Small fish Technology: intelligent Hardware companion demand

Absrtact: April 2014, Beijing Little Fish Technology Co., Ltd. (small fish technology) CEO Song Maple came to Taiwan, in the Innovation Workshop chairman and CEO Lee Kai-Fu, met chairman Terry Gou. Guo sent a gift to song--designate company I

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April 2014, Beijing Small Fish Technology Co., Ltd. ("Small Fish Technology") CEO Song Maple came to Taiwan, in the Innovation Workshop chairman and CEO Lee Kai-Fu, met chairman Terry Gou. Guo gave song a big gift-the designated company's ipad business unit boss for free to do a hand-this is the small fish technology research and development of the first intelligent companion robot-"small fish at home" one of the important components.

Newspaper reporter Linkun

Intern reporter Meng The U.S. Beijing report

At this time, Kai-Fu Lee's identity is "small fish at Home" number No. 001 users. "Open and complex product direction, brand positioning and so have a lot of participation in product pricing and user needs, etc. also give a lot of suggestions." "Song Feng said," Open a reply to the feedback in the mail, details specific to Foxconn's organizational structure, tell me who to find. ”

This happened after more than 10 years of Song Maple's acquaintance with Kai-Fu Lee. When song was a product manager at Microsoft in more than 10 years ago, Lee was his mentor, and Lee gave a lot of guidance after song's return to business. When Kai-Fu Lee left Google to create a creative factory, song and his first venture angel investors introduced to Lee, to help their financing. Now, the man is in charge of North America's investment in innovation workshops.

Lee's other identity is the small fish technology investors. In the beginning, Song Maple did not know that the innovation Workshop also invests in the intelligent hardware domain, therefore when financing, did not consider the innovation Workshop first, until Laixiaoling's accession.

Song Maple told reporters that he and the speed of light to venture Director general Manager MI Group talk for half an hour, reached the investment intention, at that time even without PPT. And because small fish technology has negotiated the investment framework with the speed of light, innovation workshops account for a small share of the company's 4.4 million dollar a round of financing.

Accept this reporter interview, Laixiaoling to small fish science and technology evaluation is quite high: "First, the team is particularly good, experience is rich in technology, products, supply chain, management and so have a wealth of experience; second, the family company's market exists; third, the ductility of smart home. And compared to other smart hardware each has a short board, small fish have eyes, ears, the expansion of much better. ”

In Laixiaoling view, the hottest time in the smart hardware industry has passed, but to do imaginative products, so that users like, from the system, to build a firewall. This is the main point of their investment, hope that small fish technology, "give full play to the technology, team advantages, the product to achieve simple and practical, and the cost down." ”

Companionship Requirements

2011, when the Song maple three years ago the creation of the Web page 3D virtual world platform-Yi City Blue Sky sold to YY Voice, the company's fifty or sixty team was separated in Beijing, Guangzhou, he had to work in Beijing, Guangzhou two places. And he and his family have been separated for a long time, with the wife and children in Beijing and the parents of the perennial abroad, it is difficult to see the side.

In order to let children in the growth process do not lack the existence of the father, song and his wife set rules, every day to telephone, strive to be able to pass the video, but because of the working relationship, they simply can not always rush in the agreed time phone, video. "It's harder for my parents to interact with their children than to talk to you," he said. "said Song.

After half a year of living in a Twin Cities, children ignore Song maple, also do not want to play with him. "When you are not in front of the children, what you say and express is meaningless." The phone simply can't replace ' together ', and the needs of my family and I cannot be satisfied. "he said. This has become a core motivation for entrepreneurship.

At that time, Song Maple was thinking, why phone and FaceTime can't meet demand? "Our newsletter today is interrupted communication, I have to call, no matter what you are doing to put aside the matter to answer the phone, hang up the phone, then go back to do their own things." "Interrupted communication is the most efficient way to convey information, and family needs are not the most efficient means of conveying information, but companionship," Song Maple said. ”

"When the distance gap cannot be crossed, we hope to reduce the regret through science and technology, help us to reduce the threshold of companionship between families and make it easier for family to establish." Song was vaguely aware of the market space of the intelligent companion robot. Although it appears to be a multi-party video communication tool, in song's View, "It's a new way of living with a family, it's not communication at all." "he said.

Song Feng said that communication products from text to sound, from video to the anywhere, has been evolving. In fact, it is richer content, more convenient to use. This allows us to maximize the reduction of our sense of being around. The new model now subverts the previous telephone communication pattern, becoming the main one, which is a huge change.

Although there are many video communications products on the market, but based on the business market, consumer market observation, he believes that in the consumer market across the hardware and software areas of the product, there are still gaps, it is not easy to be replaced.

Song told reporters that decentralization is now the normal state of many families. And most of the whenever, the "421" (both parents, a couple, as well as children) of the family member structure. More data show that China now has 100 million empty nest elderly people, of which more than 30 million pairs can not take care of themselves, need someone to watch, there are more than 60 million left-behind children, these are confirmed the huge space of the product.

Team advantages and market worries

At the beginning of 2014, determined the direction of entrepreneurship, Song maple leave yy, to find Keng Wenhui, Zhaoxing and Qin, such as the creation of small fish technology, began to start product design and production. The product, he hopes, has "eyes" and "ears" that can be used to automatically capture, record, remind, share more-focused questions, and be in the clouds, based on the different circumstances of each individual's family.

In addition to remote company, this product also integrates many butler and assistant functions to meet the near-end requirements. Through voice interaction, "Little fish at home" can communicate with people. Users can ask about weather conditions, let it tell stories, play a song, call a network, translate English words, and be able to answer encyclopedia knowledge.

The integration of these functions and services is the result of the analysis of large family data. "For family security, Life records, voice assistants and intelligent Butler and other needs, to do data analysis, around the family relationship, family composition, moment status, as well as family topics and the rules of life and rest, to provide personalized services." "said Song.

Numerous functions and experience, but increased the product itself research and development, design, production and other technical difficulties. In this shape inspired by the animated cartoon "Robot Valley" intelligent hardware products, all circuits, structures are the team's own design. and structural parts, electronic pieces of a total of three hundred or four hundred, light mold opened more than 40 sets, a one-time investment open mold cost nearly 3 million.

More difficult is supply chain management. Song Maple told reporters that this product has seventy or eighty suppliers, the core suppliers have fifty or sixty: Sony's Lens, Offikang touch screen, the Beijing-Orient screen, Shun Yu's camera, the core of the motherboard, the appearance of the mold from the Czech Republic-this is Samsung, the world's largest supplier, in addition, lights, speakers, microphones, stents, Mechanical neck and other components of the suppliers are difficult to "engage."

This is not very difficult for small fish technology. Chairman &coo Keng Wenhui was Polycom Global technology president and China general manager. Rich experience in technology and supply chain management. It has brought polycom from a team of dozens of people to hundreds of people, while Polycom global 60%-70% core research and development is done by the team.

CTO Zhaoxing and chief Scientist Qin are top audio and video experts. "The United States Microsoft all audio related standards are made by him, all the audio-related algorithm team is his management, few people around the world have such experience and qualifications." "said Song.

The four founders established full trust through their years of relationship with colleagues and peers. And of the other 40-person team, 90% are also from internal recommendations, and each has a cooperative experience. These team members from Microsoft, Polycom, IBM, Nokia, Amazon, Jinshan, Lenovo, Baidu, YY and other well-known companies.

Such a luxurious team configuration, but also the company's products, technology, the core competitiveness of the guarantee. Song Maple said, the company application software model, interactive mode, hardware and other aspects of the patent has nearly 20. And because in the field of audio and video technology accumulation, "small fish at home" in WiFi, 3G, 2G and other bandwidth, to achieve a smooth interactive experience, there will be no echo, fault card phenomenon.

In the profit model, small fish technology has long been planning a good direction. "We want to use hardware to create a home Service portal, using Internet services to stick users and gain profits." Song Maple said.

The sale of hardware is the company's first business model, and because of technical support, small fish technology can also be confident in the user acceptance of the price.

Second, the Internet value-added services. This is to provide advanced value-added services beyond the use of a scenario without harming the use of the base home user. For example, the family circle of 5 people free, more than 5 people will pay, the cloud storage capacity within 300 minutes free, more than 300 minutes charge. And the charging project will cooperate with the third party to guarantee the service quality.

Then is the peripheral accessories sales. such as wheels, TV rods, sports base, extension cords, and other smart home with accessories.

In the future, small fish technology will also be based on the user's use of data vertical services, integration of more information on children's video education, medical consultation, home economics and other around the family life of 020 service functions, which means greater imagination space.

If there are no problems with the team, product, technology or business model, the only thing that is not sure is the acceptability of the market. "Because technology, products, design, supply chain management are in control, but the market can not." Song Maple said, "The hardware must have inventory risk." ”

In his opinion, must first have a group of hard demand crowd, through this crowd of word-of-mouth spread expand the market, but the product popularization needs time. And the small fish technology through the Beijing-east of the public fund-raising activities raised to more than 1.2 million, this figure has exceeded their set of 365 targets, Song Maple may have been aware of happiness near.