本字幕由TME AI技术生成
喔耶耶耶喔
Alright
Welcome to the deep dive
Everybody
Today we're going to be a digging into to umi fascinating company yeah
And we're really going to try and understand like the thinking that drove this company to be so successful
So quickly
Yeah
It's been remarkable
It really has
And we've got some yeah
Mean just the sheer speed of their growth
Yes
It's really have
It's incredible
And we have some uh some great source material
Today we're going to be using um excerpts from a recent interview
Yeah
A recent interview
A youtube interview with a leggeal himself
The foundered and ceo o of me
Me
Show me so what i'm hoping that we can accomplish today is to go beyond
Just like the headlines of this company right like everyone kind of know share me as you know this phone maker they make other products
But i think there's something much deeper here in terms of their philosophy
And how they approach uh business gengeneral
So i'm hoping ing
We can
Can lean those insights from this interview
And
And then hopefully our listeners can apply that to their own endeavors
Their own thinking about um business and
And markets and things
Like that absolutely
I think um you really this is the company
That's not only been successful in china
But it's really made a global impact
And so understanding how they have achieve that is
Is really valuable
I think for sure
For sure
Solicious jumperate in um
And i think one of the most fascinating things to start off is just to consider that lyunon
When he founded jammmy
This was apl l twenty ten was not not some young you know
Twenty old uh you know
College drop out right starting a company in his graage right
Hewas actually uh a vetern of the tech industry already yeah
He had founded a kingsoft
Which was ua software company
Huh software company in jamp huge yeah a major player
And he'd also already gotten to investing yeah
So he had this uh breath experience that a lot of uh you tytypical start of founders don't have yeah
I think it really shows in the way that he approaches the the business right
And i think uh one thing that really struck me was that ah his initial vision for shami seemed remarkably accurate especially when you comare it to like some of the missteps s like you know the tech giants of the pc air right
They kind of like missed the boat on mobile
And missed the boat unlike
A lot of the trends that jommy e was able to capitalize on yeah
He really seemed to have a clear sense of where things were going yeah
And i think a lot of that comes from uh his own personal experience
You know he talks about how after decades
And can can have his period of reflect ction fasciny
He was looking back on his two decades in business
Two decades as well
And he really kind of synthesized all that experience into uh long kind
Kind strategigithinking ah
Ah wasn't n't ms like per of the moment idea
This was like very deliberate
Very deliberate
Very thoughttful
And
And that really comes across in the way he talks about shmmy
And it's founding okay
So this leads us to the next uh kind of fascinating part the story
Which is that he draws inspiration from uh
Seeseemingly like connected companies
Like i don't
How would you connect like a traditional chinese pharmacy to attech company right wrad it
It's not immediately obvious
Not immediately obvious and yet he specifically cites three companies
That really shaped the dna of jommin
It's a very very h diverse group of company
Diversccript
Yeah
The first one is tongue rn tang tg rrenting uwhich is as he will loored to a very old uh traditional chinese pharmacy uh
It's actually three hundred
Forty years old
Wow
Three hundred and forty years old
That's
That's crazy found in sixteen
Sixsixnine ooh and during the king dynasty
Wow
And what
What was it about this company
Uh
That he was drarawn uwell he really admred there their commcommment to a ow polality okay and rashmanship
They have a very famous saying that transleads to
Even though the ingredients are expensive
We would never dare to skip on them
Even though the preparation is tedious
We would never dare to cut corners
So basically like an obsession with quality
Yeah
An absolute dedication to using the best possible ingredients
The best possible processes
Even if it means higher costs or more effort ok so that's interesting
So we have this three hundred and year old company you know focused on like a traditional chinese medicine
And that's kind of like bake into the dna of jammy
Which is like this
This modern tech company
That's a really fascinating connection
What's the second companies
Second companies is walmart
Walmarokay
This is getting even more interesting
So what was it about walmart
So with walmart uh
He was really impressed by sam wallton h relentless focus on efficiency okay and keeping costons
Uh
You know sam wwalden famous ous uah you know operated out of older warehouses
Ah you know less priimplocaustrip away all the necessary stuff exactly strip away all the unnecessary stuff
And
And that allowed him to offer lower prices
Which obviously was a huge part of walmart success
So business model innovation
Yes
Not just about the product
It's about how you deliver that product
How you deliver it
How you get it to the people
And how you manage your costs along the way absolutely okay
So that's
That's two
We've got the quality focus
We've got the efficiency focus
And what's the third one
But third one is costco
Costco Oh
Ay was with cococo
And he was really blown away by their incredibly low profit more okay
Hk
How are taltalking
We're talking uh reportedly one percent to fourteen percent markup on individual items
That's tiny yeah resulting in an overall gross profit around six percent to seven percent
Wow
And yet thethey're hugely successful
Hugely successthey sell a lot of stuff high volume high quality goods at low prices okay
So what was a lesson there what did he
What did he learn from that
Well
I think the lesson was that you don't have to have these huge markps to be successful
Well you can actually have a very different constructure okay
And still be profitable and offer great value to your customers
So it's like playing the long game right
Exactly it's about building that customer loyalty right by offering consistently low prices in high valuyes
And costco has done that massterfully ly absotely they're known for yes
These are the three companies
So 've got
Got h tongrenang for that deep commitment to quality walmart for that that relentless pursuit of efficiency and then cococo o dedemonstrating the power of low profit margins high volume
Um it's really fascinating how these seemingly like desperate inspirations come together to create something really nobl yeah
You can see the threads
You can really see the threat
How those ideas might
Might come together
Yeah
Absolutely ok
So now let's get into like the nuts and bolts of of how these uh these kind of foundational principles actually translate into uh shmmy specific strategies and innovations
So where do we even begin
There's so much unacacate
Well let's start with product dedeveloment ment kay um you know leyon uh from the very beginning uh believed in hiring small small but tretrely taltalented am of engineers okay
So quality ality
Quanality yeah
Quality overquantity and yeah kind of echoes
Bill gates is observation that uh one exceptional engineer could be as productive as fifty to two hundred average ones
Wow
So that was kind of the philosophy
Ah ah focus on top talenyears yeah
And that allowed them to really concentrate their resources uh in invest
Heavily in research and development
And how much are we talking how much more did they invest compared to their competitors reportedly five to ten times more to ten times more woook
So they were really serious about this
They were serious about building great products okay
But it wasn't just about you know throwing money
It are dedee was
Was ah being very selective about the products
They developed yes
Absolutely yeah
They didn't try to be everything to everyone right
They focus on a limited range of products
But they really went on those products
So quality of equality both in terms of the people they hired
And the products they developed okay
So that's
That's really interesting
Now once they have these high quality focus products
How do they actually get the word out
Because their marketing strategy is also very unique
Isn't it ah they
They really throughout the traditional playbook
When they came to marketing in what way well they basically skipped the whole expensive advertising campaigns
Really so no well they billboards
No tv commercials
None of that
Very little of that um instead
They focused on cultivating a passionate user base okay
They call them their fans
They're fans okay
Well they did this through uh active engagement on social media right
And by really fostering word of mouth recommendations
So they basically like trusted the quality of their products to speak for itself
Exactly they believe that if they build great products
People talk about them
And that's
That's a pretty bold move
I mean especially in the tech world
Where there's so much noise in competition
There was a risk
But it clearly paid off
Yeah
It seems like it okay
So we've got these great products
We got this very unique marketing strategy
How do they actually at these products into the hands of their customers
Because they also kind of um you know bucked the trend
When it came to distribution
And they yethey compleplebyypassed traditional retail channels
So no like going through big box stores
No partnerships with carriers
None of that
They did very little of that
Ah they primarily focused on e commerce okay
Selling directly to consumers through their own online platform
Ok
So cut out the middle man
Cut out the middle man exactly
And that obviously leads to lower costs
Very absolutely
Yeoung
You're not paying those retail markeps
You're not pafor you know physical store fronfronright right
And that
That brings us to their
Their pricing which has always been very aggressive
Very competitive
How did they manage to do that
Well
It all comes down to the efficiencies
They gained through their focus product development
Their minimal marketing spend through their direct distribution model
All of that allow them to price
Their products incredibly close to their actual manufacturing costs
Okay
We're tcking significantly lower than traditional consumer electronics right
Yeah
Where you might see retail markps of you two or or times times cost
Wwow they 're able to keep their prices much closer to the actual cost of making the product
So they're basically applying those lessons from walmart and costo o exactly efficiency in low margins
Wow Okay
So now you've got these these amazingly low prices
But how do you convince consumers
That it's not
对对对
You know too good to be true
Because you know people are naturally skeptical
When they see a price
That's much lower than what they're used to
How did they address that
Well
They did something very interesting
They actually encourage transparents to anansparency
Kay
How so they actually encouraged users and tech experts to take their products apart
Really to look at the components to analyze the engineering
Wow
That's a
That's a very different approach was a very different company
Yeah
Compared to the traditional kind blblack box proprothat a lot of tech companies take all about like marketing and branding
And you don't really really know it's inside
Exactly they wanted to show people what they were getting so openness as a form of proof
Exactly that's really fascinate okay
So we've talked a lot about their business model
But i want to touch on something that lasgion talks about a lot
Which is the idea of internet
Thinking yeah
And it seems like it's more than just you know using the internet
It's like a whole philosophy
Yes
It seems like it's set set value es it's methothololoookso so how does how how he actually tually fine it
But he's some vies it with several key terms okay
Focus extreme word of mouth fast and participation
Focus extreme word of mouth fast participation okay a lot to one pack there yeah
And that last one participation is really conresting okay
Tell me more he actually likenit to the concept of the mass line okay for those of us
Who arenfamiliar with that what is the mass line
So the mass line is this idea of deeply engaging and empowering the masses
I be on the process of you know decision making a problem solving
So bringing it to show me what does that mean like how do they actually engage their users
Well they do it in a number of ways
Uh their very active on social media right they listen to feeback they incorporate user suggestions into their products
So it's not just like a one way street
Where they're just like pushing products out
No
It's very much a two weak conversation okay
So it's a whole philosophy
It's a way of thinking about how you build products
How you interact with your customers
How you run your business
Absolutely
嗯 Okay
So now i want to shift gears a little bit
And talk about um
You know laying has some pretty uh ambitious schools
I would say for jammy's impact
It's not just about selling smarmarphphones
It's about something much bigger isn't
It Yeah
He really sees jammy as having the potential to be a transformative of ce
Not just in the tech industry
But in chinese industry as a whole 是的
好的 Okay
So what is that look like what's
What's the vision
Here well
He talks about wanting jammmy to become a national enterprise of china
A national enterprise
Okay
Kind of like what sony was to japan of the nineteen seventies
Right right
It was like aa symbol of of japanese quality and innovation
Exactly
And he see jjmmy is having that same potential for china
Okay
So how do they
How do
They actually go about doing that like what are the concrete steps
They're taking well one thing live in very consistent about is their commitment to use the first class suppliers
Ok so even from the very beginning
They weren't cutting corners on components
No
They partnered with the best in the business companies like qual com
Sharp
Fox con
And that must have been more expensive
Right it definitely would have been more expensive
But they saw as an investment in quality
Ok so there they're really putting their money
Where their mouth is so to speak
Absolutely
They're not talking king ququality
Theyactually really puking it up with their actions
And we've seen that um not just in their smart phones
But in their ecosystem products
As well
Right Yeah
I mean look at the success of my power bank for example
Yeah
Those things are
Everywhere they basically disrupted that entire market
Market how so by offering a high quality power bank at a fraction of the price of the competition
Wow That's
That's
Let's some interesting challenges hasn't it
Yeah
I mean the downside of being so successful is that you become a target for counterfeters
Right
Because everyone's trying to that copy your success
Exactly Oh
So so legiend also talks about the idea
You know is jown me being more than just a hardware company
They're really building a platform
A mobile internet platform
Right
He's very clear about that the phone is just the beginning
Okay so what's the bigger vision here well he sees the phone is come like a big qqa big qq okay for a listeners
He might not be familiar with qq
What is that so qq is uuh dominant um social media and messaging platform in china
Okay
Got it
So he's saying is that the phone is the central hub um for connecting with users and building relationship with them right
And then from that relationship you can branch out
And all sorts of other services in products
So it's aa gateway
Exactly
It's a great way to their ecosystem of services and smart devices
And that's
That's the internet of things
But iot
Exactly everything is connected at the smart home
Whereable devices
All of that
Ok
So you talk about their domestic market
Their impact in china
But laggina also has some pretty bold ambitions for jmme globally doesn't he
Oh Yeah
He's very confident about their potential on the world staso
So what what are his goals
What he aiming for well
He wants show me to be a top five hundred global company within the next two to three years
Wow
And to be the number one smart phone maker worldwide within five to ten years
Okay
Like those are some really aggressive target
Yeah
Very ambitious
So what
What's been their strategy for international expansion so far like weare
If they focused their efforts
Well initially they focused on markets
That were 是的是的
Geographically and culturally closure to china
Okay so a places like hong kong
Kn iian
An Ah ah
Singapore
Mmalaysia
India
Indonesia
And right now they're really focused on india
They india is a huge market for them huge market lots of potential
Yeah
They've very successful theare so far okay so ah does he believe that you know the jummy model which has been so successful in china can be replicated globally
He really does he thinks the core princicial you know high quality low prices
Great user experience that those are universal ok
And he's very passionate about wanting bring chinese se innovation to the world
And what about their software uh outside of china
They use android right
Yeah
Their ecosym is built on android
But they add their own layer of uh enhancements on top of it
Okay so what kind of enhancements
What they focus on things like management use their interface
You know
Making sure that the experience is consisent across all their devices
So it's android
But with a jammmy twist exactly okay
Uh
You know
Show me has face some criticticisuh particularly about their level of technological innovation
You know some people say that they're more adept at like assembly and integration
Than they are like trtrgrground breaking research
Right there's a perception
That they're more about taking existing technologies and putting them together in a clever way
Yeah
As oppposed you like inventing something completely new right so how does legion address those kinds of criticisms
Well he pushes back pretty strongly against that he points to the fact
That all eight co founders of shmmy have very strong technical backgrounds okay
Uh you know they average about twenty years of experience in the industry
Wow many of them work at multinational companies like motora
Okay
So they're not just age about business ttheir engineers
There's their their technical people exactly
And he believes that those criticisms often come from people who don't really understand the depth of their technical expertise okay
Faira what about patterns
Because patterns are often seen as a key indicator of you know technological innovation
Uh
How does jmmy approach patterns
Yeah
That's an interesting question
Ah your lyyune acknowledges the importance of patterns
But he also suggests that they shouldn't be seen as the only measure of innovation okay
And y is that well he points out that patterts can also be used defensively
Defensively by larger companies to kind of stifle competition okso it's aa breired entry
Exactly
And even mentions that you know even apple face a lot of pattern lawsuits
When they first launch the iphone great
Which was a groundbreaking product
No one can deny that
Yeah
So he points that patterns or ortant
But they're not the whole story okay
So now i want to dive into uh shelmis in internal management style
Because it seems quite different from you a more traditional hierarchical organizations
Yeah
They have a very unique approach
So what's
What's different about it
Well
There are big propponents of what they call demanagement
Demanagement okay
What does memean it basally means hiring really talented people 可
可以
And giving them a lot of autonomy okay
Trusting them to make decisions and take ownership of their work
So it's like a very flat organizastructure
Very flat
Yeah
Ah they only like
Like through four layers of management
Wow That's
That's pretamazing especially for a company of their size
Yeah
It's definitely not the traditional approach okay
So how does that actually work in practice
Like how do they make decisions
How do they coordinate their efforts
Well they have these weekly meetings
That they call riceporridge meetings
Rice porridge meetings okay
That sounds pretty informal
Yeah
Very informal is basically just a chance for everyone to get together
Share ideas and make decisions
And these are like company wide meetings
Well they have him a different levels
But there's a big emphasis on keeping things informal and collaborative
It's
It's not like your typical
You know bordering meeting with powerpoint presentations in all that
No
It's much more organic conflde okay
So how do they ensure that you know critical areas are still being managed
Effectively
Because it sounds like it could be a little chaotic with such a flat structure
Well
The management team is actually quite small
Okay
It's basically the co founders okay
And they oversee the most critical functions like the supply chain
And they're able to do that ectively
Because they have so much experience right
Exactly mean these are guys have been in the industry for twenty plus years
They know how things work right
So it's not like they're just you know delegating everything blindly
No
They are very hands on when it comes to the most important things
Okay
So now i'm curious
How does ladian himself you know given his involvement and show me and also engine and ine and shwt my capital
How do he manage all of that
Where he's a big believer in delegation okay
He trusts the teams
He's built right
And he also emphasizes the importance of collaboration among the co founders okay
So they work together
Very closely very closely
And they have those weekly cofounder meetings to make sure everyone's on the same page okay
It's a very distributed leadership model very distributed very collaborative okay
Now i want to wrap up by talking
Because you know layuons vision for the future
Because he's been through a lot
Because he's seen the tech industry of all all from the early days of the internet to the mobile era
And he seems very optimistic about what's next
Yeah
He's a very forward thinking guy
So what what does he see happening
What are the trends that he's excited about
But he talks about how the mobile internet is still in its early stages
Really yeah
He thinks there's still so much more potential there okay
And he's also really excited about the convergence of mobile with the internet of thing
Where everything is connected
Exactly
And he uses this interesting analogy of uh pig and wind tunnel
Yeah
That's a classic lighhuon quode
So what does he mean by that he's basically acknowledging that show me has benefted from some very favorable tailwinins like the growth of the chinese economy
The rise of the mobile internet
Exactly
And he's saying that they've been lucky to be in the right place
At the right time
But he's also saying that it's not just luluck
No
He emphasizes that you still have to execute well okay
You still have to build great products and offer great services
So the wind might like lift you up
But you still have be able to fly
I love that analogy
So as we as we kind of wrap up here
Uh i want to just kind of summarize some of the key takeways from from this deep dive into lalassians thinking
And it seems like you know one of the big ones is this emphasis on quality absolutely from the very beginning
They've been obsessed with quality drawing inspiration from you know a three hundred and forty old pharmacy
No Yeah
It's very very que approach
It really is
And then you know we see the influence of walmart in their relentless focus on efficiency and driving down costs business model ininvvation
Business model innovation
Exactly
And then costco showing them you know you can have low profit margins and still be hugely successful
If you do it right
If you do right
And then this whole idea of internet thinking which is really about putting the user at the center of everything you do yeah
Building a community fostering word of mouth creating a great user experience
And that's
That's really what it all of comes down to rate
I think so it's about creating products and services
That people love
And that they want to tell their friends about
Exactly
So uh for listeners you know as you think about jammy's journey
What are some of the
The key
Ohm moments for you well
I think that connection between tonguentanying this ancient pharmacy and jymy's commitment to quality
I that was just so striking to me
Yeah
Who would have thought
It's not something youwould normally associate with a tech company absolutely
Then seeing how they've apped the principles of walmart and costco to the tech world
I mean that's just brilliant yeah
Taking those lessons from other industries and adapting them to their own yeah
And you know this whole reframing of the customer relationship as like aa friendship
I mean that's just so different from the traditional like transactional approach yeah
It's much more human much more about building long term trust
Absolutely
So i want to leave our listeners with a couple of uh thought provoking questions here so you know
As you think about these principles
This focus on core value
On innovating business models
On prioritising customer trust
How might you apply these to your own endeavors or the industries
You follow
And you know given jelmy's ambition to really change the way
The world sees chinese manufacturing
嗯
What other industries might be right for similar disruption by companies
Who are really focused on user value and efficiency
What assumptions about traditional business might need to be challenged
And what is jamy's journey tell us about the future of global competition and the power of a customer centric approach
It's an exiting time time be watching this
This company absolutely right
Let's going to do it for us
Today
Thanks for joining us on the deep dive
We'll see an next time
See next time by
