The editor of "Programmer" magazine asked me to write an essay on a proposition. After thinking about it for a few days, I couldn't start and didn't know what to write. In this article, I do not intend to recall the hardships and joys of starting a business, and I really do not want to mislead you, because I live in an era of material scarcity, and it is relatively easier to succeed. Everyone's growth experience has its own personalities. Although everyone's successful entrepreneurial experience has some general rules that can be followed, it is generally difficult to replicate. Success requires continuous innovation.
For many young people today, the concept of blindly focusing on the supremacy of technology is unforgettable. In fact, many times hard work does not necessarily pay off. In fact, there are many outstanding talents who often make products that cannot be sold, because the designers simply do not understand the needs and psychology of users and the proper definition of product functions, and always want to show off in front of colleagues and their bosses. technology and product features. In fact, there are a lot of thinking things that many people ignore, because the starting point is wrong from the beginning, how can it be possible to achieve brilliant results? So sometimes having excellent technology does not necessarily mean success in life. Many companies die in the hands of some pretentious "excellent talents".
The stone of the mountain can attack jade, reduce the development
of "stage 0" and "creation" is indeed what everyone expects. Although the eye-catching invention is exciting, it is easier said than done. As a joke, we might as well explore the secrets of Microsoft's success from another angle so that we can use it.
It's true that Gates "bought" the DOS source code from Patterson. Over the years, I have collected Chinese and English versions of Microsoft monographs from all over the world for comparative research. Everyone only noticed Gates' foresight to establish a standard for the entire industry structure and admired the essence of Gates' market operation experience. I think these studies The results are all latecomers studying Microsoft's successful experience, which is a theoretical summary of "far-fetched" that cannot be replicated.
At the time, Microsoft was just a very immature company, and it can be said that survival was Gates' only mission as a boss. In fact, when Gates decided to start writing the OS that IBM wanted, the original plan was to finish it in about a year, but IBM only gave him a few months. Although Patterson's QDOS was imperfect and full of errors, in order to fulfill his commitment to IBM, Gates bought QDOS, relabeled it, and sold it to IBM. Gates is well aware of this, because he knows that if he spends a year on OS development, he will lose the opportunity to cooperate with the giant IBM, which is a waste. It doesn't matter if you pay a small percentage of the technology fee, as long as you can get the Know-how and get a higher profit. Introduce technology by paying royalties, then learn other people's technology by imitation, and then transform it to meet IBM's needs.
"Buy" - as long as there is ready-made, you don't need to develop it yourself. This is the strength of Gates, and it is precisely the place that many people ignore. It is worth learning and imitating for all of us. Gates is because there is no "phase 0", which greatly reduces the development risk.
Back then, I borrowed 21,500 yuan for a single horse to start a business, which can be said to be negative equity. Later, I started to have a partner to invest 60,000 yuan. What if you have no experience? I have a very good habit. When reading, I never stick to other people's viewpoints, and I am content to follow others' opinions. Otherwise, it is to listen to other people's stories, which is not your thing. In my opinion, in order to be successful, you must "study" the trajectories of successful people and learn from them.
Below I will tell you my "first pot of gold" story, which is also a very typical example of minimizing "Phase 0" development.
At that time, the "Yangcheng Evening News" had half-page advertisements almost every day to publish advertisements on the information station (listening to songs, whispers, etc.), and the advertising fee was hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. At that time, it was believed that many people were using public telephones to call these information desks. Later, when I delivered the goods to the customer, I found that the telephones had an iron casing and a lock. Since I saw that scene, I decided to make a telephone plus a combination lock to lock the 0 prefix of long-distance calls, mobile phones, BB machines, The 9 prefix of the information desk. Through the introduction of a friend, a company in Fuzhou has this technology, so I made a tentative call and used 5,000 yuan to purchase the program and source code, and the other party agreed very readily. I was afraid of the change and immediately flew to Fuzhou. I soon met engineer Zheng Xinjian. He used to work in a company in Fuzhou. When I met him, he had already left a company in Fuzhou, but he still wrote some product solutions by himself. It is sold through a company in Fuzhou. After buying the solution and the source code, I immediately took the prototype to various places for testing, and found that the compatibility of this prototype is too poor, and the products that have already been sold in the market have the same problem. I think as long as the compatibility problem is solved , If the switch LAN can be used in any area, it is the best product without worrying about no market.
I had neither the capital nor the production and sales experience at the time. How did I turn the technology into a product that the market needed? That's because I found Chen Guoliang, the owner of Baixin Electric Appliance Factory, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, which manufactures telephone splitters. Starting from this project, the number of PIC microcontrollers we used quickly reached more than 100K per month. One year later, Andi, the manager of Microchip Hong Kong, took the initiative to come to the door to develop the then Guangzhou Qiangli Electronics Research Institute into an authorized distributor.
Through the success of the first project since I started my business, I deeply realize that the business model is more important than the technology itself.
Through more than ten years of hard work, the "Steel Mate" brand car alarms and car reversing radars we designed have not only become "hidden champions" around the world, but also provide pre-sales services for world-renowned car manufacturers such as GE. At the same time, the various smart card door lock control modules we design and manufacture for smart card hotel door lock manufacturers have always been in the first place in China.
How did they achieve such extraordinary success? Its biggest strengths are product creativity and manufacturing, simple and fashionable industrial design, mold manufacturing technology, and well-built sales channels. These manufacturers deeply understand the basics of "focusing on core technologies and doing what you are good at, and outsourcing the rest to make profits". It is reasonable, and for me it is "smart rental", and win-win is achieved by cooperating with the strong.
Through the accumulation of these successful experiences, we began to go all out to focus on the development of core technologies and outsource all the technologies that we are not good at. For example, we have invested in the Department of Computer Science of Tsinghua University for a long time, and established a Linux kernel development team with postdoctoral fellow Chen Yu as the mainstay, providing good support for the company's underlying technology, while we ourselves focus on Linux driver development. This mode of division of labor, cooperation and collaborative development has won valuable time in the market and has quickly achieved application results.
Maybe some programmers will be concerned about JTAG development tools, which is also an "outsourced" project. At that time, we found on the Internet an H-JTAG designed by computer enthusiasts in their spare time. This is a relatively stable debugger software, which is just suitable for our use. So I contacted the designer, and decided to support Zhou Ligong's single-chip microcomputer to continue the development. At the same time, the development results were also freely available to users on the Internet to download, to ensure that it is a free software. In fact, both Linux and H-JTAG are open source software. If you are worried that other peers will benefit from it and surpass you, you will inevitably need to bear a lot of developers in the company and do a lot of repetitive development work in all aspects. In fact, our partners are all experts in their fields. If you learn and develop from beginning to end, you will not only steal the partner's job, but also the results may not be ideal. This situation not only delays valuable business opportunities, but also affects relationships with partners. In fact, as long as we introduce the embedded system engineering management ideas and norms that our company has accumulated and formulated for a long time, we can get the results we want: "do what you are best at, and outsource the rest". Cases like this will be implemented in Zhou Ligong MCU. more and more.
Focus and Differentiated Survival
On January 23, 1999, I left the original company and founded Guangzhou Zhou Ligong Microcontroller Development Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Zhiyuan Electronics Co., Ltd., respectively, engaged in trade business and product manufacturing.
As an agent, it is a common method used by the agent industry to sell chips in large quantities by providing solutions for customers. In fact, there are very few agents who can truly achieve value-added and rich returns through design. Know that the amount of talent and resources a company has in the past is invaluable, and without the right strategy, opportunities may be fleeting. In fact, in the first few years of our business, we have designed more than 100 categories of products for users, with more than 500 product models, which can be said to involve almost all walks of life, but there are few cases that can bring stable and rich returns. After a period of thinking and report analysis, I found that the company's business is too much and too complicated, and no one industry has been refined. So I made up my mind to reduce the number of users and focus on strengthening and expanding in 1-2 industries until I became a top industry expert. Through years of intensive cultivation, we have sold more than 10 million single-chip microcomputers annually by designing product value-added products for direct users. Whether it is for users or semiconductor companies, we are undoubtedly a very valuable agent.
In May 1999, PHILIPS Semiconductor Company invited me to Shanghai to discuss whether I was interested in acting as an agent for LPC700 microcontroller. When I got the user manual, I had only 5 days to leave Shanghai. At that time, the company did not have 250 college students now, but only 8 people in total. What should I do? While writing a business plan, I translated user manuals, typing and stickers with everyone. Facing opportunities, I worked overtime like a life-saving straw, and only rested for 3-5 hours a day. On the 5th day, when I arrived at the Shanghai East Asia Regal Hotel, I put the neat materials in front of the two managers from PHILIPS Semiconductor Company in the United States. After only 2 hours of negotiation, including dinner, the agency was officially negotiated. down. They told me afterwards that it was because I was different, focused and very personable.
The temptation of wind and rain changes is unpredictable. People are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong. This is common sense! Then there were no less than 10 well-known semiconductor companies who came to our door to ask us to represent chips. At this point, doing nothing is a difficult choice for many people. At this point, I think no matter how good the other party's conditions are, if there is a conflict, don't do it, and if the performance is not outstanding, don't do it. If you can form a complementary value chain, you must take the initiative to "seek" through your own efforts and performance. "Semiconductor companies licensed it to us, and that's how I got agency rights and lines of credit for Keil, Catalyst, Sipex. In 2004, five managers from SHARP Semiconductor Corporation in Beijing, Japan, and the United States came to my office and asked me to represent SHARP's ARM to help SHARP promote in China and manufacture development kits for global sales. I refused without thinking at all. It can be said that the conditions SHARP gave me are very good, especially the Americans think it is very incredible, as a businessman, I don’t want such a good opportunity to make money. Why? The reason why we are temporarily "strong" is that we have been focusing on the development of PHILIPS semiconductors for a long time, focusing on focusing and becoming a big fish in a small river, which has attracted everyone's attention. If we are distracted, the end result will be nothing!
After deciding what to focus on, the next step is to figure out how to be different, which is not an easy task. The most important thing is to exhaustively enumerate the biggest needs of users and the most easily overlooked areas of competitors, and then make the best of them.
In order to promote the PHILIPS microcontroller and ARM, we aim to help beginners get started quickly. So far, we have written and published more than 20 monographs, and donated most of the copyrights to the publishing house to reduce costs. At the same time, I will continue to Insist on doing this work and strive to do better. ***There is a famous saying: "Computers must start from dolls!" I think that any far-sighted manufacturer who wants to successfully promote embedded systems must start with college students, which must be a one-shot effort. A lot of good things. It can not only improve the reputation of the enterprise, but also gain market share, and also provide students with a theoretical basis for practice. Why are few manufacturers or agents willing to do it? This will not only help companies establish differentiation, but also bring long-term benefits to the company, why not?
For example, so far, almost no complete chip Chinese data manual, user manual and application manual can be found on the website of any domestic agent. It is not that our colleagues do not know the importance of it. First of all, everyone generally thinks that this is the responsibility of the semiconductor company. Second, everyone may feel that after they have done it well, they will let users download it on the website for free, which will take advantage of other agents. However, many people still do not understand that this is the best opportunity to meet the needs of users to differentiate the services of the manufacturing company.
Therefore, we are determined to start from the website and insist on long-term investment, to be the best professional technology website for embedded systems in China, and to establish a professional technical support and development team. Especially for the service of high-quality users, the website also specially opened a "fast green channel". If such users encounter problems, I, the branch manager and the manager of the relevant service department will take the lead in implementing the "nanny-style". Service, the service strategy we implement is: "provide high-quality services for effective users with limited resources".
"If you draw near to God, God draws near to you!" In an August 2001 report from PHILIPS' internal publication "Risk Means Opportunity", I was the first Asian agent to be promoted to the "Local Hero" back cover character column In 2004, PHILIPS Semiconductor Company awarded me the "Outstanding and Outstanding Contribution Award", and users from all over the country have selected our company as "the top ten most popular distributors in local customers" through the media of "Asian Resources" for many years. Without the lofty loyalty of users and long-term strong support, it is impossible for us to achieve the first place in PHILIPS Asia-Pacific region by selling microcontrollers for many consecutive years since 1999.
An opportunity to "take it from me" made me. Although the efforts of individuals and teams are very important, it can be said without disguise that if there is no discernment of the PHILIPS semiconductor manager, it must be difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. There will be another place for me.
In the embedded system application technology, there are thousands of people who are on par with us or smarter than us. Why are only a few people able to stand out? It is because there are too many ideas and lack of focus, and I cannot insist on working hard in an industry for ten years. But in the face of so many competitors and latecomers, I was walking on thin ice every day, not daring to slack off in the slightest, and insisted on studying until late at night every day, because only by constantly learning and updating my thinking can I have the foresight and avoid possible mistakes in time. .
Paying attention to the needs of users
In fact, the key to maintaining the life of an enterprise is whether the product can be favored by the market. What we need to do is not to become a leader in technology, but to transform the technological achievements into products that meet the needs of consumers.
The 1980s was an era of material scarcity, but today's people pay more attention to consumption enjoyment and emotional sharing. This is a reality that no one can deny. When our company first started to make products, because I personally prefer blue, I made all the products blue based on the authority of the boss. In fact, many people gave me suggestions for improvement at that time, but I still Still indifferent, why? It is because I came from a technical background, and since the early days of my business, I have been relying on technology to fight all the way. It can be said that I am too superstitious about the power of technology. Therefore, for a long period of time, the company has completely followed the path of research. . However, I just ignored the psychological needs of users to read the product, so that I have been unable to open the situation after the product was launched to the market.
At that time, when the EasyPRO series programmers were launched, their sales volume was less than 500 sets a year. At the same time, some users expressed their dissatisfaction with the product design, which can be said to be a profound lesson. So I made up my mind to set up the Industrial Design Division, starting with the EasyPRO series of universal programmers, personally managing, researching and participating in the product's appearance design, discarding all the original molds and redesigning them. Although it is the first design, it does not make a very outstanding effect on the appearance of the product, but in any case, the appearance of the new product is much better than the original product. In 10 months in 2005, the sales volume of EasyPRO series universal programmers reached 6,000 sets. In 2006, we launched the SmartPRO series of intelligent universal programmers. It is estimated that the total number of programmers sold this year will exceed 10,000 sets, and these products will bring my company and me to the mainstream brand in the domestic programmer market.
After that profound lesson, I understand that a good design can highlight the charm of a product, integrate the product with the environment, and stimulate consumers to have a strong desire to buy. Even an ordinary product, after careful design, will become a fashion product, and even make people feel that it is a work of art. From this point of view, fashionable, trendy and artistic appearance design is the first way to shape a product's brand image. an element.
Since then, I have begun to change the image design of product introductions, advertisements and exhibitions. In order to match the new image, we have launched a large-scale and all-round publicity: on the one hand, we provide users with product introduction manuals as much as possible, and at the same time, through a large number of The media advertisements let users know and get to know the company initially, thus increasing brand awareness quickly and effectively; on the other hand, it organizes various national tour speeches, free ARM technical training activities and product exhibitions, and every time we participate in the exhibition, we are The purpose of investing in 4 booths and designing special booths is to gain an opportunity to actively communicate with users.
During the summer vacation of 2003, Zhou Ligong MCU invested 800,000 yuan and invited three well-known embedded system experts in the industry to form a lecturer group to host a free ARM tour speech in 10 cities across the country, providing a free lunch, which can be said to be unprecedented in scale. In this tour, more than 8,000 people participated in the event. Then the company launched the EasyARM2104 development learning kit with a price of 400 yuan. The 1,000 sets produced in the first month were sold out within 15 days, until they were sold out. Production was discontinued due to the introduction of new products after 15,000 sets. This event not only recovered 800,000 yuan of publicity expenses, but also directly or indirectly affected more than 500,000 embedded related personnel, which strongly achieved the purpose of brand promotion. While winning huge profits, it also created a very successful "event marketing" classic case in the embedded industry. I deeply realize that "capturing" the hearts of users is the only way to enhance the brand.
Global market awareness
In the past, a company may have to wait 10 years before starting to consider whether to globalize. Today, thanks to the development of network technology, no matter where we are, new information from all over the world seems to be in front of us, and no one will Being marginalized, so setting up a company today is going to be ready for global sales tomorrow.
In recent years, ARM has reached an extremely hot level, and many people don't take it seriously. In fact, this is an inevitable trend. In fact, I saw in PHILIPS semiconductor company in the United States that the "Embedded System" magazine published in the United States in 1997 has published a large number of articles and advertisements such as OS and 32-bit embedded system development tools. At the Embedded System Exhibition hosted by Silicon Valley in the United States, thousands of booths from Europe and the United States displayed a variety of embedded system products in front of me. Chinese manufacturers generally displayed low-end components such as buzzers and relays. For the first time, I felt how big the gap between China and the United States really is. China desperately needs talents and entrepreneurs who understand the demands of the international market and the rules of the game.
It is also a USB analyzer. There are only 5 in the world. Our own upgraded version of the USB analyzer is currently priced at 3,800 yuan in China. The original price of this product is only 1,800 yuan, and users still think it is too expensive. In fact, the sales volume of such products in China is only 200 units a year, but in the same situation, in the United States, a small company can sell 20 million US dollars a year, and their minimum price per unit is not less than 10,000 US dollars , so that my American counterparts called me directly, hoping that I would add at least one 0 to the selling price.
Can Chinese companies do global sales? no! And Chinese companies must climb to the top of the value chain, otherwise we can only be a cheap processing base for European and American consumer goods markets.
Personalized corporate culture, helping others to succeed
Through the common success of working with users, the users have taught me to be a kind, motivated, honest and excellent talent. Not only do I know how to do what I do best, but I also know how to share success with users and employees. Once the number of chips sold increases, the cost will drop, and the company will take the initiative to reduce the price to users, which has won the user's long-term support; the company's efficiency has improved, and at the end of the year, it will take the initiative to increase wages and bonuses for employees and provide housing allowances for outstanding employees. Due to the small size of the company, we have been mainly recruiting second-class undergraduate freshmen, adopting a mentoring training model internally, providing them with at least one year of rigorous training, helping them plan their careers, and trying our best to provide opportunities to They develop into outstanding talents. Over the years, many companies have called our company to poach people. There has never been a loss of key talents. So far, no more than 12 employees have changed jobs. I deeply feel that this is the greatest happiness and wealth in my life. Users and the talent that follows me, I will be worthless.
In order to ensure the talent dilemma brought about by the sustainable development of the enterprise, I cooperated with Jiangxi University of Science and Technology to launch a "3+1" embedded system application development special training course for five years. Ren's "Zhou Ligong Scholarship" subsidizes students with strong hands-on ability and medium grades, develops a seamless connection between schools and enterprises, and cultivates innovative development talents for embedded systems. It is a beneficial attempt to select 30 enthusiasts from 7 classes Complete all courses in 3 years, we provide each student with a computer, a full set of development tools and all the expenses incurred in the design, we organize famous experts to offer special lectures and courses, and the school organizes 1 full-time Counselors and 2 instructors, and we provide the necessary allowances, and then spend one year on graduation design, for which we have developed a rigorous and meticulous training plan.
In recent years, we have also continuously sponsored electronic competitions, graduation design competitions, and innovative design competitions in various provinces, and donated 50 university single-chip innovation laboratories, in order to expand the company's reputation and seek a wide range of talent sources.
Final words
Many development engineers think that these are issues that bosses or managers should consider, and have nothing to do with themselves. In fact, they are very wrong. As an excellent and outstanding developer, if we want to achieve complete success and happiness in life, we always need to understand that the sustainable development of any enterprise must be the result of collective efforts.
In 1981, I went to a technical school after failing the college entrance examination. In 1994, I was recommended to go to university as a model worker. Since I started my business for more than ten years, the past is still vivid in my mind. The users have given me a lot in return. It is difficult to list them all here. Completely, I would like to share and exchange this article with my peers and users.
Over the years, I have successively donated funds to fund education, set up scholarships, and helped my hometown to build rural cement roads, ancestral halls and other public welfare undertakings to give back to the society. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1990, I went south to Guangdong to work by myself. I never imagined that I would have such a result. I have always cherished this hard-won opportunity.
As an embedded technology enthusiast, my wish is: "Endless life, endless struggle!" Strive to contribute to the development of China's embedded system application technology.
For many young people today, the concept of blindly focusing on the supremacy of technology is unforgettable. In fact, many times hard work does not necessarily pay off. In fact, there are many outstanding talents who often make products that cannot be sold, because the designers simply do not understand the needs and psychology of users and the proper definition of product functions, and always want to show off in front of colleagues and their bosses. technology and product features. In fact, there are a lot of thinking things that many people ignore, because the starting point is wrong from the beginning, how can it be possible to achieve brilliant results? So sometimes having excellent technology does not necessarily mean success in life. Many companies die in the hands of some pretentious "excellent talents".
The stone of the mountain can attack jade, reduce the development
of "stage 0" and "creation" is indeed what everyone expects. Although the eye-catching invention is exciting, it is easier said than done. As a joke, we might as well explore the secrets of Microsoft's success from another angle so that we can use it.
It's true that Gates "bought" the DOS source code from Patterson. Over the years, I have collected Chinese and English versions of Microsoft monographs from all over the world for comparative research. Everyone only noticed Gates' foresight to establish a standard for the entire industry structure and admired the essence of Gates' market operation experience. I think these studies The results are all latecomers studying Microsoft's successful experience, which is a theoretical summary of "far-fetched" that cannot be replicated.
At the time, Microsoft was just a very immature company, and it can be said that survival was Gates' only mission as a boss. In fact, when Gates decided to start writing the OS that IBM wanted, the original plan was to finish it in about a year, but IBM only gave him a few months. Although Patterson's QDOS was imperfect and full of errors, in order to fulfill his commitment to IBM, Gates bought QDOS, relabeled it, and sold it to IBM. Gates is well aware of this, because he knows that if he spends a year on OS development, he will lose the opportunity to cooperate with the giant IBM, which is a waste. It doesn't matter if you pay a small percentage of the technology fee, as long as you can get the Know-how and get a higher profit. Introduce technology by paying royalties, then learn other people's technology by imitation, and then transform it to meet IBM's needs.
"Buy" - as long as there is ready-made, you don't need to develop it yourself. This is the strength of Gates, and it is precisely the place that many people ignore. It is worth learning and imitating for all of us. Gates is because there is no "phase 0", which greatly reduces the development risk.
Back then, I borrowed 21,500 yuan for a single horse to start a business, which can be said to be negative equity. Later, I started to have a partner to invest 60,000 yuan. What if you have no experience? I have a very good habit. When reading, I never stick to other people's viewpoints, and I am content to follow others' opinions. Otherwise, it is to listen to other people's stories, which is not your thing. In my opinion, in order to be successful, you must "study" the trajectories of successful people and learn from them.
Below I will tell you my "first pot of gold" story, which is also a very typical example of minimizing "Phase 0" development.
At that time, the "Yangcheng Evening News" had half-page advertisements almost every day to publish advertisements on the information station (listening to songs, whispers, etc.), and the advertising fee was hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. At that time, it was believed that many people were using public telephones to call these information desks. Later, when I delivered the goods to the customer, I found that the telephones had an iron casing and a lock. Since I saw that scene, I decided to make a telephone plus a combination lock to lock the 0 prefix of long-distance calls, mobile phones, BB machines, The 9 prefix of the information desk. Through the introduction of a friend, a company in Fuzhou has this technology, so I made a tentative call and used 5,000 yuan to purchase the program and source code, and the other party agreed very readily. I was afraid of the change and immediately flew to Fuzhou. I soon met engineer Zheng Xinjian. He used to work in a company in Fuzhou. When I met him, he had already left a company in Fuzhou, but he still wrote some product solutions by himself. It is sold through a company in Fuzhou. After buying the solution and the source code, I immediately took the prototype to various places for testing, and found that the compatibility of this prototype is too poor, and the products that have already been sold in the market have the same problem. I think as long as the compatibility problem is solved , If the switch LAN can be used in any area, it is the best product without worrying about no market.
I had neither the capital nor the production and sales experience at the time. How did I turn the technology into a product that the market needed? That's because I found Chen Guoliang, the owner of Baixin Electric Appliance Factory, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, which manufactures telephone splitters. Starting from this project, the number of PIC microcontrollers we used quickly reached more than 100K per month. One year later, Andi, the manager of Microchip Hong Kong, took the initiative to come to the door to develop the then Guangzhou Qiangli Electronics Research Institute into an authorized distributor.
There is no denying that Gates' foresight and judgment are crucial core competencies of Microsoft, but Gates is by no means a genius, otherwise Gates would not have lost to Netscape on browsers, despite the many technologies Microsoft uses Neither was invented by Microsoft, but it does not prevent Microsoft from gaining ground.
Through the success of the first project since I started my business, I deeply realize that the business model is more important than the technology itself.
Through more than ten years of hard work, the "Steel Mate" brand car alarms and car reversing radars we designed have not only become "hidden champions" around the world, but also provide pre-sales services for world-renowned car manufacturers such as GE. At the same time, the various smart card door lock control modules we design and manufacture for smart card hotel door lock manufacturers have always been in the first place in China.
How did they achieve such extraordinary success? Its biggest strengths are product creativity and manufacturing, simple and fashionable industrial design, mold manufacturing technology, and well-built sales channels. These manufacturers deeply understand the basics of "focusing on core technologies and doing what you are good at, and outsourcing the rest to make profits". It is reasonable, and for me it is "smart rental", and win-win is achieved by cooperating with the strong.
Through the accumulation of these successful experiences, we began to go all out to focus on the development of core technologies and outsource all the technologies that we are not good at. For example, we have invested in the Department of Computer Science of Tsinghua University for a long time, and established a Linux kernel development team with postdoctoral fellow Chen Yu as the mainstay, providing good support for the company's underlying technology, while we ourselves focus on Linux driver development. This mode of division of labor, cooperation and collaborative development has won valuable time in the market and has quickly achieved application results.
Maybe some programmers will be concerned about JTAG development tools, which is also an "outsourced" project. At that time, we found on the Internet an H-JTAG designed by computer enthusiasts in their spare time. This is a relatively stable debugger software, which is just suitable for our use. So I contacted the designer, and decided to support Zhou Ligong's single-chip microcomputer to continue the development. At the same time, the development results were also freely available to users on the Internet to download, to ensure that it is a free software. In fact, both Linux and H-JTAG are open source software. If you are worried that other peers will benefit from it and surpass you, you will inevitably need to bear a lot of developers in the company and do a lot of repetitive development work in all aspects. In fact, our partners are all experts in their fields. If you learn and develop from beginning to end, you will not only steal the partner's job, but also the results may not be ideal. This situation not only delays valuable business opportunities, but also affects relationships with partners. In fact, as long as we introduce the embedded system engineering management ideas and norms that our company has accumulated and formulated for a long time, we can get the results we want: "do what you are best at, and outsource the rest". Cases like this will be implemented in Zhou Ligong MCU. more and more.
Focus and Differentiated Survival
On January 23, 1999, I left the original company and founded Guangzhou Zhou Ligong Microcontroller Development Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Zhiyuan Electronics Co., Ltd., respectively, engaged in trade business and product manufacturing.
As an agent, it is a common method used by the agent industry to sell chips in large quantities by providing solutions for customers. In fact, there are very few agents who can truly achieve value-added and rich returns through design. Know that the amount of talent and resources a company has in the past is invaluable, and without the right strategy, opportunities may be fleeting. In fact, in the first few years of our business, we have designed more than 100 categories of products for users, with more than 500 product models, which can be said to involve almost all walks of life, but there are few cases that can bring stable and rich returns. After a period of thinking and report analysis, I found that the company's business is too much and too complicated, and no one industry has been refined. So I made up my mind to reduce the number of users and focus on strengthening and expanding in 1-2 industries until I became a top industry expert. Through years of intensive cultivation, we have sold more than 10 million single-chip microcomputers annually by designing product value-added products for direct users. Whether it is for users or semiconductor companies, we are undoubtedly a very valuable agent.
In May 1999, PHILIPS Semiconductor Company invited me to Shanghai to discuss whether I was interested in acting as an agent for LPC700 microcontroller. When I got the user manual, I had only 5 days to leave Shanghai. At that time, the company did not have 250 college students now, but only 8 people in total. What should I do? While writing a business plan, I translated user manuals, typing and stickers with everyone. Facing opportunities, I worked overtime like a life-saving straw, and only rested for 3-5 hours a day. On the 5th day, when I arrived at the Shanghai East Asia Regal Hotel, I put the neat materials in front of the two managers from PHILIPS Semiconductor Company in the United States. After only 2 hours of negotiation, including dinner, the agency was officially negotiated. down. They told me afterwards that it was because I was different, focused and very personable.
The temptation of wind and rain changes is unpredictable. People are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong. This is common sense! Then there were no less than 10 well-known semiconductor companies who came to our door to ask us to represent chips. At this point, doing nothing is a difficult choice for many people. At this point, I think no matter how good the other party's conditions are, if there is a conflict, don't do it, and if the performance is not outstanding, don't do it. If you can form a complementary value chain, you must take the initiative to "seek" through your own efforts and performance. "Semiconductor companies licensed it to us, and that's how I got agency rights and lines of credit for Keil, Catalyst, Sipex. In 2004, five managers from SHARP Semiconductor Corporation in Beijing, Japan, and the United States came to my office and asked me to represent SHARP's ARM to help SHARP promote in China and manufacture development kits for global sales. I refused without thinking at all. It can be said that the conditions SHARP gave me are very good, especially the Americans think it is very incredible, as a businessman, I don’t want such a good opportunity to make money. Why? The reason why we are temporarily "strong" is that we have been focusing on the development of PHILIPS semiconductors for a long time, focusing on focusing and becoming a big fish in a small river, which has attracted everyone's attention. If we are distracted, the end result will be nothing!
After deciding what to focus on, the next step is to figure out how to be different, which is not an easy task. The most important thing is to exhaustively enumerate the biggest needs of users and the most easily overlooked areas of competitors, and then make the best of them.
In order to promote the PHILIPS microcontroller and ARM, we aim to help beginners get started quickly. So far, we have written and published more than 20 monographs, and donated most of the copyrights to the publishing house to reduce costs. At the same time, I will continue to Insist on doing this work and strive to do better. ***There is a famous saying: "Computers must start from dolls!" I think that any far-sighted manufacturer who wants to successfully promote embedded systems must start with college students, which must be a one-shot effort. A lot of good things. It can not only improve the reputation of the enterprise, but also gain market share, and also provide students with a theoretical basis for practice. Why are few manufacturers or agents willing to do it? This will not only help companies establish differentiation, but also bring long-term benefits to the company, why not?
For example, so far, almost no complete chip Chinese data manual, user manual and application manual can be found on the website of any domestic agent. It is not that our colleagues do not know the importance of it. First of all, everyone generally thinks that this is the responsibility of the semiconductor company. Second, everyone may feel that after they have done it well, they will let users download it on the website for free, which will take advantage of other agents. However, many people still do not understand that this is the best opportunity to meet the needs of users to differentiate the services of the manufacturing company.
Therefore, we are determined to start from the website and insist on long-term investment, to be the best professional technology website for embedded systems in China, and to establish a professional technical support and development team. Especially for the service of high-quality users, the website also specially opened a "fast green channel". If such users encounter problems, I, the branch manager and the manager of the relevant service department will take the lead in implementing the "nanny-style". Service, the service strategy we implement is: "provide high-quality services for effective users with limited resources".
"If you draw near to God, God draws near to you!" In an August 2001 report from PHILIPS' internal publication "Risk Means Opportunity", I was the first Asian agent to be promoted to the "Local Hero" back cover character column In 2004, PHILIPS Semiconductor Company awarded me the "Outstanding and Outstanding Contribution Award", and users from all over the country have selected our company as "the top ten most popular distributors in local customers" through the media of "Asian Resources" for many years. Without the lofty loyalty of users and long-term strong support, it is impossible for us to achieve the first place in PHILIPS Asia-Pacific region by selling microcontrollers for many consecutive years since 1999.
An opportunity to "take it from me" made me. Although the efforts of individuals and teams are very important, it can be said without disguise that if there is no discernment of the PHILIPS semiconductor manager, it must be difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. There will be another place for me.
In the embedded system application technology, there are thousands of people who are on par with us or smarter than us. Why are only a few people able to stand out? It is because there are too many ideas and lack of focus, and I cannot insist on working hard in an industry for ten years. But in the face of so many competitors and latecomers, I was walking on thin ice every day, not daring to slack off in the slightest, and insisted on studying until late at night every day, because only by constantly learning and updating my thinking can I have the foresight and avoid possible mistakes in time. .
Paying attention to the needs of users
In fact, the key to maintaining the life of an enterprise is whether the product can be favored by the market. What we need to do is not to become a leader in technology, but to transform the technological achievements into products that meet the needs of consumers.
The 1980s was an era of material scarcity, but today's people pay more attention to consumption enjoyment and emotional sharing. This is a reality that no one can deny. When our company first started to make products, because I personally prefer blue, I made all the products blue based on the authority of the boss. In fact, many people gave me suggestions for improvement at that time, but I still Still indifferent, why? It is because I came from a technical background, and since the early days of my business, I have been relying on technology to fight all the way. It can be said that I am too superstitious about the power of technology. Therefore, for a long period of time, the company has completely followed the path of research. . However, I just ignored the psychological needs of users to read the product, so that I have been unable to open the situation after the product was launched to the market.
At that time, when the EasyPRO series programmers were launched, their sales volume was less than 500 sets a year. At the same time, some users expressed their dissatisfaction with the product design, which can be said to be a profound lesson. So I made up my mind to set up the Industrial Design Division, starting with the EasyPRO series of universal programmers, personally managing, researching and participating in the product's appearance design, discarding all the original molds and redesigning them. Although it is the first design, it does not make a very outstanding effect on the appearance of the product, but in any case, the appearance of the new product is much better than the original product. In 10 months in 2005, the sales volume of EasyPRO series universal programmers reached 6,000 sets. In 2006, we launched the SmartPRO series of intelligent universal programmers. It is estimated that the total number of programmers sold this year will exceed 10,000 sets, and these products will bring my company and me to the mainstream brand in the domestic programmer market.
After that profound lesson, I understand that a good design can highlight the charm of a product, integrate the product with the environment, and stimulate consumers to have a strong desire to buy. Even an ordinary product, after careful design, will become a fashion product, and even make people feel that it is a work of art. From this point of view, fashionable, trendy and artistic appearance design is the first way to shape a product's brand image. an element.
Since then, I have begun to change the image design of product introductions, advertisements and exhibitions. In order to match the new image, we have launched a large-scale and all-round publicity: on the one hand, we provide users with product introduction manuals as much as possible, and at the same time, through a large number of The media advertisements let users know and get to know the company initially, thus increasing brand awareness quickly and effectively; on the other hand, it organizes various national tour speeches, free ARM technical training activities and product exhibitions, and every time we participate in the exhibition, we are The purpose of investing in 4 booths and designing special booths is to gain an opportunity to actively communicate with users.
During the summer vacation of 2003, Zhou Ligong MCU invested 800,000 yuan and invited three well-known embedded system experts in the industry to form a lecturer group to host a free ARM tour speech in 10 cities across the country, providing a free lunch, which can be said to be unprecedented in scale. In this tour, more than 8,000 people participated in the event. Then the company launched the EasyARM2104 development learning kit with a price of 400 yuan. The 1,000 sets produced in the first month were sold out within 15 days, until they were sold out. Production was discontinued due to the introduction of new products after 15,000 sets. This event not only recovered 800,000 yuan of publicity expenses, but also directly or indirectly affected more than 500,000 embedded related personnel, which strongly achieved the purpose of brand promotion. While winning huge profits, it also created a very successful "event marketing" classic case in the embedded industry. I deeply realize that "capturing" the hearts of users is the only way to enhance the brand.
Global market awareness
In the past, a company may have to wait 10 years before starting to consider whether to globalize. Today, thanks to the development of network technology, no matter where we are, new information from all over the world seems to be in front of us, and no one will Being marginalized, so setting up a company today is going to be ready for global sales tomorrow.
In recent years, ARM has reached an extremely hot level, and many people don't take it seriously. In fact, this is an inevitable trend. In fact, I saw in PHILIPS semiconductor company in the United States that the "Embedded System" magazine published in the United States in 1997 has published a large number of articles and advertisements such as OS and 32-bit embedded system development tools. At the Embedded System Exhibition hosted by Silicon Valley in the United States, thousands of booths from Europe and the United States displayed a variety of embedded system products in front of me. Chinese manufacturers generally displayed low-end components such as buzzers and relays. For the first time, I felt how big the gap between China and the United States really is. China desperately needs talents and entrepreneurs who understand the demands of the international market and the rules of the game.
It is also a USB analyzer. There are only 5 in the world. Our own upgraded version of the USB analyzer is currently priced at 3,800 yuan in China. The original price of this product is only 1,800 yuan, and users still think it is too expensive. In fact, the sales volume of such products in China is only 200 units a year, but in the same situation, in the United States, a small company can sell 20 million US dollars a year, and their minimum price per unit is not less than 10,000 US dollars , so that my American counterparts called me directly, hoping that I would add at least one 0 to the selling price.
Can Chinese companies do global sales? no! And Chinese companies must climb to the top of the value chain, otherwise we can only be a cheap processing base for European and American consumer goods markets.
Personalized corporate culture, helping others to succeed
Through the common success of working with users, the users have taught me to be a kind, motivated, honest and excellent talent. Not only do I know how to do what I do best, but I also know how to share success with users and employees. Once the number of chips sold increases, the cost will drop, and the company will take the initiative to reduce the price to users, which has won the user's long-term support; the company's efficiency has improved, and at the end of the year, it will take the initiative to increase wages and bonuses for employees and provide housing allowances for outstanding employees. Due to the small size of the company, we have been mainly recruiting second-class undergraduate freshmen, adopting a mentoring training model internally, providing them with at least one year of rigorous training, helping them plan their careers, and trying our best to provide opportunities to They develop into outstanding talents. Over the years, many companies have called our company to poach people. There has never been a loss of key talents. So far, no more than 12 employees have changed jobs. I deeply feel that this is the greatest happiness and wealth in my life. Users and the talent that follows me, I will be worthless.
In order to ensure the talent dilemma brought about by the sustainable development of the enterprise, I cooperated with Jiangxi University of Science and Technology to launch a "3+1" embedded system application development special training course for five years. Ren's "Zhou Ligong Scholarship" subsidizes students with strong hands-on ability and medium grades, develops a seamless connection between schools and enterprises, and cultivates innovative development talents for embedded systems. It is a beneficial attempt to select 30 enthusiasts from 7 classes Complete all courses in 3 years, we provide each student with a computer, a full set of development tools and all the expenses incurred in the design, we organize famous experts to offer special lectures and courses, and the school organizes 1 full-time Counselors and 2 instructors, and we provide the necessary allowances, and then spend one year on graduation design, for which we have developed a rigorous and meticulous training plan.
In recent years, we have also continuously sponsored electronic competitions, graduation design competitions, and innovative design competitions in various provinces, and donated 50 university single-chip innovation laboratories, in order to expand the company's reputation and seek a wide range of talent sources.
Final words
Many development engineers think that these are issues that bosses or managers should consider, and have nothing to do with themselves. In fact, they are very wrong. As an excellent and outstanding developer, if we want to achieve complete success and happiness in life, we always need to understand that the sustainable development of any enterprise must be the result of collective efforts.
In 1981, I went to a technical school after failing the college entrance examination. In 1994, I was recommended to go to university as a model worker. Since I started my business for more than ten years, the past is still vivid in my mind. The users have given me a lot in return. It is difficult to list them all here. Completely, I would like to share and exchange this article with my peers and users.
Over the years, I have successively donated funds to fund education, set up scholarships, and helped my hometown to build rural cement roads, ancestral halls and other public welfare undertakings to give back to the society. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1990, I went south to Guangdong to work by myself. I never imagined that I would have such a result. I have always cherished this hard-won opportunity.
As an embedded technology enthusiast, my wish is: "Endless life, endless struggle!" Strive to contribute to the development of China's embedded system application technology.