Founder of China's biggest tech startup speaks on secrets of its success

folarin okunola

June 8, 2015 1:17 PM

Founded in 2010, Xiaomi was able to capitalise on a massive gap in the market.

Xiaomi founder, Lei Jun.

In just five years, the Chinese tech company, Xiaomi, has grown from nothing to become the most valuable private tech startup in the world.

According to its 45-year-old CEO, Lei Jun, who was interviewed in The Wall Street Journal, it's simply about "seizing the right opportunity."

"Even a pig can fly if it stands at the center of a whirlwind," Jun said in a Monday front-page story discussing the company's meteoric rise.

Founded in 2010, Xiaomi was able to capitalise on a massive gap in the market. Western brands tended to be too pricey, while in China, knock-offs and fakes proliferated. Enter Xiaomi, which launched its first handset in 2011, boasting that it was faster than the iPhone — and half the price.

From the start, the company has been extremely savvy about its marketing. It has extensive online communities, which it engages with and offers flash sales too, as well as hosting a number of other unique events. It holds periodic "festivals" for its "Mi-Fans" (as its devotees call themselves), and has even been known to throw them parties in expensive nightclubs.

Lei Jun wasn't always so successful, and this played a part in his determination to catch trends — like mobile — early. "He reflected a lot on himself, on [former employer] Kingsoft, and why we missed the big trends in Internet,"Kingsoft CEO Hongjiang Zhang told the Journal. "He's someone who really wants to do something that has a huge impact."

Today, Xiaomi is fighting Apple to be number one in China, and expanding into new territories in emerging markets, including India and soon Latin America.

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