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So many people want to learn to fly. Someone manages to do this in a dream, others conquer the sky, sit at the helm of the plane, others launch kites, observing while they plan and go up in the air, stretch in the sky. But the "steering paper" will not carry very long.
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Frank Schoolboy
Frank Wang, whose name is much less known than his offspring, was born in 1980 in Hangzhou from a family of a former teacher who decided to pursue his own company. It was a small company that had no intention of "conquering the world," but the gains, apparently, were enough to support the family and sometimes give free rein to desires
Frank As history claims, he was interested in the subject since his youth flying miniature machines, and it all started with a red-caustic helicopter in one of the comics. He spends his free time reading books on airplanes, he tried to get as much information about modern planes as he did, like many boys, on models of prefabricated aircraft. And I dreamed of a device that will not surprise anyone today: a drone with a video camera. He called it "fairy". And perhaps, in the boy's imagination, was it really a fairy with a camera?
Of course, the picture of that era had nothing in common with the current quadrocopters and other representatives of the "family", but Frank needed a gadget. Something similar was only reserved for the military, and mere mortals could only dream about it (if they knew the existence of menacing birds under the clouds ). Finally, at 16, the future founder of DJI received his first radio controlled helicopter (for good). notes on the results of school examinations). And he broke it, not having the time to practice properly. After long months waiting for spare parts, the machine was finally repaired by Frank
I wanted to become an engineer, but I was studying so little
The future was not yet related to the sky and the flights, and Frank could not become an engineer. reason: no one called a diligent student. A short trip to the technological elite was closed, as were the doors of the same MIT. Higher education is needed, so the guy sent his foot to the East China Normal University, where he started studying psychology. Humanitarian, and only. This was the first step, followed by the second, and in 2003 Frank was at the University of Science and Technology of Hong Kong. Maybe he raised the knowledge.
Academic education was given to the Chinese with great difficulty, the young man was more an enthusiastic practitioner, like his father engineer. He could take the next model of the plane for hours, trying to bring it to perfection. How does Frank's future destiny, do not he pay attention to him, the university professor, can only guess it.
As a project, he chose the development of a flight control system of helicopter. Then, as in the film, a successful student who, unlike everyone else, made an ambitious project at the last moment, having received a multi-million dollar grant, was to be formed. In reality, everything was completely different. Despite the help of a professor who had almost a genius in his pupil, Frank Van did not have time to finish what he started, and the system that he did not have. he conceived of it missed before the projected projection of the work
Grant, family caregiver and family friends. in 2005, the target grant for the development of drones. Amount? Funny by the standards of the current hungry start-ups – about $ 2.3 thousand That did not stop Frank, and in 2006, without leaving the room in the dormitory of the university, he organized his company – DJI. The same year, he took third place in the RoboCon competition, where he demonstrated the skills of an engineer.
Wang did not act alone – almost all successes mention friends and like-minded people. The stories of lonely people are rare.
Frank had an extraordinary charisma, or the idea was really contagious, but those who decided to join him made serious sacrifices. One was forced to pay an impressive penalty for early termination of the contract on the previous job, another went on the road with virtually no money in his pocket.
The young company started the bat – it was necessary to pay the office salaries and develop. With the office, however, Uncle Frank helped – the company was located in the warehouse of his store. Although the "warehouse" sounds loud. In fact, it was a room of 20 square meters, where was the "office".
The company could not enter the market with the product of Frank Wang's dream, DJI established the production of controllers and components for DIY drones. At the same time, a helicopter was developed, developed in college. Its badembly cost 2 thousand dollars, but it was sold 6 000. With the development of the market of domestic drones, we had to moderate the appetites.
Meanwhile, DJI clients were schools and companies that produced kits for themselves. badembly of radio controlled aircraft. Business could not boast of tangible bends, but the financial infusion of the family friend Liu Di helped. He invested $ 90,000, which solved the problem for a while. Liu Di became one of the biggest shareholders of DJI
Internal conflicts, dangerous UAVs
At the same time, the company develops its own product, the same "red helicopter of the comics" d & # 39; Where it all started Prototypes, mistakes, experiments, failures – all this was hidden from the public. "Frank never gave up, he mocked the difficulty of a problem" later told the colleagues of the future billionaire.
So it was normal to work 10 hours a day, but Frank, if he had any idea, could call and at three in the morning. This approach was not to everyone's taste, but it did not have an outcome. Keeping the friendship in business is very difficult, and those who came to DJI in the first wave left it. Li Zhihui, who entered the startup with $ 100 and closed his own business, was one of the first to leave Frank Van.
The reason is simple: initially 40% of the shares were promised to the partners but gradually to 20% then to 5%. "I fully understood that everything was for Van the first time, how to work and act, he did not know it", Lee's words sounded like that. Moreover, there were disagreements on the design of prototypes that Zhihui considered inefficient and even dangerous. As a result, in 2008 he left, a little later two other members of the first team chose a different path.
The American Dream
Despite all the internal troubles, the company began to show a nose in the international market. During this period, the turnover has grown, reaching about $ 500,000, but it is obvious that the world will not win if you ignore the United States and DJI North America becomes one of the first outposts out of China for DJI. She opened in Texas, and the person in charge named Colin Guinn. He owned 48% of the business, the rest was for DJI.
Guinn took the bull by the horns, positioning himself as CEO of DJI, and taking responsibility for innovative development. Obviously, Frank did not like this state of affairs, but he decided to be patient.
In 2012, the business turnover exceeded the $ 26 million and in 2013, the UAV industry produced a product entirely created by the company. now the legendary Phantom model. At the same time, Guinn announced a possible partnership with GoPro, as well as the release of drones under this brand.
Apparently, Frank Van's patience cup overflowed, he was out of the situation and negotiated with GoPro did not stand. Guinn suddenly changed jobs and, with GoPro, found himself in 3D Robotics – a direct competitor of DJI. All this was preceded by mutual accusations of the parties, but the dispute was settled in order before the trial.
In 2014, DJI 's business figures reached $ 500 million against $ 130 million the previous year, tangible business figure. At the same time, the company has been forced to fight with those who wish to bask in the rays of glory. Quite simply, with companies that have established the production of fake drones, or drones, based on DJI's engineering achievements (they know the industrial espionage in China first-hand). But Wang was confident in his abilities, and competitors made up for lost time.
Take-off DJI. Without falling
2015 was the year of DJI. The popularity of the Chinese company jumped due to an incident involving a drunk employee of the US National Agency for Geospatial Intelligence and the quadricopter Phantom. The American-controlled flying machine crashed on the lawn in front of the White House, making a real mess. The pilot of the drone told his friends the "misunderstanding", after which he decided to take a nap. Only the next day he realized what he had done. The man is given selflessly to the secret service. What was DJI worth? In the same year, it received an investment of $ 75 million, and its market value approached $ 10 billion.
What is today? DJI evolves on the beaten track, dominates the domestic drone market, where the share of Chinese business hovers around 50% (according to other sources, up to 70%), and Frank Van in 2017 became the youngest Chinese billionaire "technology" in valuation His fortune is 3.2 billion dollars
Many question: what is behind the success of DJI? It is the money of parents, some former partners of Wang, who were at the source of the company, believe. It is thanks to them that the young engineer had the opportunity to direct his research efforts and "self-research", and also found qualified experts. But maybe with a lot of money, but without an idea and your own thoughts, nothing would have happened?
Source: Time, Forbes, The New York Times, Abacus, Stunning crew, Yo! Success, Droneblog, Vulcan Post
See also:
- The birth of "Chinese Steve Jobs", or Who are you, founder of Xiaomi Lei Jun?
- Addict, alcoholic, murderer, IT-businessman? How is the story of the creator of the McAfee antivirus. And it ended
- Izgoy-zauchka, an upstart or a genius? The beginning of history Ilona Mask, "invented" SpaceX and Tesla
- "This guy looked like an operator of the NKVD." The story of Steve Ballmer, who wanted to lead Microsoft to success
- A billion dollar company that went missing. The story of Jawbone, who went bankrupt because of the "extra" money
- The Creation Story of Reddit
- The rise and fall of the l & # 39; Techno empire of China. The story of LeEco, which "could not"
- It's just business. How technology companies helped create "Conflict Minerals"
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