The reason for the failure of millet is too impatient

Tiger Olfactory Note: The original text is contained in Caijing Magazine, the original title "Decrypt Millet: Accidental" failure ", slightly deleted."

Wen/caijing Song

Millet is already a valued up to 45 billion U.S. dollars of companies, but the outside of the company regardless of the criticism, most of them fall into a "lei-style" thinking system-homeopathy and for, tuyere, Internet thinking. What I want to do today is to eliminate all the aura and controversy in this company and use the most basic business logic to analyze and restore millet.

The article was originally published in March 30, "Caijing" magazine, there are nearly 20,000 words long. In order to facilitate the reading, I have broken down into five articles, namely: accidental "failure", lei Management, unique supply chain, the secret of the Empire, Lei hand. will be issued this week (some changes).

Decrypt Millet One: unexpected "failure"

Millet seems invincible, but occasionally it is less successful.

The company's initial idea was to become an apple in China, or an android Apple, which was driven by a steep growth curve with a user-service-centered, hardware-and-software model. After the phone's success, Millet tried to emulate Apple, expanding by launching a single star. At the beginning of 2013, all the expectations of LEI were-could he continue to challenge himself and launch a successful product?

Lei really challenged.

Impatient "failure"--box, TV and router

The company has been rolling out boxes, routers and smart TVs in a year. But the above products did not get the same results as the millet phone. Millet co-founder, Eco-chain leader Liu De in the interview with Caijing, said implicitly, TV and routers did not achieve "the expected success."

Clear strategy, more open than Apple's flat management structure, and a unique and efficient supply chain, in this upward curve, why does millet encounter "failure"? You can also interpret "failure" here as trial and error.

Looking back, millet mobile phone is lei thick thin hair for many years carved a product, including MIUI to the user's accumulation, including supply chain running-in, once outbreak. If MIUI is the early core of millet, then routers and television is precisely the lack of such a core. Relatively speaking, these two products are more hasty.

Millet TV 1, the selling point is "screen", it is a cost-effective way to the market. But in fact, what should TV do? First of all, there should be strong content, no content to do TV, like source, roots.

A product manager once in Millet TV 1 after the release to Millet interview, he asked his interviewer, le Vision of the remote control has a small function can be controlled by the voice, millet why not do? The other answer, you know, there are so many people who speak dialects, and Southerners may not be able to recognize them. The product manager laments that Millet's good sense of participation and internet thinking does not seem to be well reflected in television.

As for the millet router, the problem with the product definition is that there is a mistake. "The definition is too heavy, too expensive, and the hard drive is the biggest cost." "Millet effective a set of play and theory, in this demand shortage of the market, stranded."

After the first generation of millet routing, internal reflection, what kind of spirit should be used to do what kind of field. Liu De said, the final conclusion is that Millet should be the spirit of the Geek service 90% of the users, this is a good game of millet. And the first generation of Millet route, only to do the first sentence.

The millet TV and millet route are like the products made by two companies. Although the former is somewhat hasty, but the essence and millet mobile phone is the same idea, do subtraction, will focus on, reduce costs. Routers, however, give too many things--this is a typical mistake that startups can make, and it imagines a need.

Lei: Millet should be restrained, attentive, but difficult

Apple's path proved that to make a product, it takes years of accumulation, such as a deep grasp of user needs, technical patent breakthroughs and supply chain running-in. This model determines that Apple will spend many years to grind a product to market, which is its weakness, but also its advantages.

From this point of view, the first generation of millet TV and routing "not successful" is inevitable. But to be fair, they do not have any negative impact on millet, or even a lack of public attention to the "not successful" evaluation.

However, millet Routing and television failed to reach the designated strategic position at a specified time, it must have given Lei a great touch, let him realize that Millet simply rely on their own to do a single product expansion is not.

Good at "Lei" later told Caijing reporter, at that time the product line goes hand in hand is very messy, including internationalization is too fast, while promoting six or seven regions, millet should be restrained, should focus. "Don't get caught up in the market." ”

Millet is not unable to become a pure product-driven company, it only needs to slow down the pace, with time to accumulate, one day it will become Apple mode of the company. But the word "slow" is unacceptable to a company that has achieved so much in the five-year period, and those who gave it money to make it to 45 billion dollars will urge it to speed up to 100 billion, 200 billion.

No doubt, millet will adjust the method, continue to expand.

2014, dormant one year of millet ecological chain team surfaced, responsible for the business Liu De also from behind the scenes to the podium, he was considered a prudent and thinking of the management of spicy.

Millet's new strategy is to make millet into a large hardware ecosystem that can connect all terminals. This strategy is ambitious enough, but it clearly divides the "millet boundary" that Lei thought over the past year--the central government relies on the expansion of the content and the expansion of the industrial chain.

Millet investment in the way to invest 100 of various areas of hardware start-ups, they developed new products, after the recognition of millet, was labeled "Millet eco-chain products" in the Millet online sale. These are selected by the millet companies often have in their respective areas of technology and experience accumulation, they are responsible for the millet to do the expansion of hardware products.

Millet's ultimate goal is: 1. In a number of hardware areas to cultivate a strong brand, tentacles from the vertical to the new hardware market; 2. The emergence of a strong content platform on the software; 3. Two platform depth combination, content, operation, channel, brand and hardware to get through, to form greater value.

Lei anxiety: Growth meets bottleneck

Millet today's strategy depends on its success, but also on its two "failures", the former let Millet recognize their ability, the latter let it realize their incompetence.

In 2014, Lei said in the interior, the millet mobile phone currently in the domestic market share of more than 15%, but growth to 25% will encounter bottlenecks-the biggest weakness in the hardware sector is this, it can never be like internet products monopoly, even if Apple can not meet everyone.

The growth slowdown in the smartphone market is inevitable. Millet 2015 years of annual sales are expected in 80 million to 100 million units, the year-on-year growth rate of 30.8%-63%. Compared to the past five years of data, from 2012-2014, the growth rate of millet mobile phone sales were 2,296%, 160%, 226%.

Millet is walking through a dark night road, behind it is the old mobile phone business growth is slowing, Huawei and other manufacturers of the siege intensified, and the front of the ecology has not really formed, the content and hardware also did not get through.

At the end of last year, Millet had insiders told Caijing reporter, Lei very anxious, this anxiety and not with the Millet won the Chinese smartphone market sales first and ease. Now, his anxiety is justified, because at this time is the most powerful millet, but also the most vulnerable time.