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| Immigrant entrepreneur: | Doctor Wei Wang |
| Company: | Urbantech Consulting Engineering, PC |
| Place of birth: | China |
| Employees: | 20 |
| Age started business: | 38 |
Show notes
Doctor Wei Wang grew up in a communist China without much education options. But against all odds, he managed to get a PhD in structural engineering in New Jersey.
When he started his company, Urbantech Consulting Engineering he didn’t even know he was running a business. He was doing everything by himself and the very first project that he worked on was a bridge that was outlined on the Discovery Channel.
Doctor Wei Wang came to the United States all by himself at 31 years old. His company has now been running for 20 years and continues to grow substantially.
His immigrant entrepreneurship journey lead him on an amazing path of being part of the engineering process to creating amazing bridges all over New York, buildings, and lots of amazing structural projects.
Quotes by Doctor Wei Wang
You should have a marketing strategy.
Have a business plan.
Failure is a necessity of being successful.
What’s important is to learn from the failures and not to repeat the same mistakes.
In Chinese we say “Failure is the mother of all success.”
Starting your own business is a lot of hard work and sometimes even scary.
Follow your heart.
Ask yourself, “What is it exactly that I want to do?”
Only do what you’re passionate about.
You will have failures along the way.
In the beginning I didn’t even know that I had a business.
Where to find Doctor Wei Wang
Urbantech Consulting Engineering, PC | LinkedIn
Mentioned in this episode
[read more] Alina Warrick (1s):
Welcome to the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast Episode 26. My name is Alina Warrick and today I have a great honor and pleasure to chat with Dr. Wei Wang from New York. Dr. Wei Wang grew up in a communist China where his only option was to get a high school education, and then either become a farmer or a manufacturer, a labor worker. But against all odds, in the unimaginable once China had a reform policy, the government allowed only one chance of taking a college prep exam to get into college.
Alina Warrick (43s):
If you got in, well, you’re lucky. If you didn’t pass the test, you have no chance of getting into colleges in China. And so Dr. Wei Wang has a very exciting journey to share. He tells us how he became a construction engineer in New York and how his business got to $1 million in revenue after only three years in business. fortune.com report size company in 2017, made a $3.5 million in revenue, and it continues to grow.
Alina Warrick (1m 24s):
His company, Urbantech Consulting Engineering, PC has been operating for 20 years now. And he’s designed many bridges in New York, and in the New Jersey area, amongst many buildings and other infrastructure project. So let’s dive right in. Wei, thank you so, so much for coming on to this Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast. I truly appreciate your time. And I’m so, so honored to chat with you about your immigrant entrepreneur journey. So how are you doing today?
Dr. Wei Wang (2m 3s):
Great. And first of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for doing this. I think this is a vital to promote the business community in the immigrant communities. And I think this is a great, one of the greatest things that’s happening, and a lot of immigrants, like myself, will start a business and to contribute to this society. I think this is a great, great thing that about this country it shows the strength of our democracy, and the strengths of this country.
Alina Warrick (2m 39s):
Thank you, thank you so much. So let’s talk about your immigrant journey. Tell us where you’re from and when did you come to the United States?
Dr. Wei Wang (2m 48s):
Yeah, I was grow up in China, Shanghai, China. And I arrived in US in 1991 in January of 1991.
Alina Warrick (2m 59s):
And did you come by yourself?
Dr. Wei Wang (3m 3s):
Yeah. And I was a student back then and I was doing my research in Denmark, about two years prior. And I was in 1989, I left the China and I went to Technical University in Denmark on the scholarship and to do some research, to complete my Ph.D. research program.
Alina Warrick (3m 28s):
Okay.
Dr. Wei Wang (3m 29s):
And after that I did my research over a little more than a year and apply the school here in US, and came here, and finished my Ph.D. program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Alina Warrick (3m 43s):
And what did you study on the Ph.D. program?
Dr. Wei Wang (3m 47s):
My research topic was Plasticity in Concrete and also Fatigue of the Materials such as the aluminum, steel, concrete, and because of my major was in Structural Engineering. And this was my research topic back then.
Alina Warrick (4m 5s):
Got it. Got it. So how old were you when you came in 1999?
Dr. Wei Wang (4m 10s):
I came here 1991.
Alina Warrick (4m 12s):
’91, okay.
Dr. Wei Wang (4m 13s):
Yeah, yeah, ’91. Oh gosh, that was 31-years-old, yeah. I left the China when I was 29.
Alina Warrick (4m 22s):
Okay, awesome. So what was it like growing up in China?
Dr. Wei Wang (4m 25s):
Well, back then, you know, because I left the China in 1989. And China just started to open a policy and the country was changing, but still very much backward behind the rest of the world, at least by 30 years or so. You know, when you compare to the industrialized countries in the West, and that was a complete different country. If you compare the China back then and everyone sees on TV right now, is a different country.
Alina Warrick (5m 1s):
What was the education like when you were growing up? Was a prominent for everyone to be going and getting higher education?
Dr. Wei Wang (5m 7s):
No, back then to getting to the college it was a very hard thing. It’s not — you know, because that was back more like a communist plan the economy. So everyone, especially the kids who were in the cities, they have to go through this high school education. Once you graduate from high school, you have to take an entrance exam to get into college. So the acceptance rate for any college, I think is less than 1%.
Alina Warrick (5m 41s):
Wow.
Dr. Wei Wang (5m 42s):
It was pretty hard to get into college back then. I remember my class, oh gosh, we have about thousand students in my class, and the only less than 100 student get into the college. But that 100 student who was not the native to this high school was in advanced placement class. To get into that class was already probably only like less than 10% chance. So it was pretty hard to get in.
Alina Warrick (6m 20s):
So when you were growing up, did you always know that you were going to move to the United States?
Dr. Wei Wang (6m 26s):
No, no. Actually, that was all by chance. And I was doing my — when I was back in like a middle school and the elementary school, there was no professional development the paths that laid in front of you. There was not even a college entrance exam back then, because the China was still in the Cultural Revolution chaos. So basically, our path was to graduate from high school and then get the place to a factory, or to a farm to be either re-educated or just take a job as a manual labor.
Dr. Wei Wang (7m 8s):
And then, and after a few years, if you’re lucky, they may pick you to send you to the college. But that was only reserved for the very top elite. So it’s very hard for me to imagine to go to college back then.
Alina Warrick (7m 26s):
Wow. Wow. Okay, so tell me a little bit more then. How did you end up in Denmark and then you came to the United States? If this was completely unimaginable.
Dr. Wei Wang (7m 38s):
Yeah, I was very lucky from get go. And right after I graduate from my junior, not even two years before I finished my junior high, and China started this open-up policy. And in — I remember 1976, they stopped at the Cultural Revolution and change from mild policy to the policy that we know now, as the open-up policy, economic reform. One of the first thing that the government implemented was to reinstituted the college entrance exam.
Dr. Wei Wang (8m 19s):
So every high school student will get a chance to get one shot to take the college entrance exam. If you pass that, and then you will be accept by the college. I was very lucky and to pass the entrance exam and was accepted by Tongji University, one of the leading universities in civil engineering in China, and started my college study in 1980. And then after I got my bachelor’s degree, I stayed in the university and then start my postgraduate study.
Dr. Wei Wang (8m 60s):
And I was accepted into a Ph.D. program, one of the first back then in China. And then I was very lucky to got a scholarship from the EU, and to conduct my research in the Technical University of Denmark, near Copenhagen. So after a year and a half or so research there, and then I applied the school here in US. And actually my professor sent me a letter through some mutual friends introduction. He learned my research and they’re both very interested.
Dr. Wei Wang (9m 41s):
And then he asked me to come here Ph.D. So I did.
Alina Warrick (9m 46s):
Wow, what a journey. What a journey. Wow, that’s amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that. So, tell me a little bit about the struggles that you had to go through when you first immigrated to the States.
Dr. Wei Wang (9m 57s):
Well, actually coming here is a little bit smooth transition because I spent a year and a half before I came here, and I get a chance to learn a little bit English in Denmark. So it become a little bit easier transition from Denmark to US. But the first few months when I arrived in Denmark, it was a shock. And, you know, having living in China for all my adult life back then. And to see an entire different world, and it was a shock. But, you know, I was still young, and I was able to adapt, and to cope with the new environment.
Dr. Wei Wang (10m 41s):
And so when I came here to US, and pretty much did the same very quickly.
Alina Warrick (10m 46s):
Did you live at the dorms at the school?
Dr. Wei Wang (10m 49s):
No, there were a few students, and we shared an apartment in the nearby Tom Harrison. It was a good experience. People helping each other. All the students who are from Mainland, China. And I remember there’s also a student from I think is a native from New Jersey. So we get along pretty well.
Alina Warrick (11m 13s):
So, you landed in the New York, New Jersey area for school?
Dr. Wei Wang (11m 17s):
That’s right.
Alina Warrick (11m 19s):
Got it. So did you always wanted to be in the engineering field when you were growing up?
Dr. Wei Wang (11m 24s):
Actually, it’s not.
Alina Warrick (11m 26s):
No?
Dr. Wei Wang (11m 27s):
I was pretty good in math. And I imagined myself to be able to study physics, advanced physics. And back then China, the sentiment it was the best student to go to study physics. I was trying, but that wasn’t good enough. So but and also, my father was a civil engineer. So he want me to study civil engineering, so I did. And that turned out to be a good fit for me.
Alina Warrick (11m 59s):
Oh, got it. So, before you tell our listeners about your company, tell me a little bit about the path you took? Did you try to go into any other fields before starting your business? So I guess we can just pick up where you were here, the studying on the Ph.D. program, doing your research and then what happened?
Dr. Wei Wang (12m 18s):
Oh, then, six months before my graduation date, and I found a job. I learned that New York is a bridge and building design firm. And I really loved and I enjoyed working there and working then daytime and going back to school in nighttime to finish my dissertation. So it went on six months, then I pass the final exam. And the paper, my dissertation was accepted by the committee. So I was able to graduate with Ph.D. degree, January 1995. And then I continue work in this company for another year or so.
Dr. Wei Wang (13m 1s):
But unfortunately, that company went out of business. And, you know, I found another job and change a few companies along the way. And finally, I decided to go on my own and start my own company. That was end of 1999 and but the company started operation 2000. So everything turned out to be pretty good.
Alina Warrick (13m 32s):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, 20 years later, still going. Obviously, it’s pretty good.
Dr. Wei Wang (13m 36s):
No complaints.
Alina Warrick (13m 38s):
Yeah. So Wei, I want to know, what was that pivotal point for you when you were working at that last company to go and venture out and create your own company? Did you just realize that you can do so much more with your own talent and your own skills? And you weren’t really allowed to do that in that company? Did you quit and then start your company? Did you start doing it on the side?
Dr. Wei Wang (14m 3s):
It’s kind of interesting because my last company with a very, very reputable building AE Firm, Architecture Engineering Firm. I was, I joined the company only live in more than a year so and were to quickly promoted to senior associate back then. So I was trying to see if there’s a possibility for me to around the bridge group because my first job I had exposure to the bridge design field. But you know, the company decided not to go that route because they have every reason to do that. I think they, this is 150-year-old architecture engineering company, concentrate on building property.
Dr. Wei Wang (14m 48s):
You know, they don’t want to venture to the bridge site. So that I decided to start my own. And with the help of two friends and they were the founder of a construction company in Jersey. I think the company is still operational by now. And but these two brothers are retired. I’m still working with the one of the brothers, Eddie Malinovski. And they helped me a lot. And Eddie and I were working on some thing very interesting. We applying a pattern to develop with whole brand new building system to be able to prefabricate four panels with very high R value.
Dr. Wei Wang (15m 35s):
R value is the one of the measures to measure the efficiency, keeping the heat, retain the heat in the house. So very environmentally friendly, and save a lot of energy. So after 20 years, we’re still working together.
Alina Warrick (15m 53s):
Wow. So did you have any savings before you quit and started up your company?
Dr. Wei Wang (15m 60s):
Oh yeah. I’ve been working like five years or so. So yeah, I do have a little savings. But to start my company and my type of the business, you don’t need a lot of capital, you need a lot of brainpower. It’s all you need is a computer, pencils, and drafting table. I did spent $4,000. I remember, I bought a large format plotter so I can plot a lot of drawings and that was about it.
Alina Warrick (16m 35s):
Wow. Awesome. Awesome. So tell us a little bit more about Urbantech and what you guys do?
Dr. Wei Wang (16m 41s):
Well, Urbantech is a structural engineering firm. This is the — I’m a structural engineer, but with a very strong focus on construction engineering. So we work with owners, architects to design new buildings, new bridges. And also we work with contractors to figure out what’s the most efficient way to build buildings and bridges. And majority of work is actually on the infrastructure area, which is we do a lot of bridge construction engineering work. Figured out the way to build the bridges efficiently, quickly.
Dr. Wei Wang (17m 25s):
And we’re also very big on ABC, Accelerated Bridge Construction, where you take one weekend, and to shut down the road, and to remove the bridge, and the moving in a new bridge, We’ve done quite a few of those. And that this is what we do at Urbantech.
Alina Warrick (17m 47s):
And so this is focused and the New York area?
Dr. Wei Wang (17m 51s):
That’s right. And our businesses primarily in New York area. But also we do a little bit work outside of New York, like a Pennsylvania, DC area and but the Northeast.
Alina Warrick (18m 6s):
So what was the first bridge that you planned out?
Dr. Wei Wang (18m 10s):
The first bridge actually was a pretty large one. And we did one as the Urbantech we design bridge and under the company called, it’s a very large company from Turkey. Actually, they have operation in the US it’s called Kiska. They were the successful low bidder of a replacement of a swing bridge that the bridge’s swings open allowed to allow the ships to pass by, right? It a bridge to connecting Manhattan and Bronx. It’s called Third Avenue Bridge. If I recall correctly, that was the first major movable bridge to get replaced reconstructed in New York area in the 50 years or so periods.
Alina Warrick (19m 1s):
Wow.
Dr. Wei Wang (19m 2s):
So we worked as Urbantech actually, that back name was just myself and we planned the removal of the bridge. And also we detail, how to put the new bridge together with the proper geometry. And also we designed some bridge once temporary bridge being used to during construction to maintain the traffic. The bridges are built in Alabama and put down the ocean going barge 400 by 400 feet 20 foot deep ocean going barge were towed here to US.
Dr. Wei Wang (19m 43s):
That project, the one of the signature project in New York area was documented by Discovery Channel. So yeah, that was a good project. Yeah.
Alina Warrick (19m 57s):
And you do that all by yourself?
Dr. Wei Wang (19m 58s):
Uh, you don’t get that constraint engineering, yeah. I get most of the calculations and with some help from part-time workers that I can find my friends and so on. Yeah. And then because of this work, we got the second bridge replacement the project right next to that bridge, its called the 145th Street Bridge in from Kiewit. And then Kiewit is the I think they are the number one domestic construction companies in US. And after this job, we build very good business relationship with Kiewit northeast operation.
Dr. Wei Wang (20m 40s):
So we are doing a lot of their work. And right after this is under the major bridge replacement that Willis Avenue Bridge. So we did all the engineering in before bid with Kiewit.
Alina Warrick (20m 54s):
That was awesome.
Dr. Wei Wang (20m 55s):
Yeah. You know, basically, we did all three moveable bridges replacement in New York City connecting Manhattan and the Bronx.
Alina Warrick (21m 4s):
Wow, what a huge responsibility working on bridges. So I always wanted to know, specifically on bridges. So how do you guys install them? Do you have to go all the way down to the deep, deep ocean to the ground? Because I always thought that like to get down to the bottom is a such a long, long way to go. So how are these bridges standing? And are they really holding to the bottom of the ocean?
Dr. Wei Wang (21m 36s):
You know, in this case, this is a river, the bridge cross over a river, East Harlem River.
Alina Warrick (21m 43s):
Okay.
Dr. Wei Wang (21m 44s):
But the principle is the same and the conventional design is you have used piles, right? It’s like a very long columns. And you drive them down through, passing through the softer layers like a sand. You know, sometimes the clay. And you try to reach the bedrock. Because below that, usually you gonna find rocks somewhere, right? So you find the location of where the rock at the bedrock is higher, closer to the ground. And then you drive piles of land that the piles on the bedrock, and then you pour foundation pile caps.
Dr. Wei Wang (22m 29s):
And then use that to support the bridge.
Alina Warrick (22m 32s):
Wow, wow, that’s insane. That’s awesome. So Wei, how old were you when you started your business?
Dr. Wei Wang (22m 41s):
Oh, gosh, how old I was? I was just 38.
Alina Warrick (22m 45s):
38. Awesome. So where do you think you got your entrepreneurial drive from?
Dr. Wei Wang (22m 51s):
That’s a very good question. Be honest with you, I didn’t realize I was running a business for a very long time since I started the company.
Alina Warrick (23m 2s):
No way.
Dr. Wei Wang (23m 3s):
I said I want to practice the engineering. Yes.
Alina Warrick (23m 6s):
Wow.
Dr. Wei Wang (23m 7s):
And that’s what I love to do. And that’s where my passion is, right? I’m a engineer, and I want to practice engineering. So in practicing engineering in the field that of my liking. So that’s why I started this company and start doing the construction engineering, which is my passion. So I love working in the field and figure out the you know, identify the problem and use my math and engineering skills to devise a solution, to solve the problem. That had been model of Urbantech. We try to be very practical, and also to be very efficient in our design, use the advanced engineering and the mass.
Dr. Wei Wang (23m 59s):
But not necessary come up with a complicated solution. We want to devise a very simple solution. So an Urbantech, we say our design, we follow the principle of a kisses. Usually, you say kiss or keep it simple, stupid. But we do it to keep it simple, stupid, efficient, and safe. So that the some solution you come up with people look at, “Yeah, it’s so simple. Why didn’t we think about this before, right?” But come to this point through multiple iterations that’s what we do. And talking about the business and the first time I realized I have to treat this as a business it was 2012 and 2013.
Dr. Wei Wang (24m 49s):
I attended this program. I think it helped me tremendously and to discover the other side of engineering, which is a business is Goldman Sachs, 10-KSB. This was a program that Goldman Sachs established after the economic, you know, the financial crisis in the in 2008. And the goal is to help 10,000 small businesses within US to grow, right. So I applied the program and got in. The first time I didn’t even got in. And I applied the second time, they said to me, and I found that was very helpful, because in all of sudden, and I realized that running a company, you have to treat it as such.
Dr. Wei Wang (25m 42s):
So you have financial, you need to take care of, you have HR, you have to have a very clear business development goal and you have to understand the people. So this is where I start the looking at this business from a different perspective. It helped me tremendously. Urbantech was established in 1999, the start operating 2000, that I said. And our revenue shoots up pretty fast that in the first two years, I think we reached, like a million dollar revenue within like a three years. It was like a same, right?
Dr. Wei Wang (26m 24s):
Now much difference for the next 10 years.
Alina Warrick (26m 29s):
Okay.
Dr. Wei Wang (26m 30s):
And then 2013, I decided to look at different plans to try to run Urbantech, as a business enterprise, not just my individual engineering practice. So we start to implement some growth plans that I worked out, while attending 10-KSB and setup of a goal for 25% annually. And we actually hit them, surpassed this goal. So we increased our revenue, quite significant trade in the next five years.
Dr. Wei Wang (27m 11s):
And by all means the Urbantech, the small name as of today still. But and we the type of the project that we were doing, and type of people we hiring, and though we try to lay a very clear professional development path to in front of everyone and get everyone involved in the company daily operation. So I think that this program really helped me tremendously. You know, in the past five years in Urbantech had been on this growth path. And we are on the IC fortune list of Top 100 small fastest growing businesses in US for the past four years hopefully.
Dr. Wei Wang (28m 4s):
You know, this will be our fifth year, we’ll keep our fingers crossed. So we’re getting on will be the fifth year consecutive year on that list. We’re very proud of being part of that program.
Alina Warrick (28m 18s):
Yeah, yeah, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. So I was reading through an article that was published on fortune.com. And it did mention that your company had a 272.68% growth over a five year period. So we’re talking about growth. And I wanted to ask you, do you think that is mainly contributed from that Goldman Sachs program that you attended?
Dr. Wei Wang (28m 43s):
Yeah, that program actually opened the door. So that, as I said, led me to realize the business side of Urbantech’s operation. So we started a plan and implement that plan by getting new capital, hire new people, open the market by decision, but at the end of day, our people is what’s behind this growth. Everyone’s working very hard, right? And understand that this is the goal not just for the upper management there the Urbantech, but is everyone’s goal.
Dr. Wei Wang (29m 25s):
Try to reach that goal that we have set for ourself. So I think I have to emphasize this, I can say, more enough that our people is the real driving force behind that.
Alina Warrick (29m 44s):
And then the other thing that you started doing is physically writing down your goals and like you mentioned, 25% increase in revenue and you completely surpass that. I just want to ask you is that maybe also what contributed to this massive amount of growth? Like before, you didn’t really have kind of a business goal, business plan, and then you started physically writing them down and implementing those strategies from that program?
Dr. Wei Wang (30m 14s):
That’s correct. I think you have to be very clear, not just to yourself and to every company, what’s our goal. And what we need to achieve as a company at the end of this year? And also what kind of a client, what’s our marketing strategy to reach that goal. So this is the once you have this laid out very clearly, and everyone has a very clear goal to achieve, and with the help of our staff, we feel like we can get there and it for the past seven years, but I think that we will eventually reach our new target in the next five years.
Alina Warrick (31m 3s):
You will, you will surpass that target.
Dr. Wei Wang (31m 5s):
Thank you.
Alina Warrick (31m 7s):
I know it. I know it. So Wei, did you have any mentors that helped you out to start your business?
Dr. Wei Wang (31m 14s):
Initially, not really. And somehow I was just got into this without a very good preparation that I should have. But along the way, I think I got a lot of help in from my clients and these are all executives, project managers from large companies, such as the Kiewit, Skanska. And I think I learned tremendously and how this company operates. And that we implement a lot of there are policies like safety policy. They usually — you know, before they sign the contract that they say, “Hey, this is a safety policy, and you have to accept it, because you are coming to our job site.”
Dr. Wei Wang (32m 2s):
And then first we look at, “Wow, this is the very rigorous. Can we do it as a small company?” But you toughed it out, and you stick to it. And you make sure you are doing the very same as the client would like you to do. And especially on the safety on the end, also our accounting system. And with that, I think we learned that tremendously to help us and also it helped us to achieve where we are now.
Alina Warrick (32m 37s):
So powerful. So looking back at your immigrant entrepreneur career and knowing what you know now, would you want to change anything or do anything differently?
Dr. Wei Wang (32m 50s):
Absolutely. You know, I wish I knew that run the any kind of business engineering practicing included is a real business. You have to treat as a business treat as such, so that you should have a business plan, you have a financial cash flow, it’s there to support your growth, and you have to have the marketing strategy. I didn’t know any of those but I start it. If I knew that I think will help me tremendously to get where we are now, probably 10 years shorter time that we took, yeah.
Alina Warrick (33m 39s):
You mentioned that you raised capital a little further down the road, right?
Dr. Wei Wang (33m 45s):
Mm hmm.
Alina Warrick (33m 46s):
Got it. So you didn’t raise any capital at the beginning stages? You kind of just did this by yourself, you thought that you were running your own show? Right?
Dr. Wei Wang (33m 55s):
That’s right. And we right after the Goldman Sachs program, the first thing I did was reach to my bank, Chase. They have been tremendous, tremendous help to us. And I say to them, “Look, we have this growth plan. And I would like to get a line of credit to support this growth.” And I spoke with my banker, and she said, “Well, you know, we look at your company’s financial, and your project, and your brochure, and we would like to talk to you.” So I went into a meeting, I didn’t even know it was a pitch.
Dr. Wei Wang (34m 37s):
So I stepped into this conference room with like about 10 people sitting there waiting for me. I thought it was a private meeting just with my banker. And so they asked questions like, give my answers or obviously, I know my numbers. And that was not much to remember because It’s all me, right? I was the chief engineer. I was the chief financial officer. I was there. It was just me, right? So the meeting went well. And they gave me a line of credit that I asked. I wish I asked more.
Dr. Wei Wang (35m 17s):
But they gave me what I asked. And that was good. And then I use that money and start to hiring people. And then we went one step further. Last year, we went back to Chase ask for a pretty large sum of term loans. And they were asking, “Why do we need a term loan?” I told them, “Look, as a company, we have this growth plan. We need to make sure we have a cash to maintain the health cash flow to support this growth. In any growth, you will know that the cash flow was lagging in our businesses like a six month lag.
Dr. Wei Wang (35m 59s):
Meaning that the you putting the work in advance. You won’t see the money in six months, because this it takes this long to get your invoice approved by the project, by the government agencies before you can see the money. So we need that money in place to support these growths.” So they give me the money and that money turned out to be extremely helpful. That was end of last year. And entering this year, we all know what happened. So but with our term goal, and also with the more business administration’s help, the EIDL loan, the PPP loan, so we survived this pandemic so far pretty well, and hopefully, we can reposition ourselves when to grow even further.
Dr. Wei Wang (36m 48s):
And when the next year after the infrastructure bill is approved. And I enjoy it will be approved by the Congress. So we are going to expand even further.
Alina Warrick (37m 1s):
Wow.That is so so amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that. Wei, I’m really interested to know how do you look at failures? And how do you overcome them?
Dr. Wei Wang (37m 12s):
I think failure is just some misfortune happen to anyone. It’s almost a necessity for being successful. What’s important is to learn from the failures, and not to repeat the same mistake. So as they say, right, in Chinese, we say, “The failure is the mother of all success.” Right? And here we say, “Failing your way to success.” I think failure is the — you know, this is the universe. Everyone understands that.
Alina Warrick (37m 52s):
But the thing that will really hurt you is you repeat the same mistake, or after one trial you give up, then that will really hurt you. So you have to keep trying, and to learn from your mistakes. And that eventually we’ll get there. Yes, I believe that. It’s so true. So is giving back either volunteering time or giving back to the community something that is part of your business values?
Dr. Wei Wang (38m 21s):
Yeah, I think so. They say charity start from your home. It is the first thing we do is we try to provide our, the very competitive benefit package to our employees and for instance we give anyone, if they want to study anything. Tuition assistance, when they say anything it is related to our business, right? You can study engineering master degrees, or you want to study MBA. The company, we pay part of the expenses. If you go to public school, the amount that we pay pretty much can cover like a 90% or even 100% of your cost.
Dr. Wei Wang (39m 4s):
So this is what we do at the first step. And also and I volunteer my time to serve the school that I attended. NJIT, New Jersey Institute of Technology. I’ve been on the board of industry, advisory board, for more than 10 years.
Alina Warrick (39m 23s):
Wow.
Dr. Wei Wang (39m 24s):
Yeah. And also we donate our time and our money to any good causes that we see fit.
Alina Warrick (39m 33s):
That’s amazing. You’ve given back in so many ways. So Wei, what is next for you? What are some projects you’re working on now? Are you building any more bridges?
Dr. Wei Wang (39m 43s):
Yeah. We’re working with Skanska on the project, yes, reconstruction of the Hunts Point.
Alina Warrick (39m 51s):
Reconstruction of what?
Dr. Wei Wang (39m 53s):
Hunts Point.
Alina Warrick (39m 55s):
Okay.
Dr. Wei Wang (39m 55s):
It’s a project in New York, that vitalize the one area in Bronx, the Hunts Point. And also we still working on the new airport, the LaGuardia Airport project with Walsh and Skanska. And there were a few more other projects like alarm railroads building a third track, connecting the Long Island to the Manhattan. Adding one more track that we call The Third Track Project that we’re on that project as well. We’re actively bidding coming projects. And in New York area, in the next five years is about $51 billion infrastructure improvement projects in the pipeline.
Dr. Wei Wang (40m 38s):
So we can very much be on top of that, and try to bid the project with our business partners. And try to be part of this infrastructure revitalization project probe.
Alina Warrick (40m 54s):
Awesome. Awesome. You are doing so much. So one out of 20 years, can you tell me if you had like one project that was absolutely, like, amazing, and you’re like, “Wow, what an amazing opportunity to be part of.” Was it a bridge? Was it a building? Anything that you can think of?
Dr. Wei Wang (41m 14s):
Oh, gosh.
Alina Warrick (41m 17s):
There were so many, I’m sure.
Dr. Wei Wang (41m 18s):
It’s like you ask, who is your favorite child?
Alina Warrick (41m 26s):
Yeah.
Dr. Wei Wang (41m 26s):
Well, we love every project that we work on right? But you know, there are a few projects that they have special. For instance, The Third Avenue Bridge project, that was the first one that I spent a lot of time on it and starting to understand the naval architecture, and the very essence of stability of a ship. And starting from FedEx, that’s what I like to do, right. And then see how it worked out well in the real world. And that was a very unique experience. And through that project, actually, we developed a very strong naval architecture product capability.
Dr. Wei Wang (42m 9s):
And so after this, as I said, we did the 145th, the Willis Avenue Bridge, and also we did a lot of Port stability, type of work at that the Tappan Zee Bridge. So that helped us to build a new technical engineering, technical capability. And the other project like the you know, we worked with Kiewit Panda building the New Castle Bridge. And those who that actually we develop under field team engineer. One of our staff members, got her master degree, wrote the master thesis on what we did on that job.
Dr. Wei Wang (42m 53s):
So it does not only advance in the technology side, but also it was a very successful project, the engineering and business wise. So these are all very interesting project, we just finished the LaGuardia Airport. Majority of the portion of the LaGuardia Airport. And I think that the clients response was very positive. And I think we were very happy to be part of the team. And that project it was the best the project by ENR. So I think that these are the projects — like I said, I love every project.
Dr. Wei Wang (43m 35s):
It’s very hard for me to pick.
Alina Warrick (43m 40s):
Fabulous, fabulous. I love it. I love it. So what are some things you would advise in the next aspiring immigrant that wants to start their own business listening to you right now?
Dr. Wei Wang (43m 51s):
Well, I think starting your own business is very hard work, and sometimes is scary, especially in the day one. And if you are in the service business, and your revenue comes from project to project, yet you have to maintain your staff, your payroll comes every two weeks. They don’t vary because of your project. So it could be challenging, right. But I think what really need to do is to follow your heart. Ask your question, “What exactly what I want to do?” And only do what you’re passionate about.
Dr. Wei Wang (44m 34s):
So for me, as I said, it was a blessing not knowing engineering as a business because I got into engineering. I thought it was just practicing engineering that actually helped. If I knew you know what I have to deal with every day, I probably in the beginning I will be scared. The key is you have to do what you love to do, right? And also there will be a lot of things getting to your way. Business is not the end the easy one. And you will have failures along the way. It’s to point out the right play around interview.
Dr. Wei Wang (45m 15s):
I think in the end if you ask yourself, “Is this what I want to do?” And then, if the answer is, yes, I think that that’s what you really find what you’re passionate about. And this is something you should keep doing. And also would like to quote Steve Jobs. And there’s a lot of things that can happen during your business career but stay hungry, stay foolish. You eventually, you will get there.
Alina Warrick (45m 48s):
Those are so powerful. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that. So to wrap up, I have some super, super fast questions for you, if you’re okay with that?
Dr. Wei Wang (45m 58s):
Sure.
Alina Warrick (45m 59s):
Okay. What time do you normally start your day?
Dr. Wei Wang (46m 1s):
Oh, I get up at 5:30. And I’m in the office 7:30.
Alina Warrick (46m 6s):
Awesome. How many employees do you have?
Dr. Wei Wang (46m 9s):
We have 20.
Alina Warrick (46m 11s):
Awesome. How often do you watch TV in a week?
Dr. Wei Wang (46m 14s):
Ah, TV. I love watching TV. You know, in the weekend, I probably spent two hours, three hours.
Alina Warrick (46m 21s):
A week?
Dr. Wei Wang (46m 23s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (46m 23s):
Okay. Okay, cool. And then how many hours of work do you normally put in say in a week?
Dr. Wei Wang (46m 28s):
In the week? Probably more than 60.
Alina Warrick (46m 30s):
More than 60?
Dr. Wei Wang (46m 32s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (46m 32s):
Hopefully, it’s not more than 80?
Dr. Wei Wang (46m 34s):
No, not more than 80. But probably 75.
Alina Warrick (46m 39s):
Oh, okay. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Wei, thank you so, so much for coming on my show. You started Urbantech from the ground up and your journey speaks volumes to all the Immigrant Entrepreneurs, and I know is going to inspire so so many people. I wish you all the best of successes. and I hope to see many, many more bridges in the future.
Dr. Wei Wang (47m 3s):
Thank you. Thank you for having me, and to give me the opportunity to share my journey with everyone. Thank you.
Alina Warrick (47m 10s):
Thank you.Thank you so much. All righty, guys, thank you so much for tuning in. I just wanted to ask if you can give me a quick shout out wherever you’re at listening to this podcast. And I’d love to give you a shout out as well on a future episode of mine. I will see you guys all next time for another exciting and impactful episode. Take care. [/read]
