Lawrence Lin '18

About a year ago, Lawrence Lin ’18 started Burstea, a company that developed an instant tea that he says dissolves in any liquid in less than three seconds. He expects the product to go on the market this month on China’s ecommerce site JD.com. Burstea is Lin’s latest business project, steeped in Chinese tradition and entrepreneurial experimentation at Syracuse’s Blackstone LaunchPad.

“China has a long tea drinking culture that I believe was lost in the new generation,” Lin says. As young consumers seek pure and sugarless tea, the product offers “a portable, hassle-free alternative that at the same time provides great taste and the health benefits of a cup of freshly brewed tea.”

Lin, an international relations and political science major, got a taste of entrepreneurship at the Blackstone LaunchPad, where he worked on numerous startup ideas and participated in entrepreneurial training. He enjoyed “working with talented student entrepreneurs on campus and learning about their ideas and see the distance they go to make their ideas a reality,” he says. The experience “opened my eyes to new ideas and possibilities.”

Lin credits professors who taught him problem-solving skills for his business acumen. “The ability to think about an issue or product holistically has proven to be very helpful in my professional career,” he says.

Lin, a 2016 Blackstone LaunchPad Global fellow, honed his entrepreneurial skills on several projects with other students. They included a student media platform that featured 100 student writers from 30 countries, a travel platform, and a venture that digitized local restaurants’ menus. Those projects taught him to write a business plan, create a pitch deck, brainstorm product ideas and watch an idea develop.

Those experiences directly influenced his interest in startups, he says. He also retains an international professional network – Blackstone LaunchPad mentors and friends with whom he can “bounce ideas off and seek help when I need it the most.”

While at Syracuse, Lin also served on the student committee at the Center for International Services. Now he spends much of his free time volunteering with the Syracuse University Alumni Club of Beijing. “Our goal is to help alums meet each other to have meaningful conversations and build professional collaborations,” he says.

A team of six – the other volunteers are Tianyu Luo ’16, Haiyun Xu ’15, Kyle Qu ’15, Lindsey Li ’15 and Mengke Liang ’10 – is developing a career support program for recent graduates returning to China. The alumni club also organizes social events. “There are always meaningful conversations between old friends and new,” he says.

About a year ago, Lawrence Lin ’18 started Burstea, a company that developed an instant tea that he says dissolves in any liquid in less than three seconds. He expects the product to go on the market this month on China’s ecommerce site JD.com. Burstea is Lin’s latest business project, steeped in Chinese tradition and entrepreneurial experimentation at Syracuse’s Blackstone LaunchPad.

“China has a long tea drinking culture that I believe was lost in the new generation,” Lin says. As young consumers seek pure and sugarless tea, the product offers “a portable, hassle-free alternative that at the same time provides great taste and the health benefits of a cup of freshly brewed tea.”

Lin, an international relations and political science major, got a taste of entrepreneurship at the Blackstone LaunchPad, where he worked on numerous startup ideas and participated in entrepreneurial training. He enjoyed “working with talented student entrepreneurs on campus and learning about their ideas and see the distance they go to make their ideas a reality,” he says. The experience “opened my eyes to new ideas and possibilities.”

Lin credits professors who taught him problem-solving skills for his business acumen. “The ability to think about an issue or product holistically has proven to be very helpful in my professional career,” he says.

Lin, a 2016 Blackstone LaunchPad Global fellow, honed his entrepreneurial skills on several projects with other students. They included a student media platform that featured 100 student writers from 30 countries, a travel platform, and a venture that digitized local restaurants’ menus. Those projects taught him to write a business plan, create a pitch deck, brainstorm product ideas and watch an idea develop.

Those experiences directly influenced his interest in startups, he says. He also retains an international professional network – Blackstone LaunchPad mentors and friends with whom he can “bounce ideas off and seek help when I need it the most.”

While at Syracuse, Lin also served on the student committee at the Center for International Services. Now he spends much of his free time volunteering with the Syracuse University Alumni Club of Beijing. “Our goal is to help alums meet each other to have meaningful conversations and build professional collaborations,” he says.

A team of six – the other volunteers are Tianyu Luo ’16, Haiyun Xu ’15, Kyle Qu ’15, Lindsey Li ’15 and Mengke Liang ’10 – is developing a career support program for recent graduates returning to China. The alumni club also organizes social events. “There are always meaningful conversations between old friends and new,” he says.