After a six-hour conversation with LIU Jingkang, these 35 quotes have been carefully selected.

Text by | Ren Qian

Edited by | Chen Zhiyan

Last weekend, Insta360 released its first financial report after its IPO.

In the first half of 2025, its revenue reached 3.671 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.17%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was nearly 520 million yuan, a slight year-on-year increase of 0.25%. In terms of technological R & D and market layout in key areas, the R & D expenses doubled year-on-year, accounting for 15.3% of the revenue.

Ten days ago, after the opening of Insta360, its stock price soared significantly, and its market value exceeded 100 billion yuan. As of the close on the day the financial report was released, its market value was nearly 130 billion yuan. Liu Jingkang, this "genius teenager" born in 1991, has become one of the youngest chairmen of a company with a market value of over 100 billion yuan in China.

Insta360 was founded in 2015. The leap that Liu Jingkang has achieved in his ten - year entrepreneurship also echoes Insta360's credo of "Think Bold".

However, what pushed him to the forefront of public opinion even earlier than the 100 - billion - yuan market value was an internal celebration party some time ago. Liu Jingkang threw heaps of cash at the employees. After the video leaked, public opinion was in an uproar. Supporters called it "the beauty of economic upward movement", while skeptics thought it ignored the dignity of employees and was a "humiliating gift".

According to "Undercurrent Waves", the original intention of this event was not the widely - circulated "celebration of Insta360's release of its first panoramic drone", but a team - building activity organized by the project team, aiming to "thank the team for their hard work". However, in the end, Liu Jingkang's impulsive behavior without considering the influence of his position as the chairman of a listed company brought about this storm. After all, impulsiveness has always been Liu Jingkang's label.

Whether it was deciphering Zhou Hongyi's mobile phone number from the keystroke sound during his student days, or wearing a cultural T - shirt and holding the latest Insta360 X5 camera to ring the gong at the listing ceremony on the Science and Technology Innovation Board; whether it was giving Tesla and Porsche cars to employees at the annual meeting, with a total of 27 cars given away in seven years, or nailing an Insta360 camera to a near - earth orbit satellite, completely exposed to the - 30°C space, Liu Jingkang always challenges people's traditional imagination of an entrepreneur in the business world and the circle of tech new - rich.

But impulsiveness and being out of the ordinary are not his whole story. A small detail is that he attributes the motivation for making wealth to "for his family" to a large extent. His daughter is the absolute protagonist when he uses the Insta360 camera to record and share his life.

Wealth, even paper wealth, has always been the most obvious part of an entrepreneur. However, when a person's identity changes from a startup founder to an entrepreneur, he will ultimately have to answer the question: What is the entrepreneurial spirit?

From the end of 2024 to June 2025, just before the listing, "Undercurrent Waves" conducted two interviews with Liu Jingkang. Amid his intensive sharing of product advantages, corporate achievements, core competitiveness, and industry insights, he also candidly talked about his struggles in organizational management, his understanding of people outside the business, his helplessness in the face of malicious competition, as well as his reflections and perseverance after ten years of entrepreneurship.

He said that the most difficult thing in entrepreneurship so far has still been "things related to people", and he is carefully considering changing the order in the corporate values from "customers first" to "employee development first".

At one moment, he said to us seriously: "Making money is a must, but for Insta360, it's not about survival first, but creation first."

The following is the most wonderful part of all of Liu Jingkang's expressions, sorted out by 'Undercurrent Waves' -

Part01

About Competition

1. Five years ago, DJI was already a leading company in the drone field, but after a lot of research, we still decided to prepare for the drone business. At that time, the company was much weaker than it is now. The reason is very simple - I always believe that drones can do far more things than they do today. Companies that can seize big opportunities all have the accumulation from the previous cycle.

2. Many people told me that "if Insta360 becomes another DJI", it would be a really awesome thing. But in my eyes, it's not cool enough or attractive enough. Facing an opponent like DJI, the fact that we can survive and keep creating new things is far more motivating to me than "becoming someone else". Looking at the ultimate goal, if one day Insta360 can still operate well without me, or even be more awesome, that's what I think is really cool and attractive.

3. I'm an INTP. But about a year ago, I became less of a "P". Part of the reason is that I hired an assistant. The core job of this assistant is to help me with time management. Both time management and organizational management are a bit painful for me. Because my interest lies elsewhere, I'm just forcing myself to be interested. But I still have to do it because the company we're building has no benchmarks or references. I used to think DJI was a reference, but I couldn't learn from it.

4. Imaging is an open - world field. It might sound like an over - assertion, but I really think there are always opportunities in it, just like in games. There will never be a day when game innovation reaches its end.

5. Wang Tao (Note: the founder of DJI) is definitely a worthy opponent. From the perspective of an entrepreneur's responsibility (to make the company last forever and become stronger), DJI has achieved that today.

6. Looking at the competition history among many companies, no company has ever been killed by underhanded means. Most companies fail in the competition because they don't do their own jobs well. So from this perspective, things will seem more peaceful.

7. I want to establish a rule. Simply put, it's like a 100 - meter race. Everyone just focuses on the finish line and only cares about whether they're running fast enough. You don't need to pull the person in the next lane, nor do you need to keep your eyes on them all the time. I hope to establish such a business rule.

8. Since its establishment, Insta360 has always been in a competitive environment. In the past two years, we've started to actively choose more direct competition. The purpose of this active choice is not to kill anyone or not to be killed by anyone, but to temper ourselves and become all - round warriors.

9. If you really want to build a world - class company or create world - class products, you must go through such a (competitive) process. It boils down to whether you can serve your customers well, which is something we're very good at. We have to force ourselves to make our products extraordinarily good to have a chance to move forward.

Picture description: On July 28th, Yingling Antigravity, jointly incubated by Insta360, officially announced its first panoramic drone. Liu Jingkang posted on his WeChat Moments the next day.

Part02

About Products and the Industry

10. A single blockbuster product and continuously launching new product lines are not contradictory at all. I think these two things are in a hedging relationship. Because you can't guarantee that the sales volume, market share, gross profit, and competitiveness of your main product will be continuously stable. Developing new products is like repairing the roof on a sunny day, getting insurance.

11. The drone business must be a dimensional upgrade. Choosing the most complex field to accumulate capabilities is definitely difficult, but it's like running a marathon. Choosing the leading position can help you exercise yourself the fastest and drive the whole team to grow.

12. We don't make products that are similar to others' but sold at half the price. Instead, we make products that are priced similarly to others' or even more expensive, but customers still think they're very cost - effective.

13. "Touch the nails first, then make the hammer" is our most important product methodology. For example, when a customer wants to buy a hammer, what they really want is a hole in the wall. Why do they want a hole? Because they want to hang a picture on the wall. If the picture frame can automatically stick to the wall, then it's a new market. I think the market is infinite. Essentially, it depends on what the customer really wants.

14. The consumer electronics industry is a battlefield for smart people. The core lies in the fact that there are many factors at the bottom layer that affect product differentiation - the technical engineering chain, talent density, etc. There are far more smart people here than in other consumer product categories. You're always competing with the smartest people.

15. So far, there are no barriers in the consumer electronics industry. It's not modesty. We've tried to build them, but so far, we haven't succeeded. What's a threshold? It's something where you can fill and eliminate the gap over time. What's a barrier? It's something where your efforts are in vain. The consumer electronics industry is a category where "mutations often occur". Technology is constantly updating. If you don't iterate, someone will soon do better than you. All the origins of building a brand lie in the advantages of the products.

16. We're always walking on thin ice, keeping an eye on trends, the iteration speed of products and technologies, and profits. GoPro is an "old master" that pioneered the category. As a latecomer, it's only natural for us to want to challenge it. When we got the income and profit statements of both companies in the first quarter of 2024, we thought we had a great chance.

17. This year is Insta360's tenth year, but we started doing live - streaming in 2014. One midnight when I was coding in the office, GoPro went public. I saw its promotional video and thought it was really cool. Naturally, this inspired us to develop imaging tools, but it was three years later that we really entered the GoPro - related market. That's when the seed was planted.

18. The biggest characteristic of people is that they never learn from history. I'm someone who wants everything. I always come up with a lot of product ideas and want to create things that are ahead of the times.

19. Ultimately, it's about a company's original intention. Our company's original intention is to create new things around our target customers. Our company's mission is to help people better record and share their lives, and this is our top priority.

20. Our business requires a continuous cash investment. Long - term cash can't come from external investment. It has to come from operating income. We're lucky that we started making a profit in 2017, and our products "go on the market and gain volume immediately". From a financial perspective, this is the best model.

21. The original starting point of Insta360 is still how to create new products. Making money is a verification of efficiency, but it's not about creating for survival. There should be a balance between defending the existing achievements and creating new ones.

Part03

About Users

22. Imaging is an eternal human need. It can build an independent world view and game rules. There are many types of imaging products, and the needs in each scenario vary greatly. Even when taking a photo, you might like one filter today and another tomorrow. There are thousands of special - effect templates on Douyin, but even if a special effect is really awesome, consumers will get bored after two days. Like clothes and fashion accessories, imaging is an open - world field.

23. Inside our company, the department responsible for demand innovation conducts market and consumer insights, such as the pain points and psychological demands of motorcycle riders. First, we need to study the demands clearly. The assessment of this department is not based on how many reports it outputs, but on how many product innovation sources come from the reports.

24. Consumers' choice logic can be roughly divided into two categories: One is that you can solve my unique problem that others can't, so I choose you. The other is that I don't know what to buy, but this brand is bigger and the price is cheaper, so I'll buy it. We follow the former path.

Part04

About the Organization and People

25. Before the listing, someone told me, "JK, after Insta360 goes public, you'll be the youngest CEO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board." Well, I thought so five years ago. Of course, there was a sense of excitement, but that's about it. Listing is just a stage result. It can't help us solve today's problems. To be honest, now there's even more pressure because the real battle hasn't started yet.

26. This gold chain around my neck was given to me by a relative at my wedding. I just dug it out and started wearing it recently. Actually, (the whole look) should also include a pair of sunglasses, but I forgot to bring them today. I want to change my image when having meetings in the company to hide my emotions a bit. My work often encounters things that don't meet expectations, and I might express myself more intensely during meetings, which makes everyone afraid to express or make decisions in a relatively high - pressure environment.

27. The most difficult thing in entrepreneurship so far has still been things related to people. Handling issues such as team unity, collaboration, and conflicts. Selecting, using, motivating, and evaluating people.

28. One of the people I regarded as my "closed - door disciple", a - 1 (usually referring to the management level below the founder), was poached by a company that operates 200 business lines simultaneously. I don't know if the other side offered him conditions he couldn't refuse, but from my perspective, I felt betrayed. Later, I didn't expose him. I even sent him a message saying, "Why don't you come back?" He didn't reply to me.

29. Insta360 now has 3,000 employees. Four years ago, we proposed "changing the tires while driving". The difference is that four years ago, it was like driving a car for 80 kilometers, and now it's like driving a car for 250 kilometers. (Really thinking about organizational issues at this moment) It's actually a bit late. The better time was five years ago. Five years ago, the company had less than 300 people. If I could go back five years, I might not expand the business so quickly. It would be a better rhythm to build the team first or go deeper into one thing.

30. Many giant companies may have one business supporting the others, but our company earns hard - won money. If one person digs a hole in a certain link, others have to fill it. This made me realize an important problem: Our organization lacks the elements for self - upgrading. So, although our business goals are well - structured, the R & D goals didn't start to be systematically managed until the first half of last year. I realized the importance of setting complex goals and the key role of team collaboration, and I started to put it into practice.

31. Whether it was doing live - streaming at the beginning or making cameras later, our core pleasure lies in creating tools. So, I hope the company can last forever based on creation, rather than me having a lot of resources and copying from other fields. That's not the logic. In addition, I also hope that our company is a learning - oriented organization because the money we earn comes from developing and accumulating knowledge. This is similar to a university, and there aren't many organizational examples in the business field to refer to.

32. Recently, I've also been re - thinking the order of the company's values. Previously, it was "customers first, employees second, shareholders third". Now, I'm carefully considering swapping the first and the second. "Employee development first." Previously, I always thought about how to do things first, and then about what kind of people were needed to do them. Now, I'm starting to think more about how to build a good team and develop talents, and then let them define how to do things better on their own