Dessert CEO Zhang Lei has wanted to do contract machine business 2 years after 3 times of life and death transition

Google and Aliyun disputes continue to ferment, innovation Factory graduates Dim sum is brewing a new round of transformation.

As a start-up, dim sum has undergone three life-and-death transitions since its inception in more than two years. In the melee gap of large companies, the mobile internet entrepreneurial Star enterprises as far as possible to avoid the edge of large companies, not only to dilute the mobile OS business, give up the opportunity to do contract machines, and even because of digging horns and facing the Red Sea competition has to be passively transformed.

After a short period of time to convert the channel, dim sum Now try to apply the Web, and explore with Baidu, Ali and other cloud services to cooperate, hoping to take advantage of the internet giant Open cloud services, has not been exerting force on the web app, as far as possible in this new market to seize a certain share.

Two years experience three times of life and death

Dim sum was formally established in August 2010. Innovation Workshop COO Taoning revealed that the original innovation from innovative workshop Chairman Kai-Fu Lee and founding partner Hua, Kai-Fu Lee even personally designated for the dessert project nerdy Baidu Wireless core members of Zhang Lei. It can be said that dim sum is a pioneering project with high expectation in the early stage of innovation workshop.

But the snack business has suffered setbacks for more than two years. In the words of CEO Zhang Lei, dim sum will face a death choice every six months.

Survival is the first problem to be solved, fortunately, the dessert quickly won the gold river million dollars financing. The snack business grew fast after developing dim sum os, and surprisingly, last March, the dim sum OS was at its zenith and the dessert began its first transformation. Zhang Lei will call the core team to the Office meeting, said the company must be transformed, dim sum to the operating system of the application services, for users to select, install.

This decision makes it difficult for other members of the dessert team to understand. At that time, the dessert just completed a round of financing, a lot of technical cattle, mobile OS mode is also optimistic about the outside world, "we have the money, and the team, there is a rising momentum, why should the transition to meet the unnecessary challenges?" ”

These puzzles have not shaken Zhang Lei's determination to insist on transformation. Zhang Lei believes that snacks need a quick dexterity, low-cost product line, otherwise the vast future. Last September, the core applications of the dim sum operating system, such as telephone calls, texting and so on were all dismantled, successively launched dim sum desktop, Dim sum power, Dim sum address Book, Snack box sync, dim sum alarm clock and other app products.

Dim sum The goal is clear: the original mobile phone operating system into two levels, one level is the bottom of the support layer, the other is the above application service layer. To this day, Zhang Lei still thinks that this is the most correct decision since the dessert business, and without this reform, dim sum will no longer exist.

The second change in dessert was last October, and this time it was forced to change. At that time, as more and more Internet companies entered the Mobile OS field, Dim Sum OS team was confronted by large companies digging horns. "Some of the media said that we were laying off staff and that the refreshments were laid off. I have all the people on the OS line to do system tools. I think any company can only have one line, not two lines, so put all your energy into the system tools. ”

After concentrating on the system tools, the snack business grew rapidly. Snacks in the first half of this year claimed that its application cumulative download volume found 120 million, the cumulative user 58 million, the monthly active users more than 20 million.

But Zhang is still afraid to relax, he felt that once the big companies back to God to do their best, dim sum will inevitably face threats. By May this year, he had a sense of crisis and began to think about how to stay in a relatively advanced position in a race with big companies, and whether the burgeoning web app was a big opportunity to explode.

This background dim sum is again active to change. Zhang Lei judged that the Web App Wave is one of the three major directions in the future of mobile Internet. As a result, dim sum desktop tools from the tool system, the dim Sum desktop from a tool-type client products into content flow portal, and then through traffic to create a web app hosting platform. At the same time, with Baidu, Alibaba launched Cloud services, dim sum hope with Baidu, Ali and other large companies to expand the cloud cooperation to promote business expansion.

have been encouraged to make a contract machine to give up the decision to be dug horns

As the earliest to do mobile phone OS of a group of enterprises, snacks have a luxury OS team, Zhang Lei was once the first wireless Baidu's core members; Snack products President Nang Limin once in Tencent Wireless 3G Product Center, responsible for mobile phone QQ, Qzone, QQ mobile phone browser and other product planning and operation work Coo Huang Zhuang was Dell's Asia Pacific product marketing director.

The mobile OS developed by Dim sum has also been seen as promising. Last August, when the millet mobile phone was at its zenith, many mobile phone design companies found snacks, gave money to resources, hope to work together to do mobile phones. But Zhang Lei thought backwards: Mobile OS this road is too difficult to go, need to clean up the hardware, software and other relationships; industry competition is also intensifying, with Baidu, 360 and other big internet companies are involved in mobile phones, the market gradually become the Red Sea. "Big companies are going to invest a lot, you give me tens of millions of dollars, I can not do them, because it is a brutal competition." ”

Also, dim sum's mobile OS mainly faces high-end handsets. But Samsung, HTC, Huawei, ZTE and other mobile phone manufacturers often use their own developed systems, the final snack and sharp, TCL, Haier, such as between the first line and the second line between the manufacturers. With Baidu, Ali, Shanda and other enterprises into this area, the share of dim sum is facing severe squeeze.

"The more I think about what's wrong, the more dangerous it is when everyone is stuck with you to do it," he said. Zhang said that last October, the dim sum board of Directors met to discuss, finally gave up the millet model, and even gave up the current 360 contract machine mode.

The sudden shift in strategy soon exposed the sequelae. People familiar with the matter said that many of the dim sum team are not willing to give up the idea of hardware cooperation, dim Sum marketing Department, a close relationship with the terminal manufacturer of the sales director was then dug away by a company to help push the special machine; and some of the staff ran off on their own.

Dim sum is also divided, OS Business line by Dim sum coo Huang Zhuang, many customers waiting for and Huang Zhuang signed, these businesses can bring a lot of cash flow, such as dim sum and sharp cooperation a mobile phone, can make millions. In the face of short-term interests, the transition to an uncertain future is a difficult choice.

Now, in retrospect, Zhang Lei may be glad to have judged correctly. Now Internet companies do hand opportunities cold. 360 Special machine After the force is insufficient, Huawei Terminal President Yu has announced the glittering separate listing, 360 chairman Zhou 祎 default cooperation. NetEase once brewing push mobile phone, has not too much sound, outside even rumors of a grand want to give up mobile phone line of business.

As Millet technology chairman Lei said, the entire industrial environment has not been impetuous last year. "There are few companies in the mobile phone industry that really make money, and a lot of companies die every few years, and the industry is extremely brutal, and I think in just half a year, all internet companies feel it's not easy to make a phone." ”

For dim sum, mobile OS is still a lucrative business, but the focus has shifted and the front is shrinking. Zhang said that when he was most lost, he went to the United States to make a circle, to understand the truth, that small companies are doing little things.

"Entrepreneurship is in countless blood and tears in the lessons of trial and error, the first is chaos, burning their own illuminate others, and then slowly groping constantly adjust, fortunately has the team's trust and mutual frankness to keep the dim sum until now." He concluded.