Interview with Chinese entrepreneur for Kickstarter and Chinese copycat
It is common for new products announced at Kickstarter to be inexpensively copied in China before they are actually shipped. In China it refers to it and it is called “ 山寨死 Shanzhai Si ”.
I interviewed the Chinese inventors who are copied about the copying countermeasures and the survival strategy to continue inventing in China.
Robin Wu handling four business in China and Africa
Maker My friend’s Chinese, there is an inventor called Shanzhai King. The name is Robin Wu. When Apple released the iPad to Apple, in just 60 days it became famous with marketing the fake of the iPad loaded with INTEL Intel CPU, and since then it came to be called “Shanzhai King”.
Shanzhai is a mountain fortress, meaning poor quality copies in the sense that it makes turns and makes hides in the place far from the center and does it arbitrarily. For example, the iPhone’s fake is called Shanzhai smart phone.
Many such unique entrepreneurs have appeared in China, which is confused and growing rapidly.
Wu studied computer science at Shenzhen University and is an idea full of original inventions, managing his own manufacturing company and doing a number of projects, mainly his manufacturing skills.
The first one is a low-risk, low-return manufacturing consignment ODM business, software company Hi360 (renowned for search toolbar) is trying to develop car navigation business, whereas under construction contract of hardware part, We are shipping more than 3 million units.
The second is the development of my inventive products with high risk / high return, the business of the hardware startup company. Shanzhai also enters here, but he does not make copies separately but sells original brands’ set top boxes and stick PC MeeGoPad at Amazon and so on.
Taking advantage of the career and connection that originally worked at Intel, I made test items (such as IoT mug cups that teach water supply timing) when Intel creates new chips, design and develop AR glasses etc. that I personally interested in doing.
Thirdly, in Ethiopia where China is investing a lot, Mr. Wu set up the electrical products manufacturing business with partners who employ 20 thousand people and manufacture shoes and the like. Business in Africa is often challenging, but you can hire workers at the same cost as Shenzhen 10 years ago, about 80 dollars a month, avoiding the harsh competition in Shenzhen. Because Africa can be a big market, I want to make something of African preference, and those made in Ethiopia can be exported without tariff within the EU. Although difficulty is high, what can be obtained is also large, it can be said to be middle risk · middle return.
The fourth is the most high-return dreamlike business, he has installed stations with solar batteries, smartphone content such as movies and games in various parts of Ethiopia. People installing his smaho appli can charge the smartphone and download the contents at that station. It’s free to use, but as this station is widely used, he can get his platform in Ethiopia. By doing electronic payment based on the application or doing Internet mail ordering, it is a big story of “I aim for Ethiopia’s Alibaba, Jack · Mar”.
Shenzhen government has given Maker support money to about 1,000 inventors, but he is one of that 1000 people. It is not just making copies.
Kickstarter and Chinese copycat
When you submit a project to Crowd Funding, it is common for copies to be sold already in China before that idea comes out to the world as a product. Simple toys and gadgets that you can see just by looking at photos and videos are especially many such copies, and although original projects are not yet shipped, copies are sold at a price of 1/10 There is even that it is being done.
Mass production is a difficult task for those who set up a project with Crowd Funding, and many project owners do not have experience in the first place and are going through trial and error in many cases. In particular around China, especially Shenzhen, many companies have been able to mass produce at high speed. My The Cathedral and the Bazaar on the Hardware Development in Shenzhen Report As mentioned in the introduction, there are also many peripheral companies that increase their development speed, and the ecosystem for mass production is well equipped, so it can be said that there is an advantage just by being around Shenzhen. For example, if you are an excellent French chef, you can improve the quality effectively by having it in France, as if you go to the United States if you go to major league as a major league, having an ecosystem.
“Copying further copies” can be done more easily with such an ecosystem, so once copied items are hit, even cheaper copies are made. Shanzhai Death in China is called a state in which little profit comes out soon after all.
Robin told about invention and copycat
Wu:The Intel version of iPad (Mr. Wu calls her own iPad)”, as the performance of the touch panel has increased and the price is getting cheaper, a laptop with no keyboard, that is, a tablet terminal comes with a full touch panel “ There was a feeling in me and it was exchanging with the related parts makers before the iPad was released.The sale in 60 days after seeing Apple’s announcement is because there is such preparation.60 days is early But, as humans think about something similar and make products using similar parts and techniques, most products will be copied in 90 days or so. It is getting cheaper and becoming cheaper everywhere in the world to become popular, is it also a large Japanese manufacturer?
It is not a bad thing for expensive MP3 players, smart phones, tablet devices etc invented in developed countries to be cheap, so that people around the world can use it. For the Intel version of the iPad, I do not think that people who wanted Apple’s iPad bought it, but I think that it was a good product for those who want cheap tablet devices. I have no motivation to put fake Apple logo marks and cheat and sell it. I will soon be fighting against each other and I would like to make another product with original value added. I made an Intel version of the iPad that Apple did not make. It is not a fake of the iPad.
I think that it is not so good to publish products that can easily be created simply by viewing pictures and videos with cloud funding first. For products that only compete in ideas, only the first 90 days are decided by themselves and priced, after that they will fight margins with many copiers. Since I dislike competition, when I think Ike will be mass production as much as possible at first, I am competing in 90 days and trying to make new products. To start small it is time to do more adventurous things that no one will chase after.
He hates competition and goes to new places, he does new things. He is also in common with other business. Mr. Wu talks about his business strategic position.
The manufacturing that I am doing is a business that assembles high-end parts such as made in Japan and makes it into a product. It is impossible to make high-quality parts, camera sensors, etc. with Japanese makers such as Sony and big player who was supported by the country such as Huawei in China, so my company will go there. Like us, the assembling manufacturing business in Shenzhen is getting really competitive and desperate to survive.
In the end it will be Vietnamese and Africa, cheap countries will be able to offer similar quality, and it will be hard to do in China. It depends on the circumstances of Vietnam, Africa, and who chasing you. I can not decide. Since I like to win in places where there are fewer rivals than competing, I am making new products and trying to do business in Africa earlier than others. I think that continuing inventing is one way to not compete.
Chen Rex from Shanghai told Copycat and High-end product
Another friend, Chen Rex of Shanghai developed an electric skateboard called STARY and gathered over $ 700,000 in Kickstarter.
Mr. Chen is a startup, so I concentrate on STARY. I do not have extensive business like Mr. Wu.
Meeting at Chen’s Maker event several times, “In the Backer who supported Takasu, STARY with Cloud Funding, you are the only one who lives in Singapore but since I will go to Singapore this time, Would you like me to meet Singaporean Makers? “Mail came and went on a talk event.
I have e-mailed the developer of Crowd Funding several times and went to meet, but Mr. Chen was the first time the project owner asked for an appointment. His skateboard finally started shipping, but has not reached me yet, but in Shenzhen’s electricity district copycat has already been sold for around $ 200 for original STARY $ 899. Chen, who was asked about the copied item in the Q & A done after the talk, said:
STARY is an electric skateboard but it’s a $ 899 product that costs a lot of labor and cost, such as dedicated batteries, gears and molds, to make it look exactly like an ordinary skateboard. For a while since I published videos with Kickstarter, I started to see similar coloring electric skateboarding, but such a copycat of about $ 200 does not cost that kind of place.
People making copycat focus on being “cheap and make quickly” and will not make luxury goods with initial investment. We want to make high quality STARY and people who want STARY think that it is a different category from those who buy electric skateboard of 200 dollars.
If you give an example, DJI ‘s drones are high — end goods and high in price, but they have good quality, and other products have difficult performance, so they sell well. Meanwhile, the quality of the action camera has not changed so much with GoPro and copycat. If we think that there is a quality commensurate with the price like DJI, we can continue and we will continue to invest in quality in the future.
I am talking to Chinese inventors who continue to invent even in the world of being copied, it is becoming more common for Maker to overflow the world and inventions are now becoming more common, so now the intellectual property surrounding it I feel that the environment may change as well.
