On the occasion of Xiaomi's 11th anniversary, founder Lei Jun gave a speech, with the title "My Dream, My Choice" and talked about his 10 most difficult choices over the years. He also indirectly demonstrated Xiaomi's growth process from 0 to 1, and also made the entire brand image more three-dimensional.
As entrepreneurs, I believe many entrepreneurs should be able to see their own shadow in Lei Jun’s speech. This year is also the 11th anniversary of the establishment of the Laogao e-commerce circle. We also want to talk about what difficult choices we have had in our own decade, and how we got out of the darkest moments?
Return to zero again after the tenth anniversary
At the beginning of the speech, Lei Jun said that on the tenth anniversary of last year, Xiaomi Company carefully summarized and reflected on its tenth anniversary and decided to start a new decade with its determination to start a new decade.
In fact, when the 2021 Spring Festival holiday ended and the New Year started construction, Lao Gao, the founder of Lao Gao’s e-commerce circle, expressed the same view at the first full-staff meeting within the company: 2021 is the first year of re-starting a business, and all the past ten years have been returned to zero, and the company is run with the mentality of a newcomer.
Lao Gao also posted on his Moments and said: In the second decade, we must be as passionate as starting a business on the first day of ten years ago.
The environment of the times is changing rapidly now, and there will be a change in less than ten years. This is a proposition faced by all entrepreneurs. Most of the people who follow us are e-commerce people. How long have you been starting a business? Have you been ten years? What mentality do you plan to face the future again?
Development strategy determines the future of the enterprise
Lei Jun also mentioned the topic of Xiaomi's development strategy in his speech. In November 2014, at the first World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, the host asked Xiaomi what its future development strategy was. Lei Jun blurted out: In 5-10 years, it will be the world's first place.
You should know that the world's number one was Apple at that time, and Xiaomi's phone was released only three years ago, becoming China's number one and the third in the world. It looks and sounds like a miracle. The host immediately asked Bruce Seville, the senior vice president of Apple, who was present, what do you think. He said It's easy to say, it's much more difficult to do. (It is easy to say it, but it is difficult to do it)
Faced with the embarrassment at the scene, Lei Jun borrowed Jack Ma's words "What if it's done?" to smooth things over. Today, seven years later, Xiaomi surpassed Apple and became the second in the world for the first time!
It can be seen that the development strategy of a company is important, so don’t be afraid or refuse to set the strategic goals too high. As long as it is what you want from the bottom of your heart, it is done based on your heart. The rest is to bow forward and do it like Lei Jun said, laying a solid foundation, and making steady progress.
So, what is your company’s future development strategy? Have you thought about it seriously?
Facing the dark moments, you can live
Everything has its own curves. After repeated discussions in early 2018, Xiaomi decided to go public and set the issue price at HK$17, because Lei Jun really hopes that their stocks can be the same as their products - "high-price". The wishes are beautiful and simple, but the reality is unsatisfactory.
On the day of listing, the issue price fell as soon as the market opened, and the stock price was lower than the issue price, and all IPO investors lost. Lei Jun and his team were all confused. This was a very embarrassing thing for the IPO.
During the thank-you dinner speech, Lei Jun drank a lot of alcohol. He felt that breaking the issue price was not sorry for everyone. He repeatedly told his colleagues that we must work hard and not lose money from others. We must make IPO investors at least twice the profit! The next day, Lei Jun bought a pair of ripped jeans to keep this day in mind.
The next day, Xiaomi's stock price rose back to the issue price, and then rose to 24 yuan. Later, there was the Sino-US trade war. Xiaomi's stock began to fall all the way. After more than a year, everyone's confidence almost collapsed, including Lei Jun himself.
Lei Jun talked about something and details related to investors, and reflected his status at that stage to the fullest. He had to see an investor who was scolded by him for more than an hour, leaving his shirt wet, and returned to the conference room for a long time, "At that moment, I was very desperate."
This should be the dark moment when Lei Jun started his business. Every entrepreneur has his own darkest moment, and Lao Gao has also. Lao Gao was once troubled by the meaning of life. He also started a business with 7 great people, lost 8 million in 8 months, and once chose to exempt Hubei members and national members from 3-5 months of membership fees when there was no profit in the epidemic...
Behind every event and every decision is the helm's face alone, facing the results, facing yourself, and facing everything. And you? Have your own dark moments? If you are experiencing it, please remember to face the dark moments, you can live and you will live well when you come over it.
A low point is the best time to accumulate energy. Don’t be afraid and don’t be anxious. Eat a good meal and sleep well, and wait for the opportunity. Like Xiaomi, which has emerged from the stock price trough, Lei Jun said that the more sluggish Xiaomi’s stock price has been in recent years, the more they hold their breath and desperately invest in R&D.
Talking with products and breaking through the high-end path
Lei Jun said that if Xiaomi wants to become a great company and realize its dream, it must break through the high-end. So after working hard to invest in R&D, Xiaomi began the road of high-end product research and development. In order to do a good job in high-end, they took no cost to remove their burdens, struggled to experience it, and carefully polished all the details.
What it brings is huge R&D expenses and rising costs. The price of high-end machines must be 4,000 yuan and sales of over 2 million units to avoid losses. After thinking about all forms of realization tactics, Lei Jun believed that there was only one way: believe in rice noodles and rely on rice noodles.
As a result, the epidemic came, the whole world was shut down, and the press conference of high-end phones was unstable. In the end, Xiaomi adopted an online live broadcast conference. As a result, the press conference was very successful. The next day, Xiaomi first released 10, and exceeded 200 million in sales in one minute, and it was crazy.
Like Xiaomi, Laogao E-commerce Club is also polishing its products, so in July we fully upgraded the club's products, divided thousands of members into classes, and selected 12 members from the Jinguan Club to serve as mentors, making the connections more precise and thorough, and bringing everyone value services that exceed membership fees.
Xiaomi’s dream is to “let everyone in the world enjoy a better life brought by technology”, while the mission of Laogao’s e-commerce circle is to “help e-commerce succeed”, so that members can have successful careers, be mentally fulfilled, have a happy family, and be healthy.
Lei Jun said that in the 11 years since Xiaomi started its business, he has been worried about failure, whether his abilities can keep up with the company's development, and also about physical strength and energy, but whenever he encounters huge crises and challenges, he will stand up without hesitation. He said that he was not a genius, nor a model worker, nor a war god. He was just an ordinary engineer who pursued his dreams and did what he loved.
Lao Gao is also an ordinary person. He is a young man who starts a business in the countryside of Shaanxi. He has always faced the hardships and loneliness of entrepreneurship for 11 years. Lao Gao E-commerce Club does everything for the sake of members. I have to celebrate 11 years, but I have not celebrated 11 years of entrepreneurship, but celebrated the work of building an e-commerce circle, and I have done it seriously and carefully for 11 years.
In the second decade, you will be as passionate as starting a business on the first day, what about you?
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