Guest of this issue: Squirrel Ai 1 to 1 partner Liang Jing
Produced | Sohu School of Business
Editor | Zheng Qingchun, Liu Shijiao
Chief Editor | Wang Demin
According to the iResearch Consulting report, the market size of the online education industry in 2020 is 257.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.5%. Among them, the speeding up of the online process of the junior and quality education track and the K12 subject training track are the most important contributors to the rapid growth of the online education market.
At present, there are more than 1 million counseling organizations in China, and 80% of the market share is sinking into the market, while the overall market share of the top 5 organizations in the country is less than 10%. Online education competition is fierce, the industry burns money and the cost of acquiring customers is high. New Oriental founder Yu Minhong also questioned this track.
How will online education develop in the future? Which models will be successful? Sohu Business School’s “Future Business Power” talked to representative online education companies and explained their methodology and logic.
This issue of Squirrel Ai partner Liang Jing will share their entrepreneurial experience, challenges and layout.
Squirrel Ai is the first company to apply artificial intelligence technology to the education industry. It has now covered more than 1200 counties and cities across the country and more than 4000 campuses. Squirrel Ai has also sunk from the first-tier cities to the eighteenth-tier towns.
According to Squirrel Ai’s official website, using Ai big data to accurately locate knowledge weaknesses, intelligently adapt teachers, and accurately improve learning efficiency. This is the main logic of Squirrel Ai. According to reports, this online and offline OMO model is the fastest growing model in the online education industry.
Liang Jing defined Squirrel Ai as “an artificial intelligence company with technology and scientific research at its core. No technology means nothing.” Squirrel Ai’s entrepreneurship lies in the founding team’s clear goal of “algorithm engine + teaching and research content + c-side services”. And looking for top scientists around the world. “In 2020, Squirrel AI’s revenue will be 2 billion, and scientific research investment will account for 30% of total revenue, but the marginal cost will fall.”
Why is an artificial intelligence education company sinking into the market?
“ Educational resources in the sinking market are currently the most scarce. High-quality teacher resources are urgently needed in the sinking market. Smart adaptation to personalized teaching helps sink the market, and achieving fairness in education is the core reason. “Liang Jing said.
Prior to this, Liang Jing was also a serial entrepreneur. He founded several chain catering brands and fast-moving consumer goods brands, and served as a director and executive in his mother’s company, Huaqi Foods. Regarding what preparations should be made for starting a business, Liang Jing said that entrepreneurs should assess clearly which track they are on, assess the resources, channels, and funds they have, and whether this period is the best time to start a business.
The world’s most highly valued adaptive education company currently has a value of 15 billion US dollars. Obviously, the Chinese company in this track has a long way to go.
The following is a record of the dialogue:
Sohu Finance: For those who are preparing to start a business, what preparations should be made before starting a business so that it is not blindly starting a business?
Liang Jing: Entrepreneurship may be a path of no return. You must have enough faith. In addition to personal aspects, you must also conduct in-depth research on the industry. If the selected industry is a brand new track, it may be very challenging, because people have not really adapted to such a consumption model or environment.
As an entrepreneur, you must evaluate clearly which track you are walking in the early stage, evaluate the resources, channels, and funds you have, and whether this period is the best time to start a business.
This can be referred to as the research phase. Only when the research is feasible, the preparations are actually started. You can do it when you are ready. Of course, you can choose to give up when you are ready.
As an entrepreneur, in the early stage of research, you must do in-depth thinking, centering on the ultimate goal, and infer the work that needs to be done at each stage, whether you have enough genes, resources or courage, courage, and ability Wait for the integration ability, and do it step by step.
Sohu Finance: What is the biggest challenge Squirrel Ai encountered during its entrepreneurial process?
Liang Jing: The biggest challenges we have encountered are two. One is the scientists who dig the top artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence education in the early stage. For an artificial intelligence company, technology and scientific research are the core. No technology means nothing. At that time, we were a very small company, not yet at the level of a unicorn. It was very difficult to find scientists working in companies with hundreds of billions of dollars globally.
In addition, when our products are launched on the market, how do consumers really understand artificial intelligence education? We need to transform high-tech terms into terms that consumers can understand.
Sohu Finance: How does Squirrel Ai find top talents?
Liang Jing: The ultimate goal and values of our founding team’s partners in adaptive education is a very important point that impresses scientists.
By 2017 and 2018, dreams and ideas alone will not work. You have to talk about real money figures, learning results and learning reports.
No one of these top scientists in the world lacks money, and no one joins us for this salary or expense. They hope to create greater value because scientists have their own dreams. In terms of educational philosophy, we have deep resonance with scientists. This is the core element that we have dug into the world’s top scientists.
Sohu Finance: How to make more people receive artificial intelligence education products?
Liang Jing: Any new things have a resistance stage, a bubble stage, and a subsequent stable stage. In the early days of entrepreneurship, our products had just hit the market and encountered many difficulties. Consumers were at a loss as to the very advanced algorithms and architecture of artificial intelligence. Later, we discovered that since it is a product used by one person, it should be understood by people, and it is necessary to tap the potential and feelings of users.
The core point for our consumers to accept artificial intelligence is to make them like the interest and self-confidence brought by artificial intelligence teaching. In the learning scene, whether it is taught by a human teacher or the MOOC mode of the Internet, the most important thing is to enable children to learn, to learn happily, and to learn confidently. This is fundamentally unchanged.
Sohu Finance: Why adhere to the OMO model?
Liang Jing: India BYJU’S is the world’s largest AI intelligent adaptive education company, with a valuation of more than 15 billion US dollars. It used to be pure online. After acquiring India’s largest offline education and training, it became an online plus offline OMO. This is enough to illustrate the importance of the coexistence of online and offline scenarios.
Sohu Finance: Why do you invest in the sinking market, and how much room for growth in the future?
Liang Jing: Squirrel Ai now covers more than 1,200 counties and cities and more than 4,000 campuses. We have two core reasons for sinking the market:
First, compared to Beijing and Shanghai, the sinking market has very scarce educational resources, and it is not realistic for high-quality teachers to flow from the big cities to the sinking market. Therefore, the market urgently needs a tool and system to solve the equalization and individualization of education, so the sinking market has huge potential. Squirrel Ai also hopes to really help sink the market through personalized teaching. This is the core reason.
Secondly, from the perspective of the overall market share, there are more than 1 million counseling organizations in China. In fact, 80% of the market share is sinking into the market, and only 20% of the market share is in first- and second-tier cities. The overall market share of the top five institutions in the country is less than 10%, and 90% are scattered among various brands. This market is huge. Many giants are already making arrangements. From a strategic point of view, we are definitely going to sink the market.
Sohu Finance: Squirrel Ai has received an investment of more than 1 billion yuan, with a valuation of more than 1.1 billion US dollars. How did it do it?
Liang Jing: Our Shareholders New Oriental and Mr. Yu Minhong, and there is a good future. They all firmly believe in the future development direction of artificial intelligence education, especially in the intelligent adaptive education technology. As educators, they all know very well that the core technology in global personalized teaching is intelligent adaptive teaching. They invested in us because of their firm belief.
Sohu Finance: How should a startup company build its own brand?
Liang Jing: Brands can be divided into two, one is product brand or corporate brand, and the other is the brand of the founding team.
In the early days, there was not much money, and it was impossible to have money for brand promotion. At this time, the founder or founding team should be used to build the corporate brand. The founder’s personal brand is equal to the company’s brand, which can achieve a four-to-two effect. As a company’s brand, people are emotional and have real energy transmission. This is the founder’s brand building.
With the gradual expansion of the scale of the company and the steady introduction of product models to the market, we will turn to a real product brand. There are several key points in the product brand. First, if it is a To C product, it must be closely related to consumers. The brand name must be spiritual and easy to remember, just like an Apple mobile phone, it must be grounded. Second, a little deeper, the brand name of the product and the characteristics of the product must be essentially the same.
I think that any entrepreneurial brand has these stages in principle. To be the founder’s brand IP, it must also be the brand IP of corporate products. The brand of corporate products must first be grounded and connected more closely with the public. , And more consistent with the product characteristics, showing the company’s core competitiveness, so it is more perfect.
Sohu Finance: Looking forward to 10 years, what is your most personal goal?
Liang Jing: First of all, I hope to be able to assist Squirrel Ai to a very stable stage. At that stage, I believe that new talents and new teams also need to enter. I may have to step back and do auxiliary work. At that time, I hope to use my past experience, resources, and abilities to help China and the world on more issues concerning education equality, so my next goal will be to join UNESCO. This is also my ultimate life goal in this life.
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