By: Joshua Finley
Building a successful business takes skill, determination and the right strategies. As the Founder and CEO of customer feedback platform TheySaid, Lihong Hicken has demonstrated all of these qualities on her entrepreneurial journey.
Lihong Hicken’s journey of success from a rural Chinese village to CEO of her own company exemplifies empowering strategies for women entrepreneurs. Through resilience, openness to opportunities, and a focus on overlooked customer needs, she has disrupted entrenched industries.
Here, Lihong shares invaluable insights from her experience. From embracing multiple roles to fuel learning, to using life challenges like motherhood to drive innovation, her approaches weakened barriers and strengthened strategic positioning. For women seeking to blaze their own trails in business, Lihong’s proven strategies provide an insightful model to study.
Embrace Multiple Opportunities
When first relocating to America, Lihong took on several roles simultaneously. “I always worked three jobs at the same time in order to pay student loans and just survive,” she notes. This tenacity allowed her to continuously learn new skills. She believes much of her success stems from being open to opportunities. “Opportunities just floated at me,” Lihong says. “I think, how I got here is just saying yes to a few of them.” Embracing multiple avenues for professional and personal growth served as a strategy for expanding her network and experience base.
Photo Courtesy: Lihong Hicken
Strengthen Relationships Through Education
Another strategic move was offering private Chinese lessons. “I teach them, that is the funds I use to sponsor kids in China to go to college,” Lihong explains. This allowed giving back while deepening connections in her industry. She also interned for and maintained strong ties with UserTesting, eventually rejoining as a paid employee. Continuous education in business and through Berkeley’s MBA program further strengthened her strategic position and career advancement.
See Value in Starting at the Ground Level
When starting at UserTesting, Lihong notes, “I was the intern there building desks, fixing computers, running errands, doing all that stuff for free.” Gaining exposure from the ground up taught her the full business. She emphasizes the importance of understanding each facet to gain credibility and holistic perspective later as a leader. Starting from humble origins gives insights otherwise unattainable and builds strategic relationships across an organization.
Use Life Experiences to Drive Innovation
Motherhood posed tremendous challenges Lihong leveraged strategically. “I launched a company when my daughter was four weeks old.” Juggling responsibilities pushed her efficiency. It also informed TheySaid’s focus on streamlining feedback processes. Her global travels and experiences in hyperinflationary economies additionally shaped innovative solutions. Call on all aspects of your identity and lived experiences to fuel new strategic approaches to solving problems differently than competitors.
Focus on Overlooked Customer Needs
It’s important to find problems in your specific niche and try to solve them. By shifting to AI-driven conversations empowering survey-takers, Lihong filled a void where “Nobody is thinking about survey takers’ experience.” Look for gaps competitors have missed that you can solve strategically. Understanding overlooked customer and workforce needs opens doors for meaningful innovation and competitive differentiation.
Photo Courtesy: Lihong Hicken
Pay it Forward to Advance Others
Even now, Lihong supports educating disadvantaged youth in China through donations. Giving back strategically grows your network while advancing communities. “Surround yourself with the brightest and most enjoyable people,” she also advises. Cultivate talent through opportunity and mentorship to strengthen operations and your professional village. Make advancing other women entrepreneurs part of your strategic mission as well.
Through diligent work, embracing change, and innovative problem-solving grounded in diverse experiences, Lihong has built an impactful career and businesses. Her strategies provide a model for women entrepreneurs to follow in forging their own success.
To learn more about Lihong, visit her LinkedIn profile here.
Published By: Aize Perez
