Exclusive interview with Chen Xiaoliang of Sound Intelligence Technology: Marry yourself to the company, greatness comes from perseverance

Chen Xiaoliang, founder of SoundAI Technology

Chen Xiaoliang is a talkative person. After Leifeng.com New Intelligence throws any question, he can talk about Sound Intelligence Technology and the current development of the industry. He is also a very patient person. During the more than four hours of the interview, he did not even stop to drink a few sips of water. If entrepreneurship is a long-distance race, then in the face of fierce and cruel market competition, he should have a great chance of persisting to the end.

These qualities are largely related to his previous experience in scientific research institutes.

In 2003, Chen Xiaoliang entered the Institute of Acoustics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and served as an associate researcher (associate professor) at the Institute of Acoustics, mainly responsible for the research of military projects. During this period, he participated in a major naval project (which has won a major national defense award) and 863, CAS strategic and other leading projects. These jobs require great patience. However, more importantly, scientific research institutes are a relatively narrow circle, and the various constraints within the system bother him.

So, around 2014, he began to visit and learn from various places. After two or three years of careful consideration, he finally chose to start a business. In April 2016, Sound Intelligence Technology was registered and established. Many members of its team came from the Institute of Acoustics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. At that time, the government was vigorously promoting "mass entrepreneurship and innovation", and he joked that it was also a response to the country's call.

Founded more than a year ago, SoundAI Technology focuses on cutting-edge acoustic technology and artificial intelligence interaction, and is engaged in the research, design, and manufacturing of acoustic interaction chips, modules, and equipment, and provides overall acoustic technology solutions. Its echo cancellation, noise suppression, sound source localization, reverberation elimination, beamforming, voice wake-up, scene voice recognition and other technologies are in the leading position in the industry.

——Product polishing—— ​

What is important is product implementation

There has been no major theoretical breakthrough in acoustic technology for a hundred years. Chen Xiaoliang told Leifeng.com that for Sound Intelligence Technology, which is based on technology, it is no longer the time to emphasize technology. At the same time, in his opinion, technology is only a necessary condition, a threshold. Once the threshold is crossed, "the whole room is actually full of guests."

Chen Xiaoliang further explained that the future height of SoundAI Technology is not determined by the level of technology, and the two are not a simple cause-and-effect relationship. "Because the market tests comprehensive capabilities, from the barrel theory, the company's bottom line is determined by the company's shortcomings, and the picky market has always paid attention to the company's bottom line. Make up for the shortcomings, this is exactly what the CEO should do."

The shortcoming of SoundAI is product launch, which is a common dilemma faced by the industry. Chen Xiaoliang believes that among voice products, except for Amazon's Echo, which sells well, the overall voice market is still in a chaotic state. Whoever launches first will have the first chance to seize the market.

Even so, SoundAI is also actively exploring the voice market, and its current business segments are mainly divided into two parts.

The first part is the "talking module for people to hear". The smart storytelling machine developed by Sound Intelligence and 360 has been launched, and in the field of smart security, 360 has launched two products, the Big Water Drop and the Small Water Drop, which is the field that Chen Xiaoliang is most optimistic about. In addition, they are promoting cooperation with other security giants at home and abroad.

The second part is the voice interaction part "for machines to hear". Sound Intelligence Technology currently focuses on smart speakers. In addition to considering their natural advantages in the field of acoustics, Chen Xiaoliang said that this is also due to the company's brand promotion. "We still hope that the company's business can have certain results in the short term. Although we can be unprofitable in one or two years, we must not have considerable data in the third year." He said. Traditional speakers are a red ocean, but smart speakers are a blue ocean in the red ocean. This was also their most important choice at the beginning.

The two major business segments also echo the vision of SoundAI Technology to "listen to what you say and know what you think", and they have been working towards this direction.

Smart speakers are not about pseudo-propositions

Recently, with the entry of foreign giants, smart speakers have attracted people's attention, but some industry insiders are not optimistic about the development prospects of smart speakers. In response, Chen Xiaoliang retorted, "There is no question of whether smart speakers will die or not, nor is there a question of whether they are false propositions or not. They are just speakers, which naturally have the advantage of attracting customers. In addition, it is an upgraded category, not a new category, and there is no systemic risk. Unlike other smart devices, the entire development direction of smart speakers is not a big problem . "

According to data from the China Electronic Audio Association, the scale of my country's electronic audio market in 2017 was nearly 300 billion yuan. Speaker manufacturers are also facing industrial upgrading. Chen Xiaoliang said, "We can't continue to sell Bluetooth speakers in China for five years. Now the price of foreign smart speakers is almost the same as that of Bluetooth speakers. Obviously, it is difficult for Bluetooth speakers to survive. We have no choice but to transform into smart speakers."

From the user's perspective, "For example, if you buy VR and drones now, you may hesitate before buying them because you will be concerned about what new features they have and whether they will impress you. But for headphones and speakers, as long as the price is right, you may just buy them. The decision-making cost for users for these products is not that high."

He added, using the example of Amazon Echo, why is it selling well abroad? This is a normal product upgrade process. The user groups of Bluetooth speakers will eventually switch to the user groups of smart speakers. This is a mature market that can be estimated by analogy.

However, he stressed that small manufacturers may face risks in the development of smart speakers, but long-term, systemic risks do not exist .

At the same time, he evaluated the current domestic voice products, "The user experience is not perfect enough, far from the level people imagine." On the contrary, some "smart speakers" on the market have increased the user's time cost. It is very dangerous for some product companies to not seriously consider the user experience.

No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat.

In the general product series, SoundAI Technology has six development boards for sale, covering the current major voice interaction scenarios. Chen Xiaoliang said with a smile, "No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat." The development board is of two important significance to SoundAI Technology.

First of all, the development board is the foundation of SoundAI's market presence. "We are not a PPT company. When customers ask whether the product is good or not, our opinions do not count. We need to let customers experience it for themselves. For example, for Echo, you must buy a set and try it before you can make an evaluation. And if the customer does not even evaluate the development board, it is estimated that their determination will not be too great. This is also an important basis for us to judge customers."

Secondly, the development board is also helpful for SoundAI's education market. "We recommend that customers experience all products and technologies before deciding to invest in a product, and then think about positioning to avoid overlapping with other competitors. SoundAI's current customers are basically branded customers, and we don't want our products to compete with each other."

In the field of smart cars, SoundAI cooperates with its partners, mainly targeting the original equipment automotive market, to provide single-microphone recognition optimization algorithms and distributed microphone arrays. In terms of cost and performance, these two solutions can meet the needs of industry users for driver voice control and full-vehicle voice control respectively.

In addition, SoundAI has also made corresponding arrangements in the fields of smart home, smart medical care, smart headphones, robots, etc. In many fields, SoundAI's strategy is to strike back after others. "In terms of products, the cost is a little cheaper than others, and the effect is a little better than others," said Chen Xiaoliang .

--business model-- ​

Always have revenue

"I seldom talk about business models, because to put it bluntly, we haven't figured out our business model yet, and the current ones are all in the trial stage," Chen Xiaoliang admitted.

The biggest problem in the AI ​​industry right now is commercial realization. Unlike most companies that are currently in a "pure investment" state, SoundAI has always had revenue because all customer-facing products need to be paid for. " For example, in the early days, we sold modules, and we sold hundreds of them. This was a very important source of income. Even a small amount of money is still money. At least it can solve the problem of year-end bonuses," he said with a smile.

In his opinion, current AI companies are not able to achieve sustained profits. Therefore, investment should be more cautious. It is not the case that the larger the team size, the more valuable the company is. "That is not the case at all . "

Although SoundAI has been profitable, it is still insignificant to them. Chen Xiaoliang told Leifeng.com New Intelligence Manufacturing, "This year's revenue target is still under great pressure. Although the customer contract amount is high, the funding pressure for the actual landing account by the end of the year is still great."

Competition and Cooperation

As a startup company, in the fierce market competition, Shengzhi Technology has not been immune to the pursuit and blockade of competitors.

"At the end of last year, basically no one paid attention to us. However, with the rapid growth of Shengzhi, the market has been activated and some pressure has been brought to competitors. Not only have many companies similar to Shengzhi suddenly appeared in China, but even some established foreign companies have come into direct competition with us."

“But after a few months, when everyone competed to a certain extent, they found that this was actually a lose-lose situation. Our philosophy has always been that there is no need to compete with each other in China, and the real competitors are actually abroad. Moreover, the entire industry has not yet taken off, and the cake has not yet been made, so there is no point in competing at this time.”

At this stage, it is more important to cultivate the market in an orderly manner and achieve win-win cooperation . Chen Xiaoliang believes in this logic. "I believe that more and more people will realize this. How can this industry develop and grow? It cannot be driven by just a few companies. Only when all companies work together can a certain market scale be formed. "

However, when SoundAI was looking for cooperation, it was ignored by the giants. "At first glance, they thought it was too small and too young, so they were more skeptical."

But Chen Xiaoliang doesn't care about this. "It's the same now. For example, when we approached a foreign auto giant, we were rejected directly. This is actually a very normal business logic. In the future, only strength will tell the story."

--Team building-- ​

To prevent problems before they happen, the team needs to march forward

Since SoundAI was founded more than a year ago, the company has grown from a few people to about 40 people, and has become increasingly well-known in the industry. However, looking back on the development of SoundAI over the past year, Chen Xiaoliang expressed his concerns.

"Sound Intelligence Technology's financing process has been relatively smooth so far. We don't have to worry too much about money. We also have a certain amount of business and customers, and our supply chain and marketing systems are gradually improving. This is a very good thing."

"But from another perspective, it is also a hidden danger. It is easier for a company to hone its team when it experiences difficulties in its early stages. If the company is going smoothly, it is easier to ignore some potential problems. The deeper the problems are buried, the greater the harm they may cause in the future. Many times, I believe that a team that has not experienced the Long March cannot truly understand the true meaning of revolution. "

Chen Xiaoliang saw the internal and external troubles and remained highly vigilant. "We have seen many teams at home and abroad that have neglected team building because they were too successful in the early stages. When problems occurred at critical moments, they were big problems. Many startups fell down in this way. It is extremely difficult to become a great company."

With this awareness of being prepared for danger in times of peace, Chen Xiaoliang said that he would spend more energy on team building in the second half of the year. SoundAI also hopes to cultivate more talents in the field of AI, and through careful screening, cultivate and accumulate a group of core backbones for the company to lay a solid talent foundation for future development.

Chen Xiaoliang also has his own views on selecting people. "First of all, it is very important to consider whether the initial batch of people we recruit can take on the responsibility of training people, whether they will fall behind in the entrepreneurial process, and whether they have the heart to accommodate talents better than them. Secondly, to a large extent, it depends on whether the team can respect each other, because only when you learn to respect others can you truly tap into talents."

“For Sound Intelligence, there are no rules or regulations for selecting talents, but there is one thing about philosophy that is very important: a person’s thoughts determine how high he or she can grow. ”

A person's ideology takes precedence over his skills?

"It is easy to improve a person's skills through a training system. I believe that as long as young people are given enough time and opportunities, they are likely to become technical experts in a certain field. But you cannot change a person's cognition. To a large extent, the cognition of every employee in the company determines the image of the company in all aspects. What I expect is that our team can achieve the world's top level in their respective fields in the future. Sound Intelligence is built by the hard work of every team member."

--future development-- ​

Waiting for the dawn

The next phase of SoundAI's goal is to expand its business scale and build an architecture around this core. "We will work closely with chip companies, because without chips, we cannot build an open ecosystem in the future. We will also work closely with Internet companies, because without a user system, we cannot build a joint ecosystem."

SoundAI is also waiting for an opportunity. In the second half of the year, they will pay more attention to their clients’ products and sales. “ Let’s first see who is swimming naked. After all, AI is just getting started, and it’s hard for everyone to see what will happen in 5 or even 10 years.”

They are also waiting for the growth of a new generation of customers. "Although there are some obstacles for adults to use smart voice products, we have noticed that many children are very happy to use them. In a few years, these children will have a certain purchasing power, and these products may be necessities for them. In this case, I believe many AI companies will thrive," he said.

As domestic consumption upgrades and the middle class becomes more powerful, and Chinese people’s values ​​on wealth and other aspects are less distorted, companies need to pay more attention to user experience and product quality. Chen Xiaoliang believes that startups at this stage have just caught up with the golden age of consumption, but the premise is to survive and polish their products , "don’t wait until dawn to fall down."

In fact, in terms of the current domestic consumption situation, he also admitted that all AI companies are facing more difficulties in China, and SoundAI is "having a hard time".

Where is our value

Since starting his business, Chen Xiaoliang has been thinking about whether what Shengzhi does can bring value to society in the future. In his opinion, bringing value to society is also the key to the long-term development of Shengzhi Technology. If it cannot bring value to others, the company has no meaning to exist. Therefore, as the business progresses, the entire team recognizes that the value of Shengzhi Technology and social value are tied together .

"Sound Intelligence has also begun to give back to society. Our CTO Feng Dahang has given public lectures on Leiphone.com (official account: Leiphone.com) to explain the technology to young people in the AI ​​field. This is also a social value. Sound Intelligence has always been open to cooperation, and we are willing to assume the responsibilities that a company should have."

“It’s a bit far-fetched to talk about feelings. Startups need to develop, and whether they can make some money is important. The core driving force of entrepreneurship is ultimately business logic.”

Talking about this, Chen Xiaoliang said that he rarely talks about artificial intelligence with his clients. He laughed and said, "If we talk about it, it's just about sentiment. None of our clients will really pay attention. Many clients like to satirize AI companies, saying that AI is not good at this or that. In this case, we need you, the clients, to invest some money to improve the level of AI."

Even so, he repeatedly mentioned that social value is the biggest driving force behind his entrepreneurship, and he is also very willing to spend more time on the development of the company. For entrepreneurs, there is no clear boundary between work and life. "In fact, we are all married to the company. Generally speaking, you will find that the time spent in the company is much longer than the time spent at home. Since starting a business, my life has basically been tied to the company."

"Many times my family members complained a lot, not just me, but our entire team would face this situation, but there was nothing we could do. We might still be in this situation in the future, because great companies always require great sacrifices. There is absolutely no such thing as greatness without reason. Since I have chosen to start a business, I have to accept this fate. "

Entrepreneurship is a journey of cultivation and upgrading

The future is full of uncertainty, especially for startups. But Chen Xiaoliang believes that as long as you feel you have a chance, there will be hope for the future. "If you believe it, maybe it will really work out."

"We see a lot of successful people who are very ambitious and people always think they should do something bigger. Lei Jun had a rough time leading Kingsoft, but he made Xiaomi big and strong quickly. This was achieved through training and upgrading along the way. When Ma Huateng was a chat companion on QQ, he often had no choice."

"It's the same for us. When we were developing various solutions for development boards, we were responsible for the entire supply chain and hardware, but this was not our core business and everyone thought it was meaningless. But we had to make hardware carriers, otherwise how could we demonstrate our technology? From the perspective of the entire company's planning, this matter really didn't have much value, but we had to do it."

"And often, especially in technology companies, the CEO must personally take charge. The CEO must not neglect self-cultivation while fooling others. In fact, this is fooling oneself, which is tantamount to chronic suicide. "

In early June, the core R&D team of SoundAI moved to the Zhongguancun Frontier Technology Center, where they had a better office environment and an independent acoustic laboratory. One night, around 1 a.m., Chen Xiaoliang passed by the Microsoft Building after get off work and wrote in his WeChat Moments:

"At this time, in the core area of ​​Zhongguancun, the street lights are brighter than the lights in the buildings. Most of the startup centers have sporadic lights, with the exception of the Microsoft Building. Innovation is not just a thought, you have to work hard. The most painful thing in life is not to neglect life because of work, but to find out that you are useless in old age."

On the day of the interview, he also expressed similar sentiments: It is not easy for us to accomplish something in our life that we will not regret when we look back on it, or even something that is worth remembering.

The road to entrepreneurship is long, and for Chen Xiaoliang, having nothing seems to be more inspiring than most people having nothing when they were young. But there is no doubt that he has embarked on the road of pursuing day and night.

On July 7, 8 and 9, 2017, CCF-GAIR 2017 - 2017 Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics will be held in Futian, Shenzhen. The conference is guided by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, hosted by the China Computer Federation (CCF), and undertaken by Leifeng.com and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. The conference has a three-day agenda, including 11 special sessions, including the frontier of artificial intelligence, the special session of robotics, the special session of machine learning, the special session of intelligent driving, the special session of intelligent assistants, the special session of financial technology, the special session of future medical treatment, the special session of intelligent logistics, the special session of AI+, the special session of CV+, and the special session of AI venture capital. Each special session invites the top experts from the academic and industrial circles at home and abroad to make conference reports and dialogue exchanges.

Dr. Chen Xiaoliang will also attend the conference as a guest speaker for the smart assistant session, sharing more insights on acoustic intelligence. You are welcome to purchase tickets to attend!