Caitlyn Yang Sends Young Entrepreneurs Soaring into the Startup Universe

The young and driven UC Irvine entrepreneur shoots for the stars with her startups StartSmart and Grasshopperfund.

Caitlyn Yang is on UC Irvine’s Rocket Team, and much like the rockets this UCI mechanical engineer major helps construct, she plans to blast off into the entrepreneurial atmosphere taking all those who need a little boost into startup space with her.

Yang has been stargazing since she was young and even though she didn’t know it at the time, entrepreneurship would soon find her on her path to helping others. Yang is passionate about helping young entrepreneurs realize their dreams while giving back to the community that helped her along her own path. And, she plans to do so through her startup companies, StartSmart and Grasshopperfund.

“I’ve always just been very drawn to shaping an idea to reality and being there for the whole journey to be able to support young founders through the entire evolution,” said Yang. “To bring all these segmented parts of the entrepreneurial ecosystem together and then generate a thriving economy with that ability to see hundreds of startups thrive and grow, I think that’s the reason why I chose entrepreneurship as a path.”

StartSmart and Grasshopperfund work together as a program and a platform that aims to democratize entrepreneurship, specifically addressing the education gap and lack of resources for young entrepreneurs.

BUILDING THE ROCKET

No stranger to crowdfunding, Yang’s drive to help others started with her community involvement. In high school, she was the fundraising chair of her school’s Zero Robotics Team where she raised funds for the team’s trip to MIT and to have the team’s code flown on the International Space Station.

“We had worked really, really hard to fundraise for that,” said Yang. “That was actually my first crowdfunding experience, and that’s when I actually realized that crowdfunding is tough.”

Yang also worked as a volunteer for a city within Los Angeles County’s engineering department where she helped map bus lines on Geographical Information Systems. Combining her community involvement with her love of adventure, Yang says that job played a big role in how she learned to embrace risk, change and uncertainty.

NAVIGATING THE STARTUP UNIVERSE

Yang formed ideas on ways to help others during her high school years, but she lacked a sounding board. Yang hopped down the YouTube rabbit hole to find potential resources, but came up more confused. That was until she found an opportunity to apply to a high school startup program.

“It said, ‘selective four-week incubator to build a startup with diversity,’” said Yang. “I decided to apply to that incubator just to get some guidance, mentors and access to a larger network. That was actually one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life, and it was something I was lucky to experience early on before college.”

Through the incubator, Yang got a taste of what it was like to build a startup. She and a team of her peers conducted market research, built and developed an app, beta tested during an international conference and, lastly, pitched the app to investors. All great, but after four weeks, the team no longer had access to key mentors, prototyping space, funding and other resources.

“I knew after that, there was a real divide between the people who could afford this program and get this experience, and those who didn’t even get the chance because of either age, gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic standing, which is why our mission involves building an ecosystem that guides young entrepreneurs through each stage,” said Yang.

Yang held onto her concept, the early beginnings of StartSmart, but experienced what stops many entrepreneurs — a lack of resources and funding. According to Yang, 69% of teenagers have a business idea, but only 5% are able to start real, sustainable businesses.

“Young entrepreneurs are statistically less likely to succeed because they’re often looked down upon; there’s an assumption of a lack of experience and they often have no debt-free capital to run on,” said Yang. “With 82% of startups already failing due to a lack of capital, to pair that with a 15-year-old’s pitch to investors, it’s a shot in the dark.”

STARTING SMART After high school and her initial incubator experience, Yang was even more driven to help young entrepreneurs succeed and since college was on the horizon, she seized the opportunity. Yang found UCI to be the most beneficial to the young entrepreneur. “I wanted to find a community where entrepreneurship was prioritized and was rising within the community,” said Yang. “And when I was doing my research, I found UCI and started looking into all the resources, like [UCI Beall] Applied Innovation and the ANTrepreneur Center. Coming to UCI was definitely the right decision.”

During the Anteater Involvement Fair, UCI’s annual event for new and current students to discover the hundreds of campus organizations, Yang met Jaune Odombrown, ANTrepreneur Center manager, who eventually became a pivotal mentor for Yang and her startup journey. “I felt like I was talking to my younger self. I understood the problem she was looking to solve because I also had similar problems I was looking to solve for students and younger entrepreneurs like her,” said Odombrown. “So we clicked and I decided to share everything I could because I knew she could take it and apply it.” In fall 2019, Odombrown hired Yang to serve as the ANTrepreneur Center’s Student Associate Manager and Venture Consultant for early-stage startups utilizing her StartSmart and Grasshopperfund concepts. After completing their first pilot program in summer 2020, StartSmart officially launched March 2021 and has since been producing workshops, panels and events for hundreds of young entrepreneurs. The other startup, Grasshopperfund, which launched its beta version April 2021, is a platform that provides young entrepreneurs with an opportunity to highlight their startup story, raise debt-free capital and connect with potential team members, mentors and first customers. “I truly believe both StartSmart and Grasshopperfund can be platforms that will help young entrepreneurs to not be afraid to take that first step and give them the right tools, accessibility, visibility and funding opportunities they need to succeed as well as connect potential investors, mentors and supporters with the next generation,” said Yang. In March this year, Grasshopperfund was selected as one of the 30 semifinalists out of 900 applicants in the annual Blackstone Launchpad and Techstars Network startup pitch competition. The startup also won first place in the annual Butterworth Product Development Competition at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. The team plans to use those funds to develop key marketing, branding and advertisements in addition to legal representation. In April 2020, the team also received the Student Startup Fund, a microgrant program available through Applied Innovation and they recently received a Creativity and Entrepreneurship Scholarship of $3,000. The team’s sights are also set on joining UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s Wayfinder program this summer.

YOU’RE NEVER TOO YOUNG

Despite the media’s stereotypes, Yang thinks entrepreneurs come in all ages, ethnicities, genders and socioeconomic backgrounds. She believes people are not born to be entrepreneurs and sheer talent doesn’t necessarily make a brilliant entrepreneur.

“It’s grit — the best entrepreneurs always stick through the tough times,” said Yang. “Every day there’s going to be a different challenge, but what matters most is your mindset, and also how you go about solving problems.”

As for those stargazing days, they are far from over. With her drive and determination fueling her, no goal is too far away for Yang to blast off to — because she will get there and will bring everyone along, too.

Learn more about StartSmart and Grasshopperfund.

All Photos and Graphics: Julie Kennedy

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