Empowering Startup Innovation: AI, MVPs, and Mentorship at Duke Kunshan University
On March 21-22, 2025, Yaokai Jiang, CEO and founder of Momen, joined Duke Kunshan University as a startup mentor, sharing his expertise on leveraging AI for startup MVP development, and consulting with young entrepreneurs at the DKU Innovation Incubator.
Through hands-on workshops, real-world case studies, and personalized mentorship, these sessions provided aspiring founders with practical strategies to integrate AI into their business models—from idea validation to execution.
Bootcamp : AI in Startup MVPs
Participants in the AI Startup MVPs Bootcamp.
On March 21, Duke Kunshan University’s AI in Startup MVPs Bootcamp, yaokai jiang sharing insights on how AI can accelerate market analysis, product design, and software development for early-stage ventures.
This hands-on session provided participants with real-world case studies and no-code AI tool demonstrations, helping them understand how to leverage AI for efficiency and impact in their MVPs. Using Momen as a live example, Yaokai showcased how AI can be seamlessly integrated into startup workflows to automate processes, analyze trends, and build scalable solutions—all without coding.
The discussions during and after the session revealed a mix of uncertainty and ambition among young entrepreneurs. Many were unsure of their future paths, yet their ideas tackled meaningful problems. Yaokai engaged with them, addressing their concerns and guiding them toward structured, AI-driven solutions.
From Ideas to Proposals: Mentorship with Yaokai Jiang
Yaokai Jiang Presenting.
The DKU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative fosters creativity, social responsibility, and global perspectives, empowering the next generation of leaders to impact society and shape the future.
On March 22, at the DKU Innovation Incubator, Yaokai Jiang provided guidance to participants, helping them shape their startup ideas into actionable proposals during office hours. The mentorship focused on refining project details, structuring clear one-year roadmaps, and ensuring market viability. Students shared their concepts, discussed challenges, and explored solutions to enhance their projects' impact. Yaokai provided strategic guidance, helping teams prioritize key objectives, streamline development plans, and align their ideas with practical business applications.
The discussions covered a diverse range of projects, each with unique challenges and goals. From healthcare innovations to educational tools and AI-powered solutions, Yaokai’s mentorship helped students sharpen their focus, assess feasibility, and define next steps.
Project Highlights
Chinese Radical Lab
Nemuulen Togtbaatar and Bilguun Dugarsuren's project aims to make learning Chinese characters more engaging by transforming memorization into a creative and interactive experience. The current market lacks a flexible and immersive approach to Chinese language learning, making this project a unique opportunity.
Using platforms like Momen, they can create a more lean, cost-effective strategy to bring this niche focus and practical execution plan to life. Yaokai Jiang demonstrated how to build an MVP with AI features without coding using Momen. The prototype for the personalized storytelling feature could be developed with AI by:
Combining the student’s learning history, conditions, and interests to personalize their journey.
Building multiple AI agents for different scenarios, like generating a list of learned characters for use in the app’s storytelling feature.
Tailoring the user interface and workflow for customized learning experience.
Yaokai approved the viability of the project, highlighting its niche and practical potential. The next step is to refine the app's core functionalities and initiate user testing.
Journey Connect
Led by Yuanfei Hu and her team, Journey Connect aims to solve the challenge of finding suitable travel partners for students. The platform seeks to integrate with existing university travel systems, providing a safe and convenient matching service.
Yaokai helped the team outline a community-building strategy, starting with a small, localized rollout on campuses before scaling further. This approach ensures early user engagement and allows for iterative improvement. He also shared real-world community examples built with Momen, showing how to efficiently develop the platform at low cost and high speed—offering a practical solution for turning their idea into reality.
Palettenova
Sean Wan’s project is redefining the nail art industry by leveraging AI to create custom nail polish colors through precise pigment mixtures. Targeting both consumers and mobile nail artists, the business has strong market potential but requires strategic execution.
Yaokai provided consulting on refining the customization experience, optimizing supply chain logistics, and streamlining distribution to drive cost efficiency. He emphasized the importance of analyzing the core customer base and implementing a strategic shipping model to enhance international scalability. Moving forward, the team is focused on developing a robust procurement and fulfillment strategy to support sustainable growth and expansion.
Momen: Supporting the Next Generation of Innovators
Momen remains committed to supporting young entrepreneurs by offering educational resources, mentorship opportunities, and AI-driven tools to accelerate innovation. By empowering the next generation of founders, Momen helps turn ambitious ideas into real-world solutions.
No-code platforms like Momen provide an accessible way for entrepreneurs to build and test ideas without requiring deep technical expertise, making innovation more inclusive and efficient. Momen Education offers exclusive benefits to young entrepreneurs, further supporting their growth and development.
We continue to foster an ecosystem where young entrepreneurs can learn, experiment, and grow. We look forward to seeing these ventures set sail toward success!
