Ein ehemaliger Paragleiter hat fünfmal ein Geschäft gegründet und verdient im Alter von 50 Jahren jährlich 500 Millionen Yuan mit der Joghurt-Verkauf.

Before the founding of Wudao, he had already launched a startup from scratch four times, spanning different industries.

“Starting a startup is the least risky thing.”

When Wang Weijian, the founder of Wudao Milk, casually said these words at the dinner table while eating, the people present showed expressions of “You're so arrogant.” Then he added that this was because compared to the risky things he had done before, the risk of starting a startup was the lowest – “at least you won't lose your life.”

Wang Weijian was once a paraglider. For six to seven years, his daily life revolved around strapping on his parachute bag and participating in competitions around the world. From a beginner to a representative of the national team, he participated in the Asian Beach Championships and the World Championships and held China's best personal performance in paragliding for several years.

Even though it's been more than ten years since he last used a paraglider, Wang Weijian still fondly remembers that time. “What a life I lived back then.” He tells stories about those days while flipping through the pictures he took while paragliding on his iPad and shares them with others.

Wang Weijian was once a member of the Chinese Paragliding International Team and won a bronze medal at the 2008 Asian Beach Championships. Source: Interview subject

Compared to the label “paraglider,” he prefers to call himself a “serial entrepreneur.” Before the founding of Wudao, Wang Weijian launched a startup from scratch at least four times, spanning different industries.

Wang Weijian was born in Handan, Hebei Province, in 1974. After dropping out of college, he worked as a taxi advertising agent and sold furniture. Each time, he could make some money. In 1997, he founded Kenuo Dairy Industry in Handan and offered a milk delivery service. Thanks to the introduction of a new business model, namely delivering milk directly to the doorstep, Kenuo became successful immediately. In the year of its founding, the company's annual sales reached two to three million yuan. In 1999, Wang Weijian handed over Kenuo Dairy Industry to his three sisters and went abroad to study.

He launched another startup more than ten years later. In the famous online vehicle - booking war in Internet history, “Yaoyao Zhaoche,” founded by Wang Weijian, was extremely successful for a while – it even went online six months earlier than Didi and dominated the market in Beijing before Didi. It also received investments from well - known investment companies such as Sequoia Capital and ZhenFund. But during the expansion to the national market, Wang Weijian was quickly overtaken by the competitors. This startup lasted three to four years and finally ended in failure. But when he thinks about it today, he says he doesn't regret it. “It was just a life experience.”

When he was almost 50 years old, Wang Weijian launched his fifth startup. In 2020, he founded Beijing Wudao Milk Co., Ltd. in Beijing and focused on the production of Greek yogurt. In recent years, Greek yogurt, which is based on high protein content and a healthier diet, has experienced strong growth as Chinese consumers' health awareness has increased.

In the segment of high - quality, chilled Greek yogurt, Wudao is one of the brands that have grown the fastest in recent years. The annual sales have doubled every year. Wang Weijian told the magazine “China Entrepreneur” that Wudao's sales in 2024 had already reached 500 million yuan and the company had already made a profit. At the same time, the online repurchase rate of Wudao yogurt was twice the industry average. The person in charge of user support at Wudao said that currently 40% of the users in Wudao's private domain were regular buyers of milk cards.

In the Chinese dairy product sector, there are only a few national brands. Most are regional dairy companies. Wang Weijian is aware of the industry situation but also sees it as an opportunity for Wudao. He hopes to make Wudao the number - one brand for high - quality yogurt in China.

Wang Weijian has selected 60 key cities and 50 million target customers for Wudao. In his opinion, the Chinese consumer market has a pyramid - shaped structure. Especially for short - shelf - life and chilled yogurt, there is still unmet demand among a part of the population.

Wang Weijian wants to meet this consumer demand first. “Currently, we only cover 5 million consumers, which is only one - tenth.”

The Reverse Path in the Fast - Moving Consumer Goods Sector

When founding Wudao, Wang Weijian took a path opposite to that of other Fast - Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies.

Normally, a new FMCG brand product starts online first. Only after the brand is established does it enter the offline channel, and the establishment of its own factory is only considered when the company reaches a certain scale. However, Wudao did the exact opposite. Before the launch of the Wudao brand in 2020, Wang Weijian had invested 240 million yuan in building a factory for three years.

Kenuo Food Dairy Group & The first factory of Wudao Greek Yogurt. Source: Interview subject

By 2016, thanks to the support of the Hebei provincial government for the local dairy industry, Wang Weijian had the opportunity to expand the old Kenuo factory in Handan. In these two years, Wang Weijian conducted comprehensive studies around the world and found that Greek yogurt was already very popular internationally. Given his more than 20 - year experience in the dairy product industry, he realized that the global dairy industry was developing towards cleaner product labels, high protein content, and healthier products.

After these studies, Wang Weijian decided to build a modern, flexible factory for the future, specifically designed for the production of Greek yogurt.

Isn't it too risky to invest so much money in building a factory? Wang Weijian wasn't worried. He believed that building a factory was “risk - controllable.” He is used to having a Plan B for everything. “If the production of this product doesn't work, I can also produce other products. Even if my own brand isn't successful, there's a possibility that others will need my factory. So the factory won't stand empty and there will still be business.”

With its own factory, Wudao was able to lower the prices of high - quality Greek yogurt in China. “Before the emergence of Wudao, the prices of Greek yogurt in China were twice as high as our current prices. We've almost halved the prices.” Wang Weijian said. This also contributed to the spread of high - quality, chilled Greek yogurt in the Chinese market. The own factory also ensured product quality. “I can't make mistakes in the supply chain. This is also the logic behind my high investment in the factory.”

When choosing distribution channels, Wang Weijian also took a different path. But in his opinion, Wudao also made some mistakes.

In 2021, Wudao first entered the offline supermarket channel and marketed its products in high - end supermarkets such as Hema, Qixian, and Olé. The marketing strategy was targeted at the customer groups of these markets. Later, Wang Weijian found that due to the low brand awareness of Wudao, the initial investment in the offline channel was high and the efficiency was low. “The product loss rate once reached 30% - 40%.” Wang Weijian recalled.

Since sales didn't increase, the factory capacity was mostly idle. “At first, when we were testing the products, we might only produce twice a month. So the machines were idle most of the time.” To keep the factory running and spread the operating costs, Wudao has also carried out contract production for some yogurt brands in recent years. It wasn't until early 2022 that Wudao started marketing its products through the online e - commerce channel. This increased the brand awareness of Wudao and also contributed to offline sales.

Wang Weijian analyzed that Wudao might have grown faster in recent years if it had started with the online e - commerce channel first. “The online channel covers a wide target group and it's easier to explain the product features.” In his opinion, this is the advantage for new brands starting online.

In recent years, Wudao's sales have doubled every year despite the decline in the overall dairy sector. Wang Weijian told the magazine “China Entrepreneur” that in 2021, Wudao's sales were only a few million yuan, but in 2024, they had already reached 500 million yuan. The goal for this year is 1 billion yuan.

With the growth of sales, Wang Weijian increased the production capacity again last year, from processing 300 tons of raw milk per day to the current capacity of 800 tons. So far, Wudao has invested about 500 million yuan in the factory. Wang Weijian has publicly stated that Wudao ranks first in the niche of Greek yogurt in China in terms of capacity, production, and sales.

The Growth after the Failure of “Yaoyao Zhaoche”

If you look at Wang Weijian's past life, everything went relatively smoothly. When he was young, he always made money with his startups. In taxi advertising, he earned two to three hundred thousand yuan in less than a year. This was in 1995 when the average monthly salary of an ordinary person was only 100 yuan. He also went from a beginner to a national team - level paraglider.

But the good experiences brought him less growth than the pain of failure.

The failure of the online vehicle - booking startup hit Wang Weijian hard. During the expansion of “Yaoyao Zhaoche” to the national market, it was suddenly left behind. “In the end, it was simply impossible to continue.” Wang Weijian recalled. Looking back, he felt that he had missed a great and historical opportunity. But he also admitted that he hadn't been involved in the business world for ten years and hadn't “fought.” Therefore, he was unable to seize this opportunity and couldn't quickly assemble a strong sales team like Cheng Wei.

This failure made him deeply realize the power of organization and team.

“Before, I thought I was smart and hard - working and could do everything. In the company, I was also the one who always solved the problems. No one was as good as me. That was my self - perception at that time. But in this vehicle - hailing startup, I realized that even if you're as strong as iron, how many nails can you forge? Even if you're strong, you're just one person.” Wang Weijian reflected. “You're smart and hard - working and might be able to open and successfully run a breakfast shop. But that's also the limit of your abilities. The ability to efficiently organize a team and reach a certain scale is the upper limit of your company.”

Therefore, Wang Weijian attached particular importance to strengthening organizational ability in this Wudao startup.

In September 2020, Wang Weijian founded the Wudao Greek Yogurt brand in Beijing. Source: Interview subject

He follows a personnel principle: He hires young people who have already proven themselves in the industry, as well as young people with potential. The Wudao team consists of about a hundred people, mostly from large dairy companies or competitors in the high - quality Greek yogurt segment. Wang Weijian is willing to pay salaries that are at least 30% higher than the industry average.

Today, he spends most of his energy on personnel recruitment. “I spend more than half of my time meeting people, conducting interviews, and hiring new employees.” At the same time, he focuses on strengthening the organization: How can the organization function more efficiently and team ability be promoted? These are the questions that interest him the most at present.

He believes that ultimately, the company must be driven by the organization. “But we haven't really reached the stage of organizational control yet.” Wang Weijian said.

He has also put aside his ego. “Every department head in our company is better than me.” Wang Weijian said. “This makes me happy.”