Stone Technology Changjing: Revolutionary of the sweeping robot industry
The brand has only been on the line for three years and is worth more than 8 billion. What made this post-80s CEO such a "myth of wealth creation"?
Author|Qian Wen Produced | Technological figures
What is a craftsman? Choose one thing, for the rest of your life. There are often CEOs, but craftsmen are rare. Especially in the current rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry, craftsmen who are deeply involved in products are even rarer.
Making Internet hardware products is like building a high-rise building. There must be no slightest deviation. It needs decades of continuous improvement and craftsmanship.
From the product manager to the creator of the explosive sweeping robot, Changjing Stone Technology is one of the few "product craftsmen".
one
"navigate"
In 2013, the sci-fi movie "Pacific Rim" starring Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba was officially released. At that time, Chang Jing was still working as the product manager of Baidu Maps.
A parallel universe "breakpoint" emerges from the depths of the ocean floor of the Pacific Rim, from which behemoths rise.
Chang Jing, who has always been rigorous and conscientious, rarely lost his mind during the MBA training course, and chatted with his friends about his primitive desire for machinery. This conversation doesn’t matter. Chang Jing, who loves to take risks and wants to start a business, can’t sit still. The idea of starting a business in the field of AI came from the bottom of his heart. Robots became a “breakthrough point” for him to start a business.
In Chang Jing’s view, AI is a hot field in the next ten or even twenty years, and it is a direction for long-term sustainable development. It is currently in the early stage, and there is huge room for future development. "I even think that robots and artificial intelligence represent the future," Chang Jing took the initiative to choose the field of robotics based on his love for AI.
The giant mechanical robots in the movie have undergone constant updates and iterations from dangerous wanderers to revenge wanderers, phoenix guerrilla fighters, winter exes, etc. in order to resist the invasion of monsters. In real life, Chang Jing wants to explore this new field of robots. Nor is it easy.
After deciding to make a robot, as a practical person, Chang Jing started to choose various robots, wanting to make a robot category with the most practical value.
After repeated comparisons between commercial and domestic use, he felt that the sweeping robot was a good entry point. Adhering to his consistent rigorous attitude, Chang Jing investigated more than 20 products, but unfortunately none of them satisfied him.
As early as 2007, Chang Jing knew about sweeping robots. At that time, he was in a foreign country where robots were widely used. When talking about this, he joked: "Many of my Microsoft colleagues are also using sweeping robots, but they are too expensive, costing more than a thousand dollars."
Later, Chang Jing bought an early adopter after the product was discounted and the price was reduced. Time goes back to 2013. Although the category of robots has existed for nearly ten years, it has been tepid.
"I searched for sweeping robots in China, but there were only two brands, and there was no data in the domestic market."
In the eyes of outsiders, such a "unpopular" field is an opportunity for Chang Jing: "It shows that the user demand of this category exists, but the user value of the product is not well done. This is our opportunity."
two
"cross line"
In 2014, Stone Technology was founded, and Chang Jing served as CEO.
Microsoft, Tencent, Baidu, technology, engineers, product managers... After choosing a track, despite the endorsement of major manufacturers, from the Internet to hardware products, Chang Jing has to face more difficulties.
The unknown future did not bother him: "It's all about making products", Chang Jing faced the challenge with the heart of a product manager. But the reality poured cold water on him.
"Later, I found out that making APP products is actually completely different from making hardware products, and the people they need are different. The biggest difficulty in getting involved in a new field is that there are many unknown things in this field, and you need to step up. One step to explore, to discover, to understand."
Later, Chang Jing had to admit that he thought this matter too simply. He originally thought that his product could be launched in one year, but the sweeping robot is a combination of software and hardware, which means that everything in the past has been overthrown and everything needs to be relearned.
"This is a process from not knowing to understanding, from scratch to something. There are difficulties, but it seems to me that it is not as difficult as I imagined. The reason is that your cognition is constantly opening up, so go forward. a little."
The process was difficult, but it also inspired Chang Jing's adventurous spirit. He and his team slammed technology, and independently developed a set of SLAM algorithms, which can cover the room with the highest efficiency.
For consumers, the first requirement of purchasing a sweeping robot is to sweep clean and fast. The cleanliness mainly depends on the design of the cleaning system and the power of the vacuum fan. The most powerful guarantee of cleaning efficiency is that the sweeping robot has A set of very intelligent path planning algorithms.
For sweeping robots, the cleaning power and intelligence are concentrated in the cleaning path planning ability of the robot.
The positioning technology is the key to the planning sweeping robot. After collecting data, various sensors are handed over to this algorithm. The sweeping robot divides the area and plans the cleaning path according to the map, and finally forms a cleaning path that first follows the edge and then Z-shaped, and completes the partition cleaning one by one. Task.
The software problem is solved, and the hardware is more difficult: "It includes many fields, such as motion control, called electromechanical wheels, the second is photoelectric, because it has lasers, and the third has wind, and there is this vacuum , It is equivalent to a small vacuum cleaner, wind-wind electromechanical and battery, wind-wind electromechanical integration, so it will involve a wide range of fields.
Moreover, there are actually many pits in the hardware inside, and it is easy to get into the pits if you have no experience. The pitfall of hardware lies in the discovery of the pit, and it takes a long time to avoid or solve it.
Unlike software alone to solve bugs, if there is a problem with the hardware design, it is tantamount to modifying the mold or re-opening the mold. This cycle is very long. So when there is a hardware problem, you have to solve it. It may take several months, half a year, or even a year to solve it, which takes a lot of time and cost. "
When Stone Technology made the first generation of products, the company changed the design plan for 3 rounds together with the original hardware partner, but the two prototypes released in September 2015 were not ideal, and many problems were found. In order to make a product with the ultimate experience, the team decided to overthrow everything and start over and redesign it by themselves.
Redesign plus mold opening, verification and release, the plan to launch to the market was scheduled until March 2017, which was nearly 3 years before the company was established. Everyone is very depressed, "It's equivalent to three years, and you may not be able to make a good product, or you may die halfway."
Faced with such difficulties, the start-up team found a large conference room as a "black room" for research and development, and decided to conduct closed development. I also invited senior engineers in the field of robotics from the outside to change the entire framework. I also insisted on making the key modules by myself. I worked hard until 12 o'clock every night. There are tens of thousands of structures in it. If you want to click one by one, everyone will fail. A mouse, determined to "do not break Loulan and never return it".
After several months of closed work in a small black room, the design was finally completed. After the mold was opened, after a difficult on-site career, the mold of the first generation product was finally completed at 1 am on January 31. Everyone excitedly cheered and signed the set of "hard-won" molds as a souvenir.
In 26 months, it took Chang Jing almost two and a half years from idea to R&D to final implementation.
As a product manager, Chang Jing too understands what a 26-month R&D cycle means for a product, but at the same time Chang Jing also understands that this product is really complicated and difficult. For me, only twenty-six months are precious enough.
Fortunately, the hard work of nearly a thousand days and nights has not been in vain. The sweeping robot products have exceeded expectations since they came out.
three
"Daguai"
The product was born, but Changjing was even more stressed.
If exploration and rigor are the first impressions of Chang Jing, then "cleanliness" and "innovation" are the most accurate descriptions of him after in-depth understanding.
In his opinion, whether it is an Internet product or a hardware product, the criteria for a "good product" are the same, and the human logic behind it is also the same.
"I am a product manager. I make APPs and make products, and I make products for sweeping robots. I will look at the needs of users. Our goal is to make good products for users to use. We will pay attention to whether AI technology is real or not. users who can help."
Such a cleanliness person, such a cleanliness team, cannot accept that the products they make have no user value, or are complained by users because the products are not easy to use.
With the mission of "making high-quality products and bringing happiness to users", Chang Jing started a long road to fight monsters.
In Chang Jing's view, the quality of existing sweeping robots is similar at home and abroad, but they cannot adapt to Chinese families. In this regard, he explained: "For example, Americans live in a larger area and have a greater demand for sweeping, while Chinese parents have parents and elderly people to help sweep."
In addition, another reason is that American families have a large area, things are not as complicated as in China, and homes are relatively simple, and sweeping robots are not so easy to get stuck.
In contrast to Chinese families, many things will be placed on the ground. "It may be related to habits. I also like to place all kinds of things in my house in a mess. This is a greater challenge for sweeping robots."
What Changjing has to do is to solve this pain point, truly design for Chinese families, and make the sweeping robot more intelligent through algorithms, so as to improve the happiness of Chinese people.
This is what he said, and he also did this: "Our entire test company environment is more difficult than at home, because there are many lines and all kinds of things are messed up. Our robots run around the company, and we put dozens of robots every night. Run within the company to see where it is stuck and then solve it.”
The huge investment in software algorithm and hardware research and development has increased the cost of the product a lot, but Chang Jing stubbornly put forward higher standards for the product again and again. "We're a product company, not a marketing company.
Users pay real money to buy it. If the product is not good, I really feel sorry for the users who trust us. We don't want to do things that will cause users to lose. "
Changjing is never sloppy when dealing with users. After the launch of the S series, the first generation of sweeping and mopping integrated products, the company iterated the material of the mop according to user feedback, and the first version of the mop has produced a lot of inventory. How to deal with these mop with poor experience has become a difficult problem for everyone.
Someone suggested that it could be treated as a sales gift, but after a long consideration, Chang Jing chose to scrap all these 1 million worth of mops, "We hope to give users the best, even if it is a gift, we can't cheat users."
In order to make a good product in his mind, Chang Jing and his team disassembled the mainstream sweeping robots on the market in detail.
In order to simulate the scene, we simply set up a laboratory in the basement, and even invited aerodynamic experts to learn how to reduce turbulence and noise, and continuously optimize and learn by sorting out the cleaning data of different types of houses.
In order to provide users with better products and more extreme experience, Chang Jing and his team have never stopped research and development.
Four
"blessing"
Smart home is considered to be the form of future development. Starting from the Xiaomi router, Xiaomi has never stopped the pace of smart home layout, and the sweeping robot is also an important element.
As an innovation-driven Internet company, Xiaomi has the vision of "making friends with users and being the coolest company in users' hearts", which coincides with Chang Jing's mission of "making high-quality products and bringing happiness to users". combine.
But these alone were not enough. At that time, Chang Jing looked like a "novice" with no experience in hardware. He was even questioned when he first connected with the Xiaomi ecological chain team, "You have nothing, how can you vote? ?”
Perhaps stimulated by this sentence, or driven by an adventurous spirit, Chang Jing did nothing but recruit four ex-Microsoft colleagues, and worked overtime for more than 40 days to drive out a demo.
On August 12th, Xiaomi’s ecological chain department met for the second time. “After reading it, they felt that our algorithm is quite experienced, so they decided to vote for us on the same day.”
Changjing is undoubtedly lucky. Stone Technology was established in July 2014, and received investment from Xiaomi two months later. "Joining the Xiaomi ecological chain will reduce the risk a lot and increase a certain user base, so that we don't have to worry about the sales in the early stage. Keeping the company alive is a great blessing for the company by joining the Xiaomi ecological chain."
For Xiaomi's investment, Chang Jing is more of a peaceful mind, "For us, the endorsement of the Xiaomi brand, including the support of its supply chain, including its brand influence, will bring great support to the company. .” Asked about his impression of Lei Jun, he only grinned, “Very approachable.”
Despite the glory of Xiaomi, Chang Jing and his team have been keeping a low profile. During the conversation, Chang Jing said the most words "make a good product".
Doing good deeds without asking for reward. A good product comes first. Once the product is finished, what should come will come naturally. "Only making a good product is what we can really control, and there are too many uncertainties in the others."
Relying on Xiaomi's advantages in brand and channel in the early stage, it boosted the explosive product "Mijia Sweeping Robot". After that, Stone Technology successfully carried out the brand migration, and launched the "Robot Sweeping Robot" with a higher positioning and the "Xiaowa Sweeping Robot" with a lower positioning. At present, the share of its own brand has surpassed that of Mijia.
From the launch of the first "Mijia robot vacuum cleaner" to the launch of the Roborock robot vacuum cleaner T7 pro, Chang Jing, as he said, has worked steadily and made a good product.
five
"deep plowing"
As of the press date, Stone Technology achieved operating income of 1,776,296,990 yuan in the first half of 2020, and realized net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 460,374,893 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.42%.
In the first half of 2020, Stone Technology's overseas revenue was 559.9504 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 210.64%. It has to be said that Changjing has achieved a phased victory on the new track of sweeping robots.
From the perspective of the global market, the global sweeping robot industry is in a period of rapid growth. From the perspective of market size, the domestic industry has also entered an acceleration period. In a good situation, Changjing is still steadily polishing products. "What the giants do is the business of the giants. We You can only do your own product well.”
To liberate hands and improve the quality of life, what Chang Jing wants to do is to use technology to give people a sense of happiness. As for other things, Chang Jing is quite Buddhist. "It is more important whether we are going astray in what we are doing now, or whether we have deviated from our original intention."
For the industry of sweeping robots, Chang Jing also has his own views: "Although sweeping robots will have a relatively rapid growth compared with other fields, they will not grow explosively like smart door locks. It will take time for the overall popularity of the industry. If our Technological innovation is done well enough, and the cost is kept low, which will accelerate the speed of popularization.”
When asked how to plan the company's future development, Chang Jing repeatedly emphasized that "technical innovation is the driving force behind the company's development, and making products that provide better user experience and a stronger sense of happiness is the production path of products and the mission of the company."
At the end of the interview, Chang Jing revealed to us that there may be new products launched in the future, based on AI technology and technological innovation in the five fields of wind, wind, electromechanical.
As for how to combine and land Chang Jing did not go into details, only said: "Our products have their own logic, the first thing to look at is whether the product can improve our technical moat, if it can't improve our technical moat, there are many technical barriers in it , there is no need to go out.
The second is to see whether the product can enhance our brand moat, and whether it can give your brand points after doing this. These are also the two major screening conditions for our products. But no matter what, the most important thing is to make good products, so that high-quality products can bring happiness to everyone. "
Good products, high quality, strict requirements, Chang Jing is still the "sweeping monk" who pursues the ultimate, but this time, he has changed from a hard technology pathfinder to a hunter, and the stone technology has become his biggest bargaining chip for chasing waves of AI.
Chen Qingqing 