How did Xiaomi develop?

Today, Xiaomi Company has become the focus of Internet companies. Its rapid rise is overwhelming, but its growth path is worth studying.

Xiaomi has been established for more than two years. How did it happen from 1 1 ten thousand dollars when it was first established to 4 billion dollars now? Now, is our life still in crisis? In the face of the tiger-wolf teacher who is chasing after him, how does Xiaomi endure next?

Before answering this question, as a practitioner of the mobile phone hardware industry chain, I want to sum up the experience of a startup company from its establishment to the present valuation. Domestic startups are not easy to succeed, and even fewer companies can build brands and enhance added value. From the development of Xiaomi in the past two years, we can sum up many things. Here are one or two for the time being:

1. If you want to succeed in starting a business, you can't be high-profile from the beginning. High profile may soon attract the attention of competitors. In a country like China, counterfeits are common, but before he conquered, he was probably dead. Talkbox is a martyr, and so is Mi Chat of Talkbox.

2. Start small, first accumulate word of mouth and the earliest fans, and let them help you improve your products and iterate quickly. Now the Internet can provide a direct communication channel between producers and consumers. Please listen to their voices.

3. To exceed expectations, we must have the power to subvert the traditional model. The channel change triggered by the Internet has just begun, and there is still a lot of room to play.

4. The entrepreneurial environment in China is very difficult. In addition to all kinds of practical difficulties, the public opinion environment is also quite sinister. If you don't succeed, you will be laughed at. If you make some achievements, you will be copied, vilified and held back by all kinds of scolding. What you can do is to listen to the voice of users, concentrate on making your own products and win the hearts of users with products.

Let's sort out the road that Xiaomi has traveled in the past two years and review how Xiaomi has come to this day step by step. (About several stages of millet, the author "Commissioner Mao" wrote a long article, and Tiger Sniff published another)

The first stage: App development team period

Time period: from the establishment of Xiaomi Technology in April, 20 10 to the official entry into the mobile phone market in July, 2010/0.

Logo products: MIUI, Michao

Financing situation: At the end of 20 10, the venture capital mainly from Morningside, Qi Ming and IDG was about 4 1000000000, and the company's valuation reached 250 million dollars. Among them, 56 employees of Xiaomi Technology contributed 1 1 ten thousand dollars.

Company strategy:

A, 2065 438+00 06 August 16, MIUI, a mobile phone operating system based on Android, was released, but Xiaomi Technology and Lei Jun were not mentioned. MIUI was quickly recognized by fans. After the beta version was launched in August, in September, foreign professional Android enthusiasts spontaneously made a multilingual version for MIUI ROM in the forum.

At the end of B.20 10, the mobile phone chat software Mi Chat was launched. At this time, the domestic Android market has just started, and Mi Chat, which imitates Talkbox instant messaging software, has gained the attention of Android users from the beginning and quickly accumulated a large number of users.

Through the power of the Internet community, MIUI makes it easier for mobile phone users to have a sense of identity in a fast iterative way, which is also in line with the development speed of the mobile Internet. Mi Chat is a very correct product that grasps opportunities and needs. Half a year after its launch, Mi Chat has accumulated 3 million registered users.

Comments: In the market view at that time, behind MIUI and Michao was an App development team that would grasp the demand, have technology and understand the mobile Internet. But if you think that Xiaomi Technology's idea of making a mobile phone was formed in the later period, then you are wrong. In fact, Xiaomi aimed at mobile phone manufacturing from the beginning, which can be seen from the composition of Xiaomi's founder. The previous MIUI and Mi Chat, as well as the A round of financing, are all saving popularity, users and funds for Xiaomi mobile phones.

The second stage: Shantou recruitment network in the early stage of mobile phone promotion

Time: Xiaomi mobile phone was released in August, 20 1 1, until the end of the second round of financing, 20 1 1.

Logo products: Xiaomi mobile phone I

Financing situation: 20 1 1 12 valuation 10 billion USD, and the second round of financing of 90 million USD was completed. Investors include Qi Ming, IDG, Shunwei Fund, Temasek, Qualcomm and Morningside. The valuation can quadruple within one year, mainly based on the online transaction volume of 300,000 Xiaomi units mentioned below.

Company strategy:

On 20th11August16th, Xiaomi mobile phone was officially released. At this time, the dual-core mobile phone has not yet become popular, and Xiaomi has taken the lead in making domestic dual-core mobile phones with the positioning of 1999 yuan. The process of pre-sale, production and delivery is adopted. From 20 1 1 10 to 12, Xiaomi completed the launch of the first batch of 300,000 mobile phones.

Comments: Although the purchase cost is still relatively high during this period, Xiaomi mobile phone only earns money, but Xiaomi company has changed from an early application developer to a B2C e-commerce, selling only one product of Xiaomi mobile phone. Shantou recruitment network

I made a rough calculation. During this period, the labor cost of Xiaomi's engineers was about $6.5438+million, and the manufacturing cost was $25 million. This is the main purpose of a round of financing of 4 10/00000 USD.

The third stage: the explosion of mobile phones.

Time period: 20 1 1 ending on 201May, 2002.

Logo products: Xiaomi mobile phone I, Xiaomi mobile phone youth edition.

Financing situation: 20 12 may and June, the C round of financing, the amount is unknown, and the valuation is 4 billion US dollars. Within six months, the valuation will quadruple again.

Company strategy: stabilize the output of Xiaomi mobile phone, continuously speed up the supply speed, and at the same time start to set up Xiaomi Home direct customer service shop in China. According to the data released by Xiaomi Company, from 20 1 1 to 10, Xiaomi has shipped 3 million mobile phones.

During this period, Mi Chat began to be attacked by WeChat, and domestic App developers also carried out a lot of innovative follow-up. Mi Chat was complicated by more and more social functions and began to be criticized more and more. MIUI, which promises to be updated once a week, will only be updated once every two or three weeks later, and the update log of each version is delayed.

Comments: During this period, Xiaomi reduced the development of MIUI and its applications, turned its attention to mobile phones, and became a mobile phone e-commerce company relying on religious marketing more thoroughly.

The fourth stage: the red sea killing period?

Time: 2065438+June 2002 ~

Logo products: Xiaomi mobile phone, official flip machine.

Company strategy: At the same time, with the expansion of production capacity, the scale of online shopping consumers has reached the ceiling. Xiaomi no longer relies solely on the sales method supported by religious marketing of rice noodles, but begins to open up a large number of purchases, and expands the consumer groups through youth edition, tube piracy, college entrance examination students' mobile phones and operator custom machine. While cleaning up the inventory, prepare for the listing of the second generation of Xiaomi mobile phone.

At the same time, Xiaomi mobile phone has begun to promote products in the elevator of the building. In the next step, Xiaomi should continue to strengthen the layout of Xiaomi House, create offline channels, further expand the influence and customer base of Xiaomi mobile phone, and continue to penetrate into second-and third-tier cities. Shantou recruitment network

Comments: Xiaomi seems to have given up the technology color of technology companies and transformed itself into a hardware manufacturer more thoroughly. Besides, it seems that he is ready to fight a price war.

The purpose of combing Xiaomi's short history is to sum up: Xiaomi has changed from a brand-new and unique brand with fresh breath, relying on the experience of system software and hardware integration, to a mobile phone manufacturer that now calls itself "diaosi mobile phone", fights with many manufacturers and gives up soft experience. Is it a little stale? Or is it actually a diaosi mobile phone (just packaged as a "top mobile phone" or an "enthusiast mobile phone")?

Millet dislocation

Under the brilliant sales of millions of mobile phones, Xiaomi faces three dislocations:

1, from fan culture drive to price drive?

It turns out that Lei Jun has successfully created a fan-chasing culture for Xiaomi brand through various means, and has generated some emotional interaction and trust between Xiaomi and users. Millions of users enthusiastically chase Xiaomi and place orders online, and many people never just appreciate its price of 1999 yuan. However, the speed of hardware price reduction, on the one hand, certainly won profit space for Xiaomi, on the other hand, left room for Zhou.

When Zhou aimed at Xiaomi's "profiteering" weakness, he launched an offensive in Weibo and public opinion and announced that "I want to really return to users", Xiaomi couldn't sit still. If you turn a deaf ear to Zhou's call, the initiative of public opinion will be dominated by Zhou, and Xiaomi will lose the hearts of users; If you shout out the price along the week-the price that Xiaomi is choosing, it is in the middle of the week. Because first of all, Xiaomi fans will feel cheated by "Xiaomi does not rely on hardware to make money"; Secondly, Xiaomi's price reduction implies that users give up brands and emotions and use prices to measure mobile phones such as Xiaomi. At this time, the core of Xiaomi's sales drive has shifted to "price", and the brand and fan culture that Xiaomi has carefully built in the past year have suffered considerable losses.

2, product experience from soft and hard to pure competitive hardware?

As can be seen from the above combing, Xiaomi used to be a company that polished apps and systems. Now, it has obviously changed from soft to hard, and has completely become a hardware company. More precisely, it is an e-commerce company that operates a single hardware and pursues sales and distribution rate. In recent six months, you have been selling millet on Lei Jun Weibo every day. Does he seldom talk about the upgrade of Mi Chat and MIUI? (This is exactly what I want to say below-what is Xiaomi's trump card? )

3. Finally, the dislocation between capital and reality!

The last two questions, if Xiaomi chooses the latter option now, how to support Xiaomi's valuation of 4 billion US dollars? Because there are too many companies and talents in China who can go to PK startup Xiaomi, hardware and price! From this point of view, if we "attack" Xiaomi three months earlier this week, it is doubtful whether this valuation can reach $4 billion.

What trump card does Xiaomi have to play? (How to cook millet)

Xiaomi is actually exploring the whole mobile phone market in China. Once this road is paved, traditional mobile phone manufacturers and internet companies will flock to it. However, compared with traditional mobile phone manufacturers, Xiaomi also has a trump card, that is, to realize the rapid iteration of the operating system with the help of network speed and improve the user experience at any time. Xiaomi can't do it. This is what Zhou and the traditional mobile phone manufacturers alliance can't do at present, and it is also the most difficult for traditional mobile phone manufacturers to learn from Xiaomi.

In this regard, Lei Jun and his team may know something. Lei Jun said at the Weibo on June 13 (this is his rare talk about miui recently):

Xiaomi not only pursues high-end hardware and cost performance, but also works hard on software and Internet services. Miui system is called "living system" because of its weekly update and continuous improvement, which is also the unique charm of Xiaomi. These are all triathlons that Xiaomi pursued at the beginning of his business.