Tang Binsen of Genki Forest sent an internal letter: We should "make a little progress every day" and no longer take shortcuts.

Written by Yang Yafei

The former new consumer stars are now taking "reflection" as a daily routine.

36Kr Future Consumption learned from an internal employee of Genki Forest that Tang Binsen issued an all-staff letter today. In the letter, he revealed that "This year, the company's pace has been significantly faster than in previous years, achieving a growth rate that is four times the industry average." However, he did not elaborate further. Instead, he reflected at length, repeatedly emphasizing the business pace of "slowness is speed".

In this internal letter, he mentioned Ren Zhengfei's business philosophy many times. This is not the first time he has quoted Ren Zhengfei in an internal letter. In the 8th anniversary internal letter in June 2024, he once disclosed that he had been studying the rise of Huawei since 10 years ago, when Genki Forest had not yet been born.

Regarding the intersection between Tang Binsen and his "entrepreneurial mentor", a person close to Tang Binsen once told 36Kr that Tang Binsen had visited Ren Zhengfei and was criticized by the latter for having too many business lines. After that, Tang Binsen decided to contract the front and focus on the beverage main business.

This time, he emphasized that the company should "make steady progress every day", quoting Ren Zhengfei's words: "Huawei is like a big turtle, crawling slowly for 25 years, completely ignoring the flowers by the roadside..." Tang Binsen said, "Apparent slow but continuous growth is more practical than short-term rapid growth."

Tang Binsen's high-density reflection has indeed shown effects on Genki Forest's business. Tang Binsen said in the internal letter that "This year... we have basically resolved the hidden dangers accumulated in the past few years in the channels." The "hidden dangers" he referred to peaked in 2022, when Genki Forest had a large backlog of channel inventory.

Regarding "make steady progress every day", he also gave an example of the story of the competition between the British Scott and the Norwegian Amundsen to reach the South Pole. The former had a 17-person team with excellent equipment, while the latter had only 5 people with simple means of transportation, but in the end, the latter reached the South Pole first. "No matter how the weather changes, how the road conditions fluctuate, or whether the team is in an optimistic state or not, we must complete the 30-kilometer advance goal every day without fail."

Tang Binsen also said, "After experiencing the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, the lessons from re-reading 'The Tortoise and the Hare' are: 1) A clear long-term goal can better help the business focus; 2) Lasting patience and resilience allow us to have a stable core to face the variable world; 3) Apparent slow but continuous growth is more practical than short-term rapid growth."

Another management concept that Tang Binsen learned from Ren Zhengfei is continuous improvement. He quoted the view of "The Selfish Gene" that one of the meanings of the existence of genes is "to survive", and the system, process, and system are also the core of a company. And Genki Forest has been continuously building a system in recent years, "This is our little secret to be able to survive tenaciously."

Genki Forest's ability to get out of the former trough initially had a certain element of luck. After the epidemic at the end of 2022, the demand for electrolyte water in the market soared, and Genki Forest, which has its own factory, was able to quickly undertake it and become the number one in this category. In 2024, Tang Binsen said, "Alien maintains a double increase in hard work and market share."

But after that, the proportion of luck is gradually weakening. In 2024, two new major products have emerged. One is Hao Zizai (previously known as "Zizai Water"), which focuses on Chinese-style health water; the other is Big Iced Tea, which is a sugar-reduced upgrade of iced black tea. Tang Binsen said, "This year... Zizai Water has emerged suddenly, and iced tea has reached a new high."

A consumer investor told 36Kr Future Consumption that The sales of the two major products in 2024 both exceeded 1 billion yuan, and the sales of iced tea were higher, making it the third major product after Sparkling Water and Alien.

However, compared with the success of iced tea, Genki Forest has not yet succeeded in the sugar-free tea business. Although the earliest laid out Rancha has also upgraded to a 900ml package, and launched Fa Cha, Mai Cha, and Chrysanthemum Tea, there is still a gap with the leading brands.

Oriental Leaf is the product of Nongfu Spring's "long-termism". This leading water beverage brand is also the object that Genki Forest learns from. After experiencing the channel pain in 2022, Genki Forest reorganized the dealer system and followed the example of Nongfu Spring, Coca-Cola, etc. to carry out channel co-construction. But the status of Oriental Leaf shows that this latecomer still has a long way to go.

At the end of this internal letter, Tang Binsen said that he will maintain his love, which includes: living in the present, always being optimistic, accompanying and cherishing. "Tang Seng is a person with love in his heart, never anxious, never confused, reciting the scriptures every day, and taking every step of the journey to obtain the scriptures."

The following is the full text of Tang Binsen's Maintain Love in the Stable Behavior of Making Steady Progress and Continuous Improvement>:

Tang Binsen's Internal Letter