WeWalk - A good case that really solves social problems

 In addition to my own judgment, I also forwarded this case to a blind friend with rich entrepreneurial experience. He gave me a "very interesting" reply, so I assumed his views were the same as mine, but we are still the same, by judging new innovations The four aspects of evaluation:

1. Pain points and market opportunities:

In the first minute of the fundraising video, the pain point of the market has been effectively described (fundraising website: https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/wewalk/pitches/qnoxgl), the co-founder Kürşat himself is blind, so his description of pain points is very convincing: "If you look at technology trends, you will find that many things are constantly improving, such as self-driving cars, delivering packages with drones, but because I am blind, I have been thinking about it. , why isn't there a mobile solution to the problem of the blind?"

This problem is not only to solve the problems of the founders themselves, but also a good problem that can achieve subdivided monopoly.

The market analysis figures may only good to look at. Many new startups with insufficient execution, no matter whether they are big or small, still can’t win?

2. 解決方案：

Although I am not blind, I can reasonably guess that these functions are correct. The Accessible Navigation mentioned in the briefing, I read the text description here, plus the text description of the video, it is reasonable to guess that it is the function to assist the blind turn, so Wewalk imported it. Clockwise navigation helps blind people get to where they want to go more efficiently.

3. Entry Barrier：

It is said that 1% of users can be acquired, but I personally think it is very conservative, and the final result should be far more than this number, because as far as I know, there are actually many institutions that want to make products or services related to the blind, but the ones that can really be commercialized are not. There are very few, so since Wewalk really made the product, it does not need market education cost.

When it comes to market education costs, I have to mention a new startup I saw last time at Bio Asia. They are solving a market that seems to exist, but unfortunately the solution is not necessarily the right one. They said: "I want to to solve the problem that young children's eyesight may deteriorate at any time, we made a dock like a microscope, mounted it on the mobile phone, and provided subscription-based services, and we have an invention patent!"

To be honest, you instead told me: "We have a set of children's vision exercises, we will take children to the countryside on weekends to go green, and at the same time we have a set of scientific methods or instruments that can effectively correct children's vision!" This sounds a lot more reasonable. , because the cost of the education market is relatively much lower.

Suppose I use a mobile phone to mount a lens to check my child's vision. As a parent of two children, I feel super invincible and unreasonable. The best way to prevent myopia in my child is to take my child to the suburbs for an outing. , and parents who keep their children staring at their mobile phones are themselves a group of lazy and unwilling to really spend time and effort to accompany their children. Is it reasonable to ask this group of parents who don’t love their children enough to pay for your inexplicable plan?

Back to the topic, Wewalk's sales model is divided into B2C and B2B2C. In fact, the logic is very simple. As long as the channel and sales method can effectively solve the problem of consumers, it is a good method.

Speaking of which, I have to mention that I was recently pulled by a well-known multi-level marketing company and asked me to help promote their services overseas. As a result, I spent 10,000 NTD to buy products, and at the same time, I saw the business of multi-level marketing. The model is no longer in line with the needs of this era. A sales executive said: "You buy products now for 100 NTD. When you change to my class, it will become half price!"

When I looked at the organizational chart, this little supervisor was not even considered a mid-level manager, so he said that such a multi-level pyramid scheme, from the ex-factory price to the end consumer, is at least 5-10 times the huge profit, whether it is from Xiaomi. The D2C model, or the current decentralized web3.0 model for sales, does not require these middlemen who are not good at brainwashing.

To be honest, we have been talking to a company that makes lab-grown diamonds, and the other party hopes that we can help expand the Indonesian market (but my final decision will be based on my understanding of the market and whether the founding team is willing to land in Indonesia. ), even if we don’t talk about starting a business, we just talk about learning English and understanding other countries’ cultures, no matter how hard we try to shout in Taiwan, we will not achieve it. As long as we have an entrepreneurial team with the spirit of “one suitcase”, we do not have such determination and awareness. , please go to someone else, and then I will bet that others can't help you, because determination and enlightenment are not enough in themselves, and it is difficult for gods and Buddhas to save you.

Extending further here, when it comes to insurance, it is a great advantage. For example, it is written in the briefing that it has been confirmed that 150,000 blind Germans can use Wewalk products for free through subsidies from insurance companies.

It is called their spatial awareness system, which has a breakthrough development, but I personally think it should be a bit of an exaggeration. The space detection system put it bluntly, nothing more than sending a certain signal, and then through the time the signal is reflected back, to judge the overall space situation, but if it is shown in the figure, it can detect the space like a knife and fork , Chess tiny objects, it is indeed a bit powerful.

The situation here is similar to the above, I feel that using Microsoft's database is very powerful, but it depends on the depth and breadth of their actual technology, but it is still an old saying, anyway, people are subdivided fields. As long as it is not too bad, they should raise a fund quickly and develop the market as soon as possible. Execution is the most important thing, isn't it? 

4. Team：

- Co-Founder & CEO - Gökhan Meriçliler - To be honest, I haven't looked at every career experience, but there is one institution that stands out, called "Young Guru Academy", type this institution name on Google, it will show A Wikipedia link, and Wikipedia describes it as "Over 50 thousand university and high school students apply to YGA every year. After a 5-step process, 50 chosen students are admitted to the program (50 thousand university and high school students apply to YGA every year. , apply for YGA, after 5 screenings, there will be 50 students left.", and Gökhan has been a Co-President for 5 years. In mathematics, he is not only a 1/1000 talent, but one in ten thousand.

- Co-Founder & CPO - Kürşat Ceylan is also a YGA cadre chosen in ten thousand, and he is the Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO) of YGA, who is dedicated to developing accessibility-related solutions in innovative ways.

- US Sales Lead - Sadık Ünlü In addition to being the CEO of Wewalk before, he also served as the Co-President of  YGA, which means he is also an outstanding talent. 

On the whole, for new ventures before series A, individuals will increase the proportion of the team to more than 50%, while the Wewalk team is composed of three outstanding talents selected from 30,000 people, with a probability of less than 1 in 1 billion. Coupled with the strong advantages of subdivision, Microsoft endorsement, etc., I actually want to give them a full 5 stars, but I feel that it is not reasonable, so I will give 4.75 stars!