Interview with the founder of Starmeup: 95% of our success so far is due to luck | Hardcore Kr
Author | Huang Nan
Editor | Yuan Silai
A financing amount of 1 billion yuan is a figure worthy of attention, even in the popular garden robot market.
Xingmai Innovation, a high - end pool robot company, managed to secure this round of financing led by Meituan Longzhu in a strategic investment, seemingly with ease, even without extensive roadshows.
Since its establishment three years ago, Xingmai has raised more than 1.5 billion yuan in total, with investors including several leading domestic US - dollar and industrial funds.
However, when interviewed by Yingke, Wang Shengle, the founder, remained calm. Perhaps having been in the intelligent hardware industry for many years, Wang Shengle doesn't hold unrealistic optimism. It's far from the time for him to relax. "Although some believe that a revenue of 1 billion yuan is sufficient, I think an intelligent robot company needs to reach a revenue scale of 10 billion yuan to be firmly established," Wang Shengle told Yingke.
The garden robot market has already undergone reshuffling in its segmented sectors. Nowadays, almost all participants are vying for market share from one another. Roborock and Ecovacs have started producing lawn mowing robots, and Mammotion has launched pool robots. All companies are under threat from their rivals, and offense has become a part of defense.
Recently, Xingmai Innovation also announced its plan to enter the lawn mowing robot business. However, Wang Shengle was quite cautious when talking about this new venture. He told Yingke that he didn't make the final decision to enter the lawn mowing business until this round of financing was confirmed. "It's like allocating troops in a battle. If you can't outnumber the enemy, it's better not to fight. I'm a rather conservative person. I'm only willing to take action when I find a segmented scenario with opportunities for differentiated innovation and have at least five times the resource advantage," he said.
Therefore, Xingmai Innovation won't rush into the market but will first focus on in - depth exploration of specific customer segments. "Our launch of the lawn mowing robot is not aimed at disrupting the existing market but at finding suitable scenarios and customer groups for differentiated competition," Wang Shengle said.
This strategy has been proven effective in the pool robot market. Official data shows that two products, AquaSense Pro and AquaSense, launched by Xingmai Innovation in 2024, quickly captured 85% of the high - end segmented market (products priced at $1400 and above) on Amazon after their launch, achieving sales of hundreds of millions of yuan within half a year.
Beatbot at an overseas exhibition (Source: Company)
The current garden robot market has entered a stage of "resource competition." Behind the intense competition lies an unchanging rule in the hardware industry: Under the dual thresholds of technology and supply chain, players lacking organizational capabilities and capital reserves often struggle to support innovation.
In Wang Shengle's view, this strategy of "centering on differentiated customer groups and scenarios and pricing based on value" not only helps Xingmai gain a foothold in the high - end market but also aligns with the transformation logic of a new generation of hardware entrepreneurs. By breaking away from cost - dependence and relying on product innovation and brand building, a company can establish true long - term competitiveness.
"Xingmai's success so far is 95% due to luck. Only when a company can accumulate real brand assets and organizational capabilities can it be considered firmly established," Wang Shengle said.
The following is a transcript of the interview between Yingke and Wang Shengle, the founder and CEO of Xingmai Innovation. The content has been edited:
How to Enter the High - end Market
Yingke: From a global perspective, the garden robot market has shown significant growth in the past two years. What are the most core driving factors?
Wang Shengle: The wireless transformation process of the garden robot industry, from cabled to cable - free, has taken about 20 years. In the case of lawn mowing robots, many companies have emerged and performed well in the past few years. The key lies in achieving a technological leap from "buried wires" to "boundary - free."
This rapid industry - wide growth opportunity doesn't necessarily mean the market can be deeply penetrated. It can quickly increase the penetration rate, but there is still much room for improvement in terms of providing a truly excellent user experience.
Yingke: What opportunities did you see by entering the pool scenario?
Wang Shengle: Interestingly, Xingmai's decision to enter the pool scenario in the garden robot market was not based on the maturity of technologies such as underwater sensors.
Traditional manufacturers have been constrained by path - dependence and innovation inertia. They have regarded water surface cleaning and water quality maintenance as marginal functions. They neither identified these long - standing pain points nor had the ability to solve them. Therefore, we believe that this is a market where significant functional innovation can bring about a disruptive leap in the industry, allowing users to clearly perceive the added value of the products.
The operation interface of Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra is simple (Source: Company)
Yingke: Even though the technology was not fully mature at that time, Xingmai made a decisive decision to position its products in the high - end price range. Did you have any doubts during this process?
Wang Shengle: In fact, this decision was the result of rational thinking. There are mainly three pricing methods: value - based pricing, cost - based pricing, and competition - based pricing. However, most companies only use cost - based and competition - based pricing. Xingmai's pricing strategy is based on value while also considering competition factors.
The team conducted an assessment at that time. Compared with the most expensive traditional pool cleaning tools on the market, the experience of our first product was several orders of magnitude better, but the price was only about 50% higher. In this regard, although our product became the most expensive in the market, the value it provided far exceeded the premium.
This decision was difficult to make during the discussion stage, but once the numbers were crunched, the execution became firm.
Yingke: Is this price acceptable to European and American users?
Wang Shengle: European and American users do have a stronger willingness to pay for high - value products. However, in my opinion, users around the world are willing to spend money on good things; it's just a matter of different levels of acceptance. The key was that at that time, there were no other products on the market that could offer the same experience as Xingmai's.
Yingke: We've noticed that some manufacturers are now producing products priced above $2000. Will this cause any interference to your business?
Wang Shengle: In the short term, it may cause some interference to users' perception and choices. However, if the product strength is indeed inferior to Xingmai's, this interference will fade over time.
For us, it doesn't mean that we have to follow what our competitors are doing just because it seems valuable in the market. Even if we decide to enter a certain area, we need to carefully consider the most appropriate time to do so. Ultimately, it boils down to creating value for users, whether it's innovation - driven or cost - leadership - driven.
Our company clearly focuses on "innovation first, cost second." These two aspects are essentially in conflict, and it's almost impossible to achieve both simultaneously. There has to be a primary focus.
Product usage scenario in a user's home (Source: Company)
Over the next five to seven years, there will be significant technological innovations in this industry every year. I'm confident that even if competitors completely copy our innovation points and our team, it will be difficult for them to produce equally innovative products. Because innovation is not only about technology selection but also influenced by a company's values.
It would be very awkward for a company that has long focused on efficiency and cost - leadership to suddenly shift to innovation. Its organizational genes and cultural inertia will become the biggest obstacles.
Entering the Lawn Mowing Robot Business
Yingke: The lawn mowing robot market is highly competitive. Why do you think you have a chance of success?
Wang Shengle: Actually, I had been paying attention to the lawn mowing robot field for a long time before starting the business. However, I ultimately chose the pool robot market over the lawn mowing robot market. To be honest, we didn't consider entering the lawn mowing business until this round of financing was confirmed.
This decision is based on a set of competitive methodologies, the "pressure principle." When resources are limited, we only choose battlefields where we can form an absolute advantage. Specifically, it means ensuring that the intensity of our investment in the selected field is at least three times that of our competitors. Otherwise, we'd rather not do it.
It's like allocating troops in a battle. If you can't outnumber the enemy, it's better not to fight. I'm a rather conservative person. I may even require a five - or ten - fold resource advantage before taking action. After all, resources for a startup are extremely precious and must be concentrated on areas where breakthroughs are most likely to occur.
Even with such an investment, the next 3 - 5 years will still be challenging, but at least we'll have a relatively stable foundation. With this confidence, we can start considering new businesses. For example, people have always asked us if we'll enter the floor - sweeping robot market, and I clearly stated last year that we won't. In my opinion, without a capital scale of 5 billion yuan, there's no point in even considering this question.
Our current strategy is to select a small segmented scenario in the lawn mowing robot market, avoid getting involved in the mainstream market competition, and focus on solving the pain points of a specific customer group. This approach is consistent with our strategy in the pool robot market. Instead of engaging in price competition in the red ocean, we aim to create new value in the blue ocean.