FOGGOD E-Cigarette
The term serial entrepreneur seems quite fitting for us. Over the years, we have experienced the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Product, marketing, business model, capital, and other high-level topics are all familiar, but in the past it always seemed
“Serial entrepreneurs” is a term that fits us quite well. Over the years, we have experienced the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. We are familiar with the top-level concepts of products, marketing, business models, and capital, but it seems we have always followed a “formula”, similar to a standardized concept. Now, thinking back, there really is no “formula” to speak of; products are constantly upgrading, markets are continuously changing, and customer demands are evolving with living standards and environments. Therefore, no formula is eternal; the real “formula” is to have no “formula” at all.
A group of veteran smokers from various industries had an unexpected encounter with a foreign brand of heated tobacco electronic cigarette during a trip to Japan. It took us only a week to successfully switch from smoking to using this product, which excited us, as we had previously tried many ordinary e-cigarettes (the ones that produce a lot of vapor) but felt nothing after a few puffs and eventually gave up. I believe many smokers have gone through similar experiences...
Thus, we ignited the spark of entrepreneurship and began to explore numerous e-cigarette products on the market, including large vapor devices, pod systems, heated tobacco devices, disposable vapes, energy sticks, and more. We also started visiting various e-cigarette manufacturing factories across the country.
Our research revealed a strange phenomenon in the global e-cigarette sales landscape: China is the largest manufacturer of e-cigarettes, accounting for 90% of the world's production, yet 90% of Chinese-made e-cigarettes are exported to Europe and the United States. At that time, several foreign e-cigarette brands had begun to penetrate the market, and a small number of smokers, including myself, had started to accept and use these new types of e-cigarettes. We thought, the opportunity has arrived.
We believe that there is nothing wrong with e-cigarette products themselves, and the technology is already very mature. Appearance, structure, and branding can all be solved with money. At this stage, we summarized that we needed “money”, so we began our first round of seed financing, which went relatively smoothly and was completed in 15 days.
We rejected cooperation with foreign e-liquid brands because our positioning is: sourced from China, a new favorite for Chinese smokers! We can find the best e-liquid suppliers in China to develop and formulate e-liquids suitable for Chinese smokers. After numerous investigations, we finally decided to collaborate with Yunnan Tobacco Group, which excels in both quality and qualifications.
At this point, you might think, isn’t it just about developing a disposable e-cigarette? Just put it on various impressive platforms and start selling. If that doesn’t work, add some micro-businesses. My answer is: of course not. From the moment we decided to start a business, we began to think about why such phenomena occur in the e-cigarette market in China. There are historical reasons, policy reasons, and reasons related to rigid thinking, etc. Can we break through this? We thought of 100 impossibilities, which were later disproven one by one. Thus, we began to develop China’s first e-cigarette community SaaS system (including a 2.0 version with blockchain technology) + several new conceptual models (which cannot be disclosed to the public at the request of investors). In conclusion, we first establish a brand, then form a platform, and the market is always there; it depends on whether you can truly meet the smoking cessation needs of Chinese smokers. We do not follow the routes favored by capital but rather the routes favored by users. Our mission: to help 400 million smokers in China switch to healthier alternatives and keep secondhand smoke away from people!
A group of veteran smokers from various industries had an unexpected encounter with a foreign brand of heated tobacco electronic cigarette during a trip to Japan. It took us only a week to successfully switch from smoking to using this product, which excited us, as we had previously tried many ordinary e-cigarettes (the ones that produce a lot of vapor) but felt nothing after a few puffs and eventually gave up. I believe many smokers have gone through similar experiences...
Thus, we ignited the spark of entrepreneurship and began to explore numerous e-cigarette products on the market, including large vapor devices, pod systems, heated tobacco devices, disposable vapes, energy sticks, and more. We also started visiting various e-cigarette manufacturing factories across the country.
Our research revealed a strange phenomenon in the global e-cigarette sales landscape: China is the largest manufacturer of e-cigarettes, accounting for 90% of the world's production, yet 90% of Chinese-made e-cigarettes are exported to Europe and the United States. At that time, several foreign e-cigarette brands had begun to penetrate the market, and a small number of smokers, including myself, had started to accept and use these new types of e-cigarettes. We thought, the opportunity has arrived.
We believe that there is nothing wrong with e-cigarette products themselves, and the technology is already very mature. Appearance, structure, and branding can all be solved with money. At this stage, we summarized that we needed “money”, so we began our first round of seed financing, which went relatively smoothly and was completed in 15 days.
We rejected cooperation with foreign e-liquid brands because our positioning is: sourced from China, a new favorite for Chinese smokers! We can find the best e-liquid suppliers in China to develop and formulate e-liquids suitable for Chinese smokers. After numerous investigations, we finally decided to collaborate with Yunnan Tobacco Group, which excels in both quality and qualifications.
At this point, you might think, isn’t it just about developing a disposable e-cigarette? Just put it on various impressive platforms and start selling. If that doesn’t work, add some micro-businesses. My answer is: of course not. From the moment we decided to start a business, we began to think about why such phenomena occur in the e-cigarette market in China. There are historical reasons, policy reasons, and reasons related to rigid thinking, etc. Can we break through this? We thought of 100 impossibilities, which were later disproven one by one. Thus, we began to develop China’s first e-cigarette community SaaS system (including a 2.0 version with blockchain technology) + several new conceptual models (which cannot be disclosed to the public at the request of investors). In conclusion, we first establish a brand, then form a platform, and the market is always there; it depends on whether you can truly meet the smoking cessation needs of Chinese smokers. We do not follow the routes favored by capital but rather the routes favored by users. Our mission: to help 400 million smokers in China switch to healthier alternatives and keep secondhand smoke away from people!
