Vastech Energy's Yiyang Liu: From "Death Major" to PhD Founder, Finding a New Path to Commercializing Aqueous Batteries

This episode's guest is Yiyang Liu, founder & CEO of Vastech Energy.

Born in 1997, Liu started his company while pursuing his PhD at UCL, eventually recruiting 15 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral classmates to join him in focusing on aqueous batteries.

In this podcast, Liu shares his unique insights on the commercialization path for aqueous batteries, as well as his personal journey as a founder.

In an industry as capital-intensive and experience-driven as batteries, do young entrepreneurs fresh out of the lab still stand a chance? What has drawn so many accomplished young researchers to join Vastech and build something together? This is a story about one individual's remarkable path, and also about how a group of post-95s with technical ideals carved out a new frontier for themselves.

In 2023, ZhenFund launched the "Gen Z Hustlers Program," committing 100 million RMB to support entrepreneurs born after 2000. Of course, we know that at 20, you may not yet have a fully formed business idea. So we've invited founders a few years older than you to talk about their own confusions and choices at age 20.

The video version of this episode is available on ZhenFund's official video channel. This is the complete audio version — welcome to listen in. If you have more questions, feel free to leave a comment; our guest will drop by the comments section from time to time.

Guest

Yiyang Liu, PhD from University College London. One of his papers was accepted by Joule, a top journal in energy research, becoming the first cover article in this research direction for the publication. Founded Vastech Energy in 2021, recruiting 15 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral classmates.

Timeline

Engineering, Business, Ideals and Reality

02:16 Turning academic research into manufactured products is the ultimate romance for engineering students

05:37 Wanting to do something interesting: those "bizarre" internship stories

08:46 Hundreds of startup competitions: improving cognition and growing through being challenged

11:13 More than a 1000x gap: the chasm from lab to mature production line

14:35 Reviewing how giants built their empires: often waiting for the wind, then riding it

16:48 Rejecting involution: finding differentiated application scenarios from first principles of technology

20:00 Begin with the end in mind: Vastech's unique path to commercializing aqueous batteries

22:12 Recruiting 1/4 of the Chinese PhDs from his research group: the centripetal force of technical ideals

23:55 Different battery technology paths each have their own problems to solve

Entrepreneurship and Self-Cultivation

29:02 The more you "accept your fate," the more emotionally stable you become: knowing what you don't know, then facing it calmly

31:13 Two and a half years of entrepreneurship, from extrovert to introvert: growth is a process of turning inward

32:24 Having ideas and goals may matter more than having only the halo of academic credentials

33:19 Deciding to start a company immediately was the best decision

36:08 "Empowering the world": providing energy storage solutions for humanity's needs in extreme environments

Further Reading

Related Reading

Yiyang Liu, Vastech Energy: Breaking Barriers | Z Circle

Related Materials

Aqueous Zinc-Ion Battery: A type of battery using zinc as the anode material and water or aqueous electrolyte as the electrolyte. Advantages include high energy density, high safety, and fast charging/discharging.

PMF (Product-Market Fit): A business concept referring to a company's product successfully meeting market demand. Typically used in the context of startups and new products, emphasizing the degree of alignment between a product or service and the needs of its target customer group.

Dendrites: During charging, tree-shaped crystals gradually form on the surface of the negative electrode, short-circuiting the charging path and causing battery failure.

Hydrogen evolution: In electrolyte solutions, when electric current passes through electrodes, water molecules at the cathode are reduced to hydrogen gas. In aqueous solutions, zinc metal anodes are prone to side reactions such as hydrogen evolution and dendrite growth during charging and discharging, which reduce cycling efficiency and battery lifespan.

Staff

Executive Producers: Jiafen, Yifei

Post-Production: Keyone Studio

About ZhenFund

"Take It Seriously" is a general business podcast produced by ZhenFund, where the investment team will share the latest hot topics and industry insights with leaders across various fields. Founded in 2011, ZhenFund is one of China's earliest angel investment institutions. Since its inception, ZhenFund has been actively seeking out the most outstanding entrepreneurial teams and era-defining investment opportunities in artificial intelligence, chips and semiconductors, robotics and hardware, healthcare, enterprise services, new energy, cross-border expansion, consumer lifestyle, and other sectors. ZhenFund — your first stop for entrepreneurship!

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