I’ve been building technology companies for over two decades. But my journey begins far from the glitzy headquarters and investment offices of Silicon Valley, in the fields of rural China. My early life gave few indications of the journey of discovery that lay ahead. It was simple, fraught with challenges—and perhaps counterintuitively, it planted the seeds of curiosity and boundary-pushing that have driven me right down to the present day.
My family and I scratched out a living by farming rice, corn, wheat and vegetables; meat was rationed by the government. Life in the village was straightforward but challenging, and opportunities were limited. For children, there were two possible paths. Do well academically and you might leave for the university; otherwise, you would lead the same rural life as so many generations had before. The starkness of the choice sharpened my focus, and I developed an unshakable work ethic and a hunger for exploration that has fueled my journey ever since.
An unidentified boy about 4 years old sits near a farmer’s field as his father works the soil in China’s Guizhou province. Before coming to the U.S. to work in the technology industry, the author grew up in rural China, where his family farmed rice, corn, wheat and vegetables.
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Education became my way out. I endured the monotony of endless exams and rote lessons, ultimately earning a spot at Sichuan University to study electrical engineering. Later on, I was accepted to the graduate school at Tsinghua University, often dubbed the “MIT of China.” The experience was intense but gratifying—a world where talent and hard work converged.
College was my first glimpse of freedom, the first time I experienced the joy of camaraderie and exploration. It was there that I began to understand the transformative power of technology and to see learning not just as a means to escape my own poverty but as a world of possibilities in its own right.
Taking the Leap
And as it turned out, everything up to that point was prologue. That’s because after graduation I took the great leap across the ocean to the United States.
At the University of Florida, I completed my Ph.D. in computer engineering—just as the dot-com bubble was bursting. Graduating into a challenging job market, I moved to Texas to work at Verizon while pursuing an MBA at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. This period fundamentally reshaped how I viewed leadership. I had always approached team building with a technical mindset. I thought of people as fungible components of a system, resources to be optimized.
The MBA experience opened my eyes to the importance of understanding people as individuals with unique motivations and potential to unlock. That paradigm shift became a cornerstone of my leadership style, influencing how I work to empower teams to achieve their best work.
From Texas, I moved to Minnesota. Its people are famously friendly, but the local culture is full of nuances that can be challenging for an immigrant like me to grasp. Meetings could be minefields of cultural references I didn’t understand. This experience deepened my empathy and gave me new insight I still use in motivating teams today, striving to ensure that everyone feels seen and heard.
In 2008, I moved to California and joined Google. For the first time since arriving in the U.S., I felt a deep sense of belonging. Silicon Valley’s culture of inclusivity and openness allowed me to thrive as a unique individual; my peers encouraged me to think big and tackle challenges others thought impossible.
One of my proudest achievements was leading the engineering of Google Fi, a virtual mobile service provider that redefined the telecom industry. We dreamed of switching between networks seamlessly, auto-connecting to open WiFi with VPN enabled, and eliminating the complexities of international roaming for users altogether. Experts said our vision was impossible, both technically and commercially. But with relentless focus, we succeeded. To this day, I’m still a proud Google Fi user, and meeting others who use the service gives me a unique sense of joy and accomplishment.
Not every project succeeded, though, and one of the most valuable lessons came from failure. With Google Offers, we scaled too quickly, building a large team before we had achieved product-market fit. Our core experience relied on mobile location accuracy, which wasn’t reliable enough on Android or iOS in 2013. It was a costly mistake, but it taught me the importance of timing and focus.
My time at Google was transformative. It wasn’t just a place where I built innovative projects—it was where I built the confidence to lead, to learn from failure and to share my vision with others.
Becoming a Founder
I ultimately left to co-found Leap.ai, a company focused on using machine learning to match people with jobs, which was acquired by Facebook. Co-founding a successful startup gave me confidence in my leadership abilities and skills as an entrepreneur, as well as a hunger to do more.
After Facebook, I joined a fintech company, Earnin, as chief technology officer. Millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and Earnin allowed users to access their wages before payday without predatory fees. The company’s innovative model, which relied on voluntary tips, resonated deeply with me.
At Earnin, I also saw the limitations of traditional finance. Despite the company’s success, it struggled to access debt facilities required to scale its operations from traditional banks. This challenge planted a seed in my mind. I decided to work to transform payment financing using blockchain technologies. This vision is grounded in fairness and efficiency, inspired by both my personal journey and my professional growth.
Looking Back, Pushing Ahead
Blockchain represents more than just a technological breakthrough—it’s a rethinking of value and ownership that in many ways ties together the different threads of my journey. In traditional tech, early users help refine algorithms and shape platforms but rarely share in the wealth they create.
Web3 changes that, enabling communities to co-create and co-own the value they generate. It’s not just a technological shift; it’s an opportunity to build fairer systems. I knew my next step was to help develop these powerful innovations.
Today, at the latest stage of my journey, I’m committed to building technology that empowers individuals and redistributes opportunity in a way that genuinely reflects the value of the contributions of the community. My journey from farm boy to founder has instilled a belief that technology is our best hope for a better future. I’m working hard to deliver that future—for everyone.
Richard Liu is co-founder and co-CEO of Huma Finance, the first PayFi network, which powers financing of global payments with instant access to liquidity anywhere, anytime.
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