Nanoleaf: Big innovation in a small light bulb

If you see this decahedral bulb named Nanoleaf One for the first time, you will definitely be attracted by its creative shape and will never forget it. Before it, almost all LED bulbs were in the shape of a hemisphere or corncob, but Nanoleaf One creatively cut the circuit board into an decahedron, subverting the industry's design conventions. With this outstanding design, it has already won the 2015 German Red Dot Design Award.

This bulb is from Nanoleaf. As a smart LED light bulb company founded by three graduates from the University of Toronto, Rino has made a big splash at the beginning of its establishment. Its products were very successful after landing on the crowdfunding website kickstarter in early 2013, and the number of backers obtained was huge. Exceeded expectations and became the star product of the year. Taking this advantage, Rino was selected and invested by Victoria Harbour Investment, becoming an innovative product promoted by Li Ka-shing on various occasions.

The foundation of success - the ultimate product

Rino can achieve success in a short period of time, although there are factors of coincidence, but the key is undoubtedly that its products are indeed sufficient It's "screaming". The original decahedral structure not only brings a strong visual impact, but also brings an order of magnitude higher durability than the traditional bulb shape, and a more ideal illumination angle; and the core of the LED bulb - driving power, green With its excellent R&D strength, Nuo has increased its conversion efficiency to more than 90%, leading the industry and becoming the world's most energy-saving LED bulb; inside the bulb, the R&D personnel also use a special copper heat sink to match the printed circuit board. Combined, it constitutes a very efficient LED cooling solution, which not only increases the efficiency, but also enables the temperature to be controlled at a touchable level; the newly launched Nanoleaf Bloom, which ingeniously realizes dimming under ordinary switches, has become the world's first A dimmable light bulb that doesn't require a dimmer...

It's amazing to see so much innovative technology and design attached to a small light bulb. This stems from the common engineer background of the three founders, and the "soul" of technology research and development among them - Tom Rodinger (Tomas Rodinger), Ph.D. Protect products and technologies that bring benefits. On the day the author visited Rino's Shenzhen office, he was shy and led several product developers to test products meticulously in his slightly cramped office filled with test instruments. His partner, co-founder and COO Christian Yan, said that Tom could have found a more comfortable job in North America with ten times the salary, but in order to realize the ideal of green technology, he still came to Shenzhen, a place for oriental makers Both and LED industry capital to make products.

According to Yan Sicheng, with the gradual enrichment of Rino's LED product line and the gradual increase in functional design, Rino has now established R&D personnel in Toronto and Shenzhen. "Now we have three main directions: Hardware, software and design, these three aspects continue to improve, in order to truly improve our products." Yan Sicheng said. This kind of thinking of creating products to the extreme can be said to be the fundamental foundation of Rino's rapid progress. Therefore, we can see that Rino's bulbs not only look more and more dazzling in color, but also maintain a leading position in energy-saving technology. The 2015 SEAD Global Efficiency Medal is a huge recognition of their progress in energy-saving technologies.

Rooted in Shenzhen, localized supply chain

Good products are the first step to success, but the fragrance of wine is also afraid of deep alleys. Fortunately, Rino is not just a group of tech workers who stay at home. Yan Sicheng, the founder and COO, is a Chinese who left the country at a young age and returned to China to work hard after graduation. He has managed a large factory in the Pearl River Delta for more than 8 years. Rich experience, and at the same time familiar with supply chain, procurement, marketing, etc., so Rino can quickly take root and grow in China and produce high-quality products.

“We can see that many Silicon Valley startups have good ideas, but they cannot produce products within a year and a half.” Yan Sicheng said, “But we know that hardware entrepreneurship is not that easy. It doesn't mean that you can just ask a Chinese factory to do it when you place an order, but you have to go to the factory to watch the production, participate in every link of the production, communicate with the factory, and then you can really make a good product. In other words, we need to be very familiar with the factory, become friends, and form a partnership. Good products are not inspected, and it is too late to think that QC will check after the products are all out.”

Sold Not products, but ideas

This idea of creating products to the extreme makes each generation of Nanoleaf products like works of art, and Yan Sicheng does promote his products like recommending works of art. "Our product is not an ordinary light bulb, but a gift. Our product appeal is that Nanoleaf can be used as a gift for parents, friends, and colleagues. The message is beautiful, environmentally friendly, and very cool. It has the longest lifespan. It can last for 27 years, and it is a product that can bring a unique lifestyle." Yan Sicheng described Nanoleaf's product concept in this way.

This idea is very good, but can it be accepted by the market? Yan Sicheng is not worried about this problem, "If 1,000 people use our products and think that we are just selling lights, then we still fail, and we still have not successfully conveyed the product concept to consumers. Therefore, we would rather have a After personal use, he is willing to give our products as gifts to his relatives and friends, so we are successful." Yan Sicheng said, "The market demand for LED lights is very large, as long as 1% of customers recognize and use and spread Our products, we can all be successful."

Following this line of thinking, Yan Sicheng is also very "picky" when choosing partners, "We have traveled to many places in the world and met many people. Big buyers, but not all of us cooperate. What I need is a partner who can agree with our product concept. For example, if we just sell our products as ordinary LED products, it will definitely not sell well Yes.”

Therefore, Rino decided to cooperate with Global Sources, which has many high-quality international buyer resources, and seek like-minded partners through exhibitions and other means. At the upcoming Global Sources Hong Kong Electronics Fair in October, Rino will be one of the finale exhibitors in the "Startup Launchpad", which will be launched for the first time at the show, to share their experiences.

Nanoleaf has achieved success in the European and American markets, and both online and offline channel expansion is progressing steadily. But until August 2015, Nanoleaf still did not enter the Chinese market. "It's still a matter of concept, because we are not familiar with the Chinese market, and we are afraid that we will lose the product concept we stick to when we enter the market rashly." Yan Sicheng explained, "But China is so A huge market, we have no reason to ignore it, and the Chinese people are in great need of good products. Look at those who shop overseas, they want to use high-quality products. Therefore, we will officially enter the Chinese market next, but We will choose our partners carefully and promote our product concept through social networks. We believe that Chinese consumers have a stronger ability to identify good products than European and American consumers, and they will become my word-of-mouth communicators!”

With such beautiful products and the support of many big-name investment institutions and senior entrepreneurs, can Rino successfully open up the Chinese market? We will wait and see!

Maker Says:

World Manager: What do you think of the current Maker boom?

Yan Sicheng: I think it's very good, and I can also feel the fiery enthusiasm of makers. There are two suggestions. One is that it is best for makers to form a community and form a team, which is more powerful than fighting alone; To make products well, good products can speak.

World Manager: How do you feel about the difference between exploring the European and American markets and the Chinese market?

Yan Sicheng: The European and American markets are very mature, they have high requirements for products, but it also means that it will be more difficult for your products to stand out, because they are similar in their opinion; but in China, consumers have high Higher quality product identification. Therefore, for good products, the prospects in China are not bad.