A Conversation with Li Nan: From Meizu to Angry Miao, an Unwavering Eye for Aesthetics and Consumer Insight

When Will Consumer Electronics Recover?

Since the start of the year, the global consumer electronics market has remained in a slump. Though the market brims with inspiration and creativity, innovations that truly dazzle consumers are often missing—forcing us to continually ask ourselves: what kind of product can genuinely satisfy contemporary consumers? NuMiao, a brand that from its founding aimed to build "China's luxury brand" in tech, attempts to answer this question from a high-end market perspective.

As NuMiao's founder, Li Nan was once publicly grouped with Bai Yongxiang and Yang Yan as the "Three Musketeers of Meizu." During his seven years at Meizu, he rose step by step from Director of Internet Business to Senior Vice President and CMO. The Mblu brand he led once briefly commanded half the sub-¥1,000 phone market alongside Redmi, thanks to its strikingly bold designs. At a time when consumer electronics lacks fresh ideas, what inspiration can Li Nan and NuMiao—who never follow what former rivals are doing—offer us?

In this episode, you'll hear: What similarities exist between Japanese and Chinese business? How to read the pulse of contemporary youth trends? How to build a homegrown high-end brand in the 3C space? Under a community co-creation model, what kind of product feedback is most useful for companies? How important is "cool" for an electronics product? What is NuMiao's strategy of continuous optimization? How should we view the relationship between production planning, hunger marketing, and scalpers? What new developments and threats exist in China's supply chain?

Guest

Li Nan — Founder of NuMiao; former Senior Vice President of Meizu Technology

Timeline

04:47 Life in Japan made me realize two things: embrace diversity, cherish the present

09:51 What lessons Japan's business development path offers

14:39 The people truly in charge of 3C products don't understand today's consumers

16:31 Fashion, gaming, and manga are the barometers for spotting trends

19:59 In product design, a leader's role is more about killing bad ideas than creating them

22:19 Users won't give you any genuinely valuable product feedback

25:20 Building a homegrown high-end brand without setting target costs

27:11 Keyboards can be objects of obsession; headphones cannot

28:45 What "cool" means for consumer electronics categories

29:56 The "affordable luxury" brand positioning will only get harder to pull off

36:10 The challenge of zero-inventory brands lies in sustained supply chain support

43:19 The phone industry stands at the edge of receding tides

47:19 Viewing the relationship between production planning, hunger marketing, and scalpers

49:06 After capacity shifts elsewhere, what replaces it becomes the critical question

51:04 Bilibili is where you set the tone

Production

Post-production: Keyone Studio

Contact Us

WeChat Official Account: ZhenFund (ID: zhenfund)

Listen on: Xiaoyuzhou | Apple Podcast | Ximalaya

Email: media@zhenfund.com

If you have any suggestions or expectations for the show, we welcome your comments and interactions~