1

BET 100 - Job 1

Explore an Entrepreneur
Christopher Wu
University of Waterloo

2
Imagining a world without smartphones is quite difficult. It has become almost a necessity in ones life.
Such a necessity that according to statistics, more people in the world have access to smartphones than
toilets. (Wang, 2013). The smartphone market has seen exponential growth in the last decade, and there
exist two companies that have dominated throughout, Apple and Samsung. These two companies alone
hold roughly 40 percent of the smartphone market share, selling millions of smartphones each year
(Statistics and Facts about Smartphones, 2015). Now, if I were to propose a venture two years ago, and
my goal was to create a smartphone that competes head-to-head with the likes of Apple and Samsung,
would it sound too crazy or overly-ambitious? Also, what if I also add that I want to sell the phone for
half of what Apple and Samsung are selling theirs for? I wouldnt be surprised if people would consider
me and my idea a complete joke and say keep dreaming. Lets talk about Carl Pei, who did exactly that
with his company OnePlus.
Selection Process
When I think about entrepreneurs, the first words that come into my mind are ambition, persistence, and
creativity. I believe an entrepreneur should have an unrelenting ambition and focus to succeed, a
persistent and strong work ethic, and creativity to adapt to any situation or problem. There are many great
entrepreneurs that exemplify these skills, but the one that has intrigued me the most has definitely been
Carl Pei. His company, OnePlus, released their first phone, the OnePlus One in 2014. Very few companies
have been able to offer a premium flagship smartphone at lower-budget prices. This phone would
continue to change the pillars of the smartphone industry. I chose Carl Pei simply because he inspires me
to take action, and very few entrepreneurs have inspired me to such extent. He has the ability to tolerate
the uncertainty, considering how competitive the smartphone market is, and his drive to provide
consumers a better product than what is currently out there.

3
Background Information
At the age of 12, Carl Pei began to learn how to code and creating his own websites. He honed his skills,
learning how to generate more traffic to his websites and affiliate marketing. From there, he went on to
create a global website for downloading games for free. However, he had to close the website due to his
parents concern about the legality of his website. Shortly after, in high school, Carl created his own brand
of MP3 players, and sold them globally (Ly, 2015). In 2011, he went on to work for Oppo, a similar
smartphone manufacturer, and became the head of International Markets and New Markets. He worked
for only a year at Oppo, before starting a new venture with former Oppo boss, Pete Lau. The venture
would then become OnePlus, selling over one million smartphones worldwide to this date (Bunton,
2015).
This venture began its journey when Carl and a group of friends found that besides Apple Inc., no other
smartphone manufacturer were focussing on their products. Manufacturers of smartphones loaded with
the popular Android operating system decided to focus their efforts on marketing features that were not
very practical for daily use. Features like curved displays, software add-ons, and etc. Carl felt that after
2013, smartphones lacked innovation and felt none met his expectations of what a smartphone should be
(Pei, 2014).
OnePlus was born shortly afterwards in December 2013. In just 4 short months, in April 2013, they
announced the OnePlus One, and their website crashed from the amount of traffic they received. Roughly
14,000 requests per second (Pei, 2014). Everyone was bewildered that the company would announce all
specifications of the phone, as well as carry a price tag of under $400 USD, not common for smartphone
makers. This was the birth of a new wave in the smartphone industry. Other companies were now forced
to consider providing more premium phones at more affordable price points. Not only that, companies
would need to focus more on the product as opposed to marketing gimmicks as Carl had mentioned
before. OnePlus took a different approach to marketing and distribution strategies. The company operated
with a paltry marketing budget, and cut out the middle-man in distribution (Humrick, 2015). They sold

4
the phones directly on their website, as opposed to other companies selling phones through retail
distributors and wireless carriers. With this, they were able to effectively price the OnePlus lower without
taking a large loss. Furthermore, they used an invite-only system initially to sell their phones. Many
thought this as peculiar, as it would be quite difficult to acquire an invite, and they would only last for a
limited time. However, Carl explains that because of their relatively low margins, the invite system was
crucial in order to manage inventory levels, effectively lowering their risk of losses.
Reflection
My first smartphone was an Android smartphone from LG. The problem with Android smartphones
highlighted by Carl is undoubtedly true. Even with new versions of Android operating systems released,
manufacturers are slow to respond with software updates. Carl and his company OnePlus has released
something I really do admire and respect. To me as a consumer, the company does seem to value their
consumers and the product they present. Their slogan of Never settle and Carls ambition to create not
just a smartphone, but the best smartphone out there (Bunton, 2015) has seen positive reviews, and
something that inspires me. When I first heard about the company, even I would be skeptical as to how
they would possibly succeed. I feel that is what I lack as an entrepreneur, the ability to think that solving
important problems on a global scale is attainable. Carl never wavered with his goals, and persisted
feverishly towards achieving them. He doesnt own a home, a car, and owns nine grey shirts, in order to
avoid wasting energies on choosing what to wear. As well, he said in an interview that he worked so hard
he had to take 20-minute breaks every so often so he wouldnt die(Bunton, 2015). A bit extreme, but
shows his focus and work ethic towards achieving his goals. This assignment tasked with exploring an
entrepreneur, not only was I able to explore Carl Pei as an entrepreneur, I was able to explore myself,

Works Cited
Bunton, C. (2015, July 23). OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has no degree, lives in AirBnB homes
and "wants to change the world" Retrieved October 7, 2015.
Humrick, M. (2015, January 15). OnePlus Interview: What Comes After One? - Origins Of The
OnePlus One. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
Ly, J. (2015, August 12). Interview with Carl PEI, Head of Global and Co-founder of OnePlus.
Retrieved October 7, 2015.
Pei, C. (2014, April 2). The Story of OnePlus - Chapter 1: Before Launch. Retrieved October 7,
2015.
Statistics and Facts about Smartphones. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2015.
Wang, Y. (2013, March 25). More People Have Cell Phones Than Toilets, U.N. Study Shows |
TIME.com. Retrieved October 7, 2015.