Mission Possible

In Five Years, Xiaomi Has Become India’s No 1 Smartphone Company And Morphed Into A ‘Smart’ Consumer Electronics And Durables Maker

- Rajiv Singh

It’s The Frabjous Day, the day when Alice is slated to slay Jabberwock, a fictional creature in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 classic Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alice, though, gets nervous when she realises how enormously intimidating Jabberwock is. “This is impossible,” she mutters. Mad Hatter, who is standing next to Alice, tries to boost her confidence: “Only if you believe it is.”

Egged on by Mad Hatter, Alice recalls six impossible things that she used to believe could be done before breakfast. “Six impossible things. Count them, Alice,” Mad Hatter implores. Alice starts saying them aloud. One, there’s a potion that can make one shrink. Two, a cake that can make one grow. Three, animals can talk. Cats can disappear. There’s a place called Wonderland. And six, I can slay Jabberwock. Alice eventually ends up killing the creature.

In Bengaluru in July 2014, in a cramped one-room office that barely had space for a few chairs, a jittery Manu Jain was counting his list of ‘six impossible things’. The first, and most urgent, was a fervent wish that at least 10,000 people would go online to buy a Xiaomi smartphone on Flipkart. Second, India offered hope, and space, for yet another smartphone brand. Third, on online only player can succeed among offline competitors. Fourth, Xiaomi can one day become the biggest brand. Fifth, Xiaomi can morph into a brand that is much more than a smartphone. And six, Wonderland does exist.