52-year-old Li Yinan is back?
Some time ago, Li Yinan, who has maintained a low profile for nearly 3 years, has been interviewed by several media in succession, not only introducing his car-making career, but also talking about his past life. Many people believe that he did this to create a new energy vehicle for niu. After all, Niu Chuangxin Energy has received a Series A financing of $500 million led by IDG Capital and COATUE.
But for people familiar with Li Yinan, his appearance this time is not only to promote his own car brand, but also to find an opportunity to "admit his mistakes" and say goodbye to his past self.
I. From "Huawei Genius" to "Huawei Traitor"
Most people who are familiar with China's business community know Li Yinan. It's not that Li Yinan started a great career, but that his name can always be associated with Ren Zhengfei, China's top entrepreneur. In Huawei, Li Yinan has had various labels: "Huawei genius teenager", "Ren Zhengfei's son", "Huawei rebel".
At the beginning of the story, 15-year-old Li Yinan was admitted to the junior class of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and at the age of 27, he became the vice president of Huawei, and later he became the "Huawei successor" of ren Zheng's father and son in the media' mouth. In 2000, Li Yinan left Huawei in the eyes of external doubts, founded the harbor network, and became the most famous "Huawei traitor". However, only 6 years later, the harbor network abandoned by foreign shareholders was acquired by Huawei for 1.7 billion yuan, and Li Yinan also began his career as a professional manager. Since 2008, Li Yinan has served as CTO of Baidu, CEO of China Mobile Unlimited Xunqi and partner of GSR Ventures.
Until April 2015, Li Yinan started a business again and established Maverick Electric. This time, he aimed at the tram motorcycle and launched a blockbuster model - "Maverick Smart Electric Vehicle N1". However, just when he was full of ambition and ready to do a big job, fate released a cold shot in the shadows: Li Yinan was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for insider trading.
Perhaps it is the huge impact of the first half of his life that is too dramatic on Li Yinan, compared with other entrepreneurs, Li Yinan always seems to be a little reticent. Li Yinan never opened his mouth to "wind mouth" and shut up "feelings", but always carried a hint of caution and caution in his speech.
Unlike other entrepreneurs, Li Yinan likes to concoct concepts, going to heaven and earth, always setting up many prerequisites in his own words to ensure that there will be no ambiguity in his words. But Li Yinan is also an entrepreneur who has "fought" successfully in the mall, he has ambitions to build a career, even if he has fallen repeatedly, he has never given up.
In a conversation with a reporter, Li Yinan said: "Life is certainly not what I want to do, you said that you can go smoothly, who remembers the ups and downs?" Sometimes one wrong step, one wrong step. Perhaps Li Yinan's sentence is a "non-public" confession of Huawei's mentor Ren Zhengfei.
Second, the establishment of Niu Chuang, Li Yinan into new energy vehicles
How many times in a person's life will he step into the same river? As far as Li Yinan is concerned, it has been 3 times now.
At the end of 2017, after being released from prison, Li Yinan started a business again and focused on the track of new energy vehicles. To this end, Li Yinan spent nearly a year investigating the upstream and downstream industrial chain of automobiles, and the market prospects of the new energy automobile industry represented by lithium batteries. Finally, at the end of 2018, Li Yinan established Niuchuang Automobile.
Facts have proved that the "Huawei genius teenager" of that year was indeed like a torch, and new energy vehicles have become a high-quality outlet track for capital gathering. In 2021, China's new energy vehicle sales were 3.545 million units, an increase of 160% year-on-year. The domestic new energy automobile giants represented by BYD and others have risen by 690% in less than 3 years, and their market value is close to 1 trillion yuan at the peak.
Choosing the right track, Li Yinan opened the enthusiasm for the indomitable struggle when he was young. "One hundred percent of my energy is on cow innovation energy!" For his third venture, Li Yinan, like Lei Jun, who gambled all his credit, became his last career.
Compared with other companies in the industry, everything about Niuchuang is too low-key. Do not accurate the sales to the month, will not let themselves rank first, engage in a certain performance ranking, do not blindly follow the research footsteps of the head car company, do not engage in car peripherals, do not engage in "fan fission"... Looking at niuchuang that is so different, some people pointed out that because niuchuang entered the new energy automobile industry too late, it is not competitive with the head enterprises.
However, Li Yinan retorted that in his view, the time to enter the market cannot become the core competitiveness of the enterprise. Li Yinan believes: "Whether an enterprise can become bigger and stronger in an area may be related to the time of entry, but it is not always related. ”
For example, Japan's Honda Motor is not the earliest car company in Japan, not even the first batch. Compared with Toyota and Nissan, Honda started 30 years later. However, this did not prevent it from eventually becoming a giant among Japanese car companies. For example, when Li Yinan's "old owner" Huawei was founded in 1987, the multinational giants of communication equipment from the United States, Japan, France, Germany and other countries had already deeply cultivated the Chinese market and established the market position of "7 countries and 8 systems". But after more than 30 years of efforts, Huawei has now replaced Nokia and Ericsson as the world's largest manufacturer of communications equipment. Therefore, there is no absolute relationship between before and after entering the industry and success or not.
Third, what is the core competitiveness of Niuchuang?
In mid-December 2021, Li Yinan's Niu Innovation Energy released its first product, the Self-Touring NV, a five-seater medium- and large-sized SUV car. In terms of power energy, there are two versions for consumers to choose from, pure electric and extended range, and will be officially delivered in September 2022.
When talking about Niu Chuang's new car, Li Yinan did not say who to target, nor did he say who to hang, but still held a humble attitude and said: "We just provide a new choice for consumers." ”
When asked why Niu Chuangneng is so "Buddhist", Li Yinan said his "car-making philosophy". How to build the core competitiveness and moat of Niu Innovative Energy? That is: in the spirit of the marathon, deeply cultivate the details of the product. Take the Porsche 911, for example, a luxury car that has been around for more than 40 years, but has hardly changed from the interior to the exterior. In Li Yinan's view, the more high-end the product, the longer the life cycle, the smaller the change. Only good things can last. So, how do you build a long-lasting product? That's the constant part of a carefully polished product.
In fact, this is a one-size-fits-all truth, Li Yinan just chose the track of new energy vehicles.
IV. Conclusion
Today's Li Yinan, halfway through his life, although more city government, more stoic, but as when he left Huawei in 2000, his heart is still a sharp and never accept defeat "genius teenager".
In 2021, Li Yinan's old owner Huawei cooperated with a number of car companies to open the layout of the new energy automobile industry. After 20 years, Ren Zhengfei and Li Yinan seem to be on both sides of the ring again. However, this time, will Li Yinan still lose?