80 Entrepreneurship Stories-Wang Tao, founder and CEO of DJI Innovations

Entrepreneurship cannot be popular for three minutes, but you must persist. Failure once or twice does not mean anything. Persistence may not necessarily lead to success, but if you do not persist, you will definitely fail. Let me share with you the post-80s Wang. Tao's entrepreneurial story, I hope you like it! Welcome to read!

The Prime Minister praised Wang Tao, the founder of DJI Drone: "Your market share accounts for 70%, is this achievement still small? You are Star. ”

The world’s largest consumer drone manufacturer, with a valuation of US$24 billion and a global market share of 70%, is what DJI has achieved in the nine years since its founding.

Wang Tao, founder and CEO of DJI Innovations, went to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to study electrical and computer engineering in 2003. Today, the small drones developed by Wang Tao account for half of the world's sales, making "Made in China" stand out in the high-tech field. His worth has also reached 27.9 billion.

// Being rejected from studying abroad and having no goals, starting a business in the dormitory//

Wang Tao was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in 1980. Because of his good family background, he has been fond of model airplanes since he was a child. My father got a remote control helicopter. In his imagination, the helicopter was like an elf that could be controlled at will, able to hover in the air and fly wherever he wanted, but in fact that was not the case at all. The helicopter, which was difficult to control, fell off shortly after takeoff, and the rapidly rotating propeller left a scar on his hand.

“At that time, I wanted to make something that could automatically control helicopter flight.” After studying in Hangzhou, Wang Tao was admitted to the Electronics Department of East China Normal University. By his junior year, Wang Tao, unwilling to be mediocre, dropped out of East China Normal University and applied to world-class universities. His goals were Stanford and MIT, but they were both rejected. In the end, only the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology sent an admission notice, and he studied in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering there.

In 2005, at the age of 25, with no goals in life, he began to study the flight control system of a remote-controlled helicopter. Wang Tao, who was preparing for his graduation project, decided to take the flight control system of a remote-controlled helicopter as his graduation project topic. He found two classmates to persuade the teacher to agree to their research direction. The core problem he wanted to solve still originated from his childhood dream? Allow the model aircraft to hover freely.

With the 18,000 Hong Kong dollars given by the school, Wang Tao and the others were busy for more than half a year. However, during the final demonstration stage, the plane that was supposed to be hovering in the air fell down. The graduation project failed. A C. This poor grade even cost him the opportunity to further his studies at a prestigious EU school.

Fortunately, Wang Tao’s concentration was recognized by a professor and he was able to continue his graduate studies at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. In 2006, Wang Tao and two of his classmates founded DJI Innovation Technology Company in Shenzhen. They worked in a three-bedroom apartment, and Wang Tao spent all the remainder of the scholarship he received at the university on research. DJI sold $6,000 worth of parts to customers including Chinese universities and state-owned power companies, which were welded onto their DIY drone mounts.

The sales of these products allow Wang Tao to support a small team, while he and several classmates at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology rely on their remaining university scholarships. Wang Tao recalled, "I didn't know how big the market size would be at the time. Our idea was very simple: develop a product that can support a team of 10 to 20 people."

The lack of early vision and Wang Tao's strong personality eventually led to constant internal disputes at DJI Technology. DJI Technology began to lose employees. Some people felt that the boss was very harsh and stingy in the distribution of equity. Two years after its founding, almost all members of DJI’s founding team left. Wang Tao admitted that he may be an "unpopular perfectionist" and "it also broke the hearts of employees at the time."

At the end of 2006, the company was in crisis. Lu Di, a close friend of the Wang Tao family, generously invested US$90,000 (Wang Tao said that this was the only time in the history of DJI that it needed external funds) to help DJI tide over the difficulties. Later, Lu Di went to DJI to take charge of financial work, and today he has become one of DJI's largest shareholders.

In 2008, the first mature product interview. The first relatively mature helicopter flight control system XP3.1 he developed was launched.

In 2010, important figure Xie Jia joined DJI. Xie Jia was Wang Tao's middle school classmate. After joining, he played an important role in the development of DJI and was responsible for marketing. He was also an important assistant to Wang Tao.

In 2011, DJI North America Branch was established. Quinn, an American, was running a start-up company engaged in aerial photography business, and later helped DJI establish DJI North America branch in Texas, aiming to introduce drones to the mass market. At the time, he proposed a new slogan for the company: "The Future of Possible."

2012 Bing Zeng celebrates the night before dawn. DJI already has all the elements needed for a complete drone: software, propellers, brackets, gimbals, and remote controls.

In January 2013, “DJI Phantom” was released. It's the first pre-assembled quadcopter that's ready to take off: it flies within an hour of taking it out of the box and doesn't disintegrate on the first drop. Thanks to its simplicity and ease of use, the DJI Phantom has leveraged the non-professional drone market.

//Non-standard CEO//

In DJI, Wang Tao has two identities, one is CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and the other is CTO (Chief Technology Officer).

It is difficult to define whether he is a qualified CEO. He rarely faces the media, rarely participates in public events, and even misses press conferences. But when it comes to products and technologies, Wang Tao is almost paranoid in his pursuit of the word "perfect."

Two years ago, Wang Tao once said in an interview: "I am a product maker. I just want to make the product good and let more people use it."

In the early days of DJI’s founding, Wang Tao once made a wish list. Based on the characteristics of drones, three issues must be solved: stability, clarity, and transmission distance. DJI’s subsequent product lines were based on this list. And unfold.

The three major issues in this list correspond to DJI’s three major technologies: gimbal, aerial photography and transmission system.

“In the past, there were many inconveniences in the operating experience of unmanned aircraft, which blocked a large number of ordinary consumers. We believe that with DJI’s technology accumulation, we can launch a highly integrated The success of the Phantom series proves that our decision is correct.

In the company, he emphasizes the word "taste" the most. "In our father's generation, China has always lacked products that can impress the world, and Chinese manufacturing has never been able to get rid of the situation of relying on cost-effective advantages to gain market share. The success of enterprises in this era should have different ideas and values. DJI is willing to focus on making Really good products can reverse this status quo that people are not proud of."

This is more reflected in the products and the overall simple style of the company.

The grasp of taste permeates the company. Company employees provide seasonal fruits every afternoon. The pictures of these fruits are processed by administrative department employees to ensure the quality of the pictures.

Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital, once wrote on his LinkedIn: “DJI’s Phantom 2 Vision is basically equivalent to a flying Apple II.”

DJI also relies on its products to enter the US market and become a brand comparable to Apple.

Apple founder Steve Jobs is one of the few people Wang Tao admires. He compared himself and Jobs to "heroes who see the same thing." "He has many excellent qualities, and his methods and ideas have also inspired me a lot. I will naturally love him as much as I do." Wang Tao told reporters.

Unlike most CEOs, Wang Tao has very few opportunities to talk about products in front of the public. He and DJI’s public relations team control the public’s access to this information because they are afraid of the public. Focusing too much on Wang Tao personally distracts from focusing on the product.

This kind of avoidance goes far beyond the average CEO. He even missed DJI product launches, from the Phantom series to the Osmo handheld gimbal camera to the agricultural and forestry plant protection drones, every epoch-making release. Yes, Wang Tao often only lives in media releases.

For Wang Tao, the product condenses everything he wants to say. Regardless of whether the public accepts and likes it, he is not prepared to explain his story and mental journey during research and development.

Precisely because DJI drones are developing rapidly and leading the way, many investment institutions are following it.

In April 2018, DJI’s new round of equity financing of US$1 billion was exposed. DJI, a maverick company, adopted an unusual financing method, namely bidding financing, requiring investors to subscribe for a certain amount of The amount of equity must also be actively bid for a high proportion of bonds, and the bonds are three-year overseas interest-free bonds, which means that investors have to give their investment money to DJI without charging any interest.

Regarding the current post-financing valuation of DJI, there are versions of 24 billion US dollars and 22 billion US dollars. Wang Tao’s net worth has reached 45 billion according to estimates. Which one is closer to the real value is unknown to the outside world. . Compared with its reputation as a popular unicorn, DJI’s relevant information is not transparent.

With the spread of the trade war this year, following the United States’ “attack” on Huawei, DJI has also been targeted. However, DJI is not worried about tax increases and purchase bans, and instead chooses to be tough. Faced with the tax increase, DJI chose to raise prices. The purchase ban caused conflicts within the US military. The Pentagon had no choice but to approve the purchase. In June this year, when the US military once again warned that DJI was unsafe, DJI had already been criticized by netizens. It is regarded as the "second Huawei". Why is DJI so crazy? Because DJI is another high-tech enterprise that truly relies on technology to move into the world. All this is just based on strength.

? How do novices find entrepreneurial projects that suit themselves?

1. Find pain points

Pain points are the troubles you encounter in life, and then solve these troubles , you will find the pain points of enterprises in "Free Profit Model" and become the immediate needs of enterprises. If you like it, you can get applause, and if you just need it, you can get followers!

2. Find market segments!

Look for the blue ocean from the red ocean, look at the big companies, see what they have failed to do, and enter the market from this gap.

3. The field you are good at, or the skills you have!

To put it simply, I used to have a friend who made sauce-flavored pancakes, and the pancakes he made were very delicious. I asked him how he wanted to learn how to charge, and he said that he would not teach you the secret recipe for 3,000 yuan, but would only teach you how to make cakes. Teach the secret recipe for 6,000 yuan. It's a pity that he didn't make it big, he just opened a store alone.

In fact, he can definitely set up a chain franchise, which is very profitable.

Basic students of "Free Profit Model" only have one recipe for making bread, and now it has 610 branches and is very popular across the country.

4. Update and upgrade or integrate resources on the existing basis

Improve existing technologies or products, or establish new projects through the integration of some resources.

5. Product reorganization

Combining different products or integrating different functions.

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