobby Wen, who graduated in May with a triple major from Purdue’s Krannert School of Management. “Also, they often have a language barrier. We want to solve both problems at once.”

We-YouBond trains Purdue juniors and seniors on how to talk to incoming students from China, how to help them understand the resources they have available, develop study habits and otherwise adapt to life at Purdue. Once trained, they become paid coaches.

International students can purchase a series of coaching sessions with a trained coach. The coaches work with the students and document the results of each coaching session. That information is made available to parents, allowing parents to keep track of their child’s success.

“Right now, we are focusing on Chinese students,” said co-founder Can (Joyce) Zhao, who graduated in May from Krannert. “But we believe the model can be copied for other international students as well.”

Company leaders have some trained coaches ready and want to begin operations over the summer.

“We’ve done our market research and have our initial clients,” Zhao said. “We’re moving forward on getting things up and running.”

The company plans to focus on Purdue for a couple of years and then expand to other universities. The company also is exploring future expansions into assistance for international parents who want to purchase local property and recruitment services for Chinese companies.

We-YouBond has received assistance from Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurial accelerator located in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. The company also has received help from faculty in Krannert as well as Purdue’s College of Health and Human Sciences.

We-YouBond recently won $2,500 as a finalist in the 30th Annual Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition.

For more information about We-YouBond, go to weyoubond.com.

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry was named a top recipient at the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation and Awards Program by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org

Purdue Research Foundation contact: Hillary Henry, 765-588-3586, hkhenry@prf.org

We-You Bond media contact: Noah.Scott@weyoubond.com

Sources: Bobby Wen, jifu.wen@weyoubond.com 

Can (Joyce) Zhao, can.zhao@weyoubond.com  


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