Some time ago, the news that the domestic mobile phone industry as a whole reduced its output by nearly 50% once brought great anxiety to the entire consumer electronics industry.

However, in the past two days, the No. 9 company in the field of short-distance transportation has signed a spokesperson for the first time. Such a large-scale brand promotion and marketing has aroused heated discussions in the industry.

In the past few years in the field of global short-term transportation, No. 9 Company has risen rapidly by relying on electric balance cars, electric scooters, and electric two-wheelers, and has become a new giant in the industry. But except when No. 9 went public, I never saw any big news on No. 9, let alone such a large-scale market activity.

Judging from the global revenue of more than 9 billion yuan last year, the company’s products are selling really well around the world, and from the perspective of profit margins, it is the “top-of-the-line” feeling of DJI DJI, which has always been “product ruthless”. , not much talk” style. I have also met Wang Ye, the CEO of No. 9 Company, and I always think he is a super rational entrepreneur – if you want to show off a vague “big concept”, he will definitely ask you what you are talking about and whether you have quantified it. What are the data support and inference basis?

Therefore, it is surprising that No. 9 Company suddenly started to increase its popularity through brand promotion. After all, the economic environment is not good this year, and countless companies are lowering their expectations and shrinking their budgets. This is like a friend who usually seems to be on the road with his head down, but suddenly begins to “sing aloud” during the difficult journey of everyone: “Ride on a wonderful trip, let’s go on the 9th together”.

It can be felt that No. 9 Company hopes to start to lead the life attitude of being adventurous, innovative and playful. But what is the “restlessness” behind this change in working style? Or is there any logic worth discovering?

This “case” must be solved.

01 “Still Underwater”

When I met Wang Ye, it was the time when No. 9 used a lightweight design of 12 kilograms and a price of 1,999 yuan to transform the self-balancing scooter from a luxury of tens of thousands of yuan into a cool technology that everyone can reach. Until now, No. 9 has occupied 70% of the global electric balance car.

Later, I witnessed No. 9 forming a second curve in the field of electric scooters. In the past few years, it has entered the electric two-wheeler market and completed a comprehensive coverage of the short-term transportation field.

From my point of view, No. 9 Company has always been a typical technology + product-driven company, which respects the engineer culture and believes in providing users with good products. This kind of company generally has a characteristic, that is, it hopes to communicate with the product itself to establish user awareness. If I’m not mistaken, most of these companies have a high reputation among users, but less recognition among non-users.

Wang Ye, I initially felt that he was a very restrained person, and he did not communicate with so many passionate words, and it was easy to be regarded as a typical engineer.

But now that I think about it, I probably didn’t know Wang Ye more comprehensively back then. It turned out that he was also a master of “force agitation” in his heart.

Recalling that I first met him, it was because I was curious about how No. 9 Company wholly acquired Segway, the “originator” of the self-balancing scooter.

You must know that No. 9 Company had just been established for less than 3 years at that time, and it was still in the initial stage. This transaction was described as “snake swallowing elephant” by the outside world. As far as I know, for this acquisition, No. 9 Company not only made special financing, but also exhausted almost all the funds, and even tightened its belt in daily operations in the following year.

Wang Ye explained to me the reason for their decision that time, mainly because if No. 9 wants to make a good balance bike, it cannot bypass Segway, the creator of this category, which has strong patent barriers. If you don’t face this problem, then No. 9 is at most a white-label company in China, selling some goods in the Chinese market, and it is impossible to become a global company. They think about it, they really can’t accept such a “future”.

The logic of the story seems easy to follow, but I don’t think one key question is answered yet. What is it that makes Wang Ye unable to accept that he can make enough money in the Chinese market, and he has to make up his mind to take this risk? Is there anything else at work behind this seemingly rational decision-making logic?

When I first communicated with Wang Ye, I didn’t find any more information. But I remember having dinner together sometime later, and there was a detail that seemed to answer that question.

Wang Ye said that he and his senior brother, also entrepreneurial partners, and the current chairman of No. 9 Company, Gao Lufeng, chose to start this business on the balance car track, not because of some kind of business reasoning logic, but because of the A pure sensual excitement.

They once went to Sanya for a trip and tested the Segway scooter that had just appeared on the beach at that time. Wang Ye described that feeling like being hit in an instant, a bit like a “magic moment”. The experience of the scooter is so It’s simple and fun, and the feeling of “moving with your heart” won them over and thought it was a great innovation.

However, at that time, the balance car was very expensive. The price of a car was at least 80,000 yuan, and the volume and weight were also very large. It could only be used by a few people in specific scenarios. They thought it would be a shame if only so few people could use it. If the balance car can be made smaller and the price can be reduced to a few thousand yuan, then the public users can use it, and I feel very excited just thinking about it.

In the following period of time, Wang Ye and Gao Lufeng’s entrepreneurial ideas revolved around the point of “bringing self-balancing scooters into mass consumption”, which means that technology is equal. From the beginning of the business to the years that followed, Segway was the inspiration and force in their hearts. When Wang Ye didn’t want to “go ahead” in the Chinese market, or avoided the patent issue, they insisted on going to the United States to find Segway for cooperation, and wanted to promote this innovation to a larger market. Suddenly, they found that Segway was already under the custody of an asset management company because of the founder’s departure – the “founder of the school”, and it was almost impossible to do it.

This sudden opportunity is definitely “half nervous, half excited” for a young company that was just looking for cooperation with hope. In the end, No. 9 made the decision of “death to buy”, in addition to rational analysis and calculation, there must be emotional things that played a subtle role. Wang Ye recalled that, after all, he had the opportunity to take over this banner and make it better, which was so exciting.

In fact, many times, it does take a little time to understand the inner world of a science student. As my follow-up communication with Wang Ye continued to deepen, I even felt that there was more to be discovered under the appearance of his engineer.

For example, I talked about it once, because my father gave me a book “We Got to the Moon” when I was a child, which inspired my lifelong love of spaceflight. Wang Ye said that he had a similar experience. When he was young, he was exposed to Astro Boy, Transformers, and Gundam, which gave him a strong interest in robots; while in high school and college, he came into contact with Aximov’s “Base Series” novels. Let Wang Ye take the technical field of robotics as something he wants to pursue for a long time. Wang Ye said that in his world, the older you get, the more you feel that robots are no longer just fun and cool, but are convinced that they are the future. Robots and humans can coexist and help with many things, and humans can be freer and devote more energy to creativity, socialization, and entertainment.

Wang Ye’s first business was around 2002. They noticed that a black and white screen electronic pet was popular at that time, but the display ability and interaction ability were very poor, so they began to develop a small hexapod robot by themselves, hoping Move freely like a cool family pet, and take and transfer photos and videos via the camera.

The idea is very good, but it was 2002 after all. At that time, the product was limited by the technical environment, and even basic wireless transmission was a huge problem. It was impossible to see the pixels of a photo, and the video could not wait frame by frame.

Although Wang Ye always said that the idea of ​​making a product at that time was too immature, this product, which was considered a “failure”, was always placed in a prominent position in his office.

It may be this “dreamer” temperament that makes Wang Ye always have a sense of restlessness in his heart, and this “restlessness” is also embedded in No. 9 Company. For example, the “Kart Kit” extended from the No. 9 balance car, an electric scooter that can speed up to a top speed of 70 kilometers, and a three-wheeled electric scooter that can return to a specific position by itself in a semi-autonomous driving state, can maintain self-balancing without falling. The electric two-wheeler, etc., can be seen from this company’s restlessness. In addition, they have a lot of “fun, but not good enough” products hidden in the laboratory.

I remember Wang Ye said that when he was doing a self-balancing scooter, the most satisfying user feedback came from Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple. He wrote a long email to No. 9 to give feedback on his car experience and thank them for creating such a product that “moves with your heart”.

Because Wozniak is in his 70s, he has gained some weight and is still panting when he walks. He’s especially grateful for the product, which allows him to “walk around my house so freely. I haven’t had an experience like this in a long time.”

Wang Ye said that he was very happy and satisfied because the geek senior felt the “sense of freedom” that he most wanted to bring to users with technology.

In the final analysis, all entrepreneurship and products are an “excuse” or “means”, and ultimately are the inner reflection of the founding team’s “still water undercurrent”. In the field of short-distance transportation, using technology to bring more people a “sense of freedom” may be what Wang Ye really wants.

02 Value proposition and “brand and brand”

The reason why No. 9 is worthy of attention is that it is a start-up company born in China but creating value globally. From the financial report, in 2021, No. 9’s overseas revenue will be 4.446 billion yuan, accounting for 48.6% of the company’s total revenue (9.146 billion yuan), and international business accounts for a very high proportion; at the same time, No. 9’s gross profit in overseas markets The interest rate was 27.9%, significantly higher than the 18.8% in the domestic market.

In fact, if we look back, I think the development of Chinese companies in overseas markets has gone through at least three steps.

The first stage is characterized by the use of China’s cost advantage, but “no brand and no brand”, using ODM or white brand to sell products abroad, mainly for the low price advantage.

The second level can be called the use of efficiency advantages, but “there is no brand”. For example, although the company has also registered a brand and entered a category, it only sells through platforms such as Amazon, and there is no sales on the official website. Of course, the brand itself does not have much loyalty. Users are not interested in your brand, but more likely because they feel that your price/performance ratio is good after comparing prices on the platform, and this price/performance ratio is more achieved through the overall efficiency advantage of China’s supply chain, rather than technological innovation. .

The third stage can be called “brand and brand” brought by the value proposition. At this time, the company has the ability to define a certain category, the official website has sufficient sales, and the brand has high loyalty and recognition. People will directly search for the brand to buy, and even occupy most of the most expensive products in this category. This must rely on the unique value proposition of a brand, and the value proposition often needs the support of technological innovation, and the investment in technological innovation must be recovered at a higher price.

In China, there are not many hardware companies that have truly achieved the third level. For example, DJI, which we are familiar with, must be the most typical representative. Today, a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs is advancing to this level more and more. I think Company Nine is a good example of this wave.

The term value proposition may sound vague, but it’s actually quite specific. To put it bluntly, in any field, there are many choices of products that can solve users’ problems, but users add a “consensus” because of your value proposition, which in turn adds a reason to buy.

The value proposition is not an advertising slogan. Most of the time, it is realized by the product itself. In the world of hardware, there will never be a logic that can quickly become popular by relying on one “every object” marketing.

But the value proposition cannot be just the product itself, because if the user can complete the expression after purchasing the product, this efficiency is very limited.

I have met many experienced hardware entrepreneurs in China, and found that for a long time, they were very reluctant to do large-scale marketing like fast-moving consumer goods, but more hoped to make products well and use products to speak. In fact, the logic behind this is that hardware cannot have the same gross profit margin as FMCG, so it cannot support a large-scale market activity where it is difficult to calculate ROI. They need to use products to express, to verify their value, to slowly win the trust of users.

Even the already excellent hardware entrepreneurs always seem to have a kind of entanglement in their hearts: they have a background in science and engineering, and they advocate the culture of engineers. But everyone has a very “wild” side in their hearts. They don’t say it easily, because they always feel that they are not strong enough and do not do well enough, and they need to sell more products to prove their claims are correct.

The difficulty of making hardware is reflected here. Even if your heart is magnificent and even if you have a unique value proposition, the slope of products, technologies and markets must be climbed step by step.

Company Nine was clearly like this before. It is estimated that the marketing budget of this company has been “product marketing budget” for many years. I have not seen much investment in this company’s brand.

But it’s been a pleasant surprise to see the company recently start hiring spokespersons and boldly express some of its claims and styles for the first time. This at least shows that Company Nine has stepped into a new level of self-confidence, and it is time to start speaking out to the world.

In fact, I really discussed with Wang Ye, CEO of No. 9 Company, why they didn’t speak much in the past, but the products always seemed so “restless”.

Wang Ye often said that he hoped that his products could have a young and cool feeling. I jokingly questioned him at the time, “As an entrepreneur in your 40s with a science and engineering background, your speech and behavior seem to have little to do with these two words. Do you want to change it first?”

Wang Ye countered me, don’t take the meaning of these two words too literally. “Young and cool is to take risks and try new things and be willing to play. To go further, it is to maintain a young mentality, not be afraid of innovation and failure, not stick to the rules, dare to do some cool things, or have a higher appetite for risk.”

Last year, I knew that Wang Ye often rode his own scooter to walk his baby in the park, so I asked him to recommend a scooter that is worth buying on No. 9. I also wanted to follow the trend and experience this feeling. He solemnly introduced to me a product with the best weight, battery life, and speed at the time, saying that it was “already a product close to the ultimate state of technology.”

After I bought it, I found out that he recommended it to me for an important reason – the top speed can reach 30 kilometers, but it is not practical. Because after reaching the speed of 25 kilometers per hour, I do not dare to continue to increase the speed.

But he said lightly, “You’re still driving too little. There’s no fun without speed, and you’ll feel it eventually.”

Nine’s “passion” for speed is far from over. Recently, the new super electric scooter GT2, which is priced at 19,000 yuan in China (about 4,000 US dollars overseas), has a top speed of 70 kilometers. Although I guess this will definitely not become a mainstream product, and I don’t even understand who would buy such a “wild” model, I understand the “restlessness” that Wang Ye wants to express on the product.

For him, it is not enough to meet the needs of most people with a speed of 25 kilometers per hour, or it is not enough to define all products with rationality in the commercial and market dimensions. That “wildness” is a proposition that must be expressed.

This kind of company full of force and persistence is indeed attractive. In fact, many times, this means that when the user has not fully awakened, you must dare to lead the user to pursue better things.

As the No. 9 company’s product line has been extended to the field of electric two-wheelers, I once discussed a question with Wang Ye, or worried that he was in the past on new tracks such as balance bikes and scooters, technological innovation and “restlessness” Its characteristics are very effective, but for an electric two-wheeled vehicle, which seems to be basically functional and mainly focuses on cost-effectiveness, is there too little room for technology? Can this track be “wild”?

For now, the answer seems to be getting clearer. According to a report by iResearch last year, when users buy electric two-wheelers, battery, battery life, and riding comfort are still the main factors to consider. However, more than 20% of users still pay attention to intelligent functions. Behind this, with the penetration of the concept of intelligence and the maturity of technology, users’ demand for electric vehicles has changed from basic cost-effectiveness to intelligence with more experience value and operational sense.

Company No. 9 is like the head of this wave. It uses robotics technology to make products intelligent, and promotes the evolution of the electric two-wheeler industry from functional machines to smart machines. The easiest way to verify this idea is performance. In 2021, the sales volume of No. 9 electric two-wheelers will reach 420,000 units, with a sales scale of 1.2 billion yuan, which has become its new growth point.

Judging from the recent large-scale actions, it is clear that No. 9 Company hopes to lead some new changes in the new stage.

After all, this year is exactly the 10th anniversary of the establishment of No. 9 Company. At this time, it is still “restless”, which I think is very good. A company can win in technology and products in the short term, but its long-term vitality will ultimately be rooted in its unique value proposition.

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