"Going Overseas" is an original report column launched by Venture Capital, which aims to explore the stories of Chinese startups going overseas. With unique perspectives and in-depth reports, it shows the struggle and innovation of Chinese enterprises in the global market.

After solving the supply chain problem and making sure that the company would not die, Liu Jiake took a breath and immediately threw himself into a larger project — he wanted to build a house for the United States.

This is Liu Jiake's new product - Outer space, a prefabricated building designed for the backyard of American families.

在美國，在後院建一個陽光房流程極其繁瑣，地基要審批，再請工人打樁、鑽洞、鋪水泥、買建材，一個流程下來要幾個月，差不多要花掉10萬美元。

"Like the Stone Age, this is unthinkable in China." Liu Jiake said.

Liu Jiake, founder of Outer

劉佳科覺得 “造房子” 這事情值得做。美國家庭後院空間總和有1億畝，過去還沒有一個公司把後院空間產品化。消費者買了Outer space後，8個小時就能擁有一個空間，人工成本從總成本的70%壓縮到5%。

This is Liu Jiake's second use of China's supply chain advantages to solve the problem of outdoor home furnishings for Americans.

2018年，他在美國加州成立了Outer，向美國消費者銷售高端戶外家居產品，生產則在中國。第一款產品是研發了14個月的藤編沙發，均價5000美元，防水防汙、能拆卸搬運，解決了美國戶外場景幾十年都沒解決的問題。Outer space上線後會賣到2萬美元。但覆蓋客戶群體從頭部的2%增加到了30%，市場大了15倍。

Liu Jiake is an engineering graduate and has a designer partner, Terry Lin, who has the same product thinking, "It must be to solve a key problem." ”

The average price of a sofa is $5000

The repurchase rate has reached 10%

Looking at the experience alone, Liu Jiake has a great distance from the home furnishing industry.

Liu Jiake was born in Zhejiang in 13, immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of 0, majored in computer engineering in college, and invented a glove keyboard during this period. After graduating, Liu worked for Riot Games, the game company that developed League of Legends, and participated in the company's cooperation with Tencent, which is the person who introduced League of Legends to China.

After that, Liu Jiake became a serial entrepreneur. The first entrepreneurial project was a SaaS company, which helped his mother solve some technical problems in restaurants, and changing this kind of small offline merchants in the United States became Liu Jiake's original intention of starting a business. Later, Liu Jiake did cross-border e-commerce on Amazon for a period of time, helping his cousin in Zhejiang sell furniture.

Doing outdoor home furnishings is related to this cross-border experience, but there is also Liu Jiake's personal experience in life. The United States has the habit of outdoor life, but there is a big gap between outdoor home and life, and the sofa is often wet in the morning when there is dew, and the pants are wet if you don't pay attention to sitting down; On rainy days, you either have to carry the heavy and long cushions back to the garage, or cover them up and take a lot of work to clean them up when you use them again.

Liu Jiake tried to break through the problem with the thinking of an engineer, he looked around online and offline, trying to find a thorough solution, and found that "there is no solution to this problem." My cousin also confirmed this result, "Either change the sofa cushion often, or cover it all the time." ”

To further determine the direction of product research, Liu Jiake sent a message on LinkedIn to Terry, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design where he worked as a product consultant for the mattress brand Casper, and before that he was the chief designer of Pottery Barn, the second largest furniture brand in the United States, and also worked at the design company IDEO.

Liu Jiake agrees with Terry's design philosophy, "He can think from the perspective of an engineer, and the designed product should solve a real problem." After a few chats, Terry became a partner of Liu Jiake, and the two of them founded Outer in 2018.

Liu Jiake's earliest idea was to make an outdoor home into a smart home with a strong sense of technology, but later changed his mind because Sam Teller (who was Musk's chief of staff) told him, "A good home should be warm, not cold technology." ”

Technology can be embodied in materials. To solve the problem of outdoor sofas, we must innovate from the fabric to achieve waterproof, anti-fouling, and anti-ultraviolet rays.

I found a circle of fabric suppliers in the market, but they were either too expensive, or they said, "I can't make it." In the end, Liu Jiake decided to develop his own fabric, and after 14 months, he polished an OuterShell embedded protective film, which is used as a sofa cover on weekdays, and the sofa is wrapped and taken away directly on rainy days. The modular splicing design of the sofa allows users to freely match according to the area of the backyard, and the sofa frame is made of artificial rattan and teak base, which is more suitable for the outdoor environment.

Liu Jiake pursues details, and each screw is engraved with Outer's name. He also personally went to the factory to teach the workers, showing them what a sofa with an average price of $5000 looks like, how to weave rattan chairs, and how to deal with joints. In the early stage, he will personally check every process.

"The final product price is uncompromising, it is the best, the most comfortable, the most durable, the most environmentally friendly, the most easy-to-use outdoor sofa." Liu Jiake said.

In terms of the way of reaching customers, Liu Jiake has also made innovations, he regards the user's backyard as an offline experience store, the first few provide free sofas, and the later converted consumers can also apply to become Outer experience homes. Outer is responsible for receiving users who are willing to come to experience the product, and can get a certain reward for each reception. From 1000 to 0 to more than 0 now, Outer experience homes can be found in almost every state in the United States.

一直到2020年9月，近一年半的時間里劉佳科都只賣這一款產品，復購率卻達到了10%，當年總銷售額超過1200萬美金。

The second big item was written on the plane

2023年10月，劉佳科剛參加完朋友婚禮，在上海飛深圳的飛機上，他想到了Outer space這個概念，兩個小時的航程，劉佳科寫了一大堆筆記，“當時就靈光一現，什麼想法都有了。”

到2024年1月，這個概念正式落實，當年6月申請專利，7月拿到樣品，8月開始，劉佳科頻繁回中國對接供應鏈。12月，產品進入測試階段。

Outer space is a standard product that uses a building technique from Northern Europe to build a house like a building block with various components. There is no limit to the size of the module, and there can also be hot springs, saunas, ice baths, gyms, etc.

在美國後院搭建一個陽光棚，傳統的做法是先審批，然後找專業的建築工人估價，清理地面，打地基，鋪水泥，買材料，遇到下雨天氣還要延期，一個流程下來要幾個月，人工成本佔掉總成本的70%，整體花費在10萬美元左右。

During the epidemic, Liu Jiake spent more than 4 months building a kitchen, "I was very surprised at the time, why this thing is so slow." ”

Outer space saves all links for consumers, including the approval of each place, and consumers get a standard product, which can be completed within 5 hours, the time is shortened from several months to one day, and the labor cost is compressed from 0% to 0%.

Outer space

客單價變更高了，在2萬-5萬美元，但群體變大了。5000美金沙發覆蓋的是頭部2%消費群體。劉佳科估算了一下，Outer space覆蓋的是全美30%人群，市場大了15倍。

美國所有後院空間加起來有1億畝地，大多都是閑置狀態。在美國大部分城市裡，土地建造有容積率的要求，後院必須要留足夠空間，也導致室內空間比戶外小。

Before Liu Jiake, no one developed the backyard space, which is the differentiation that Liu Jiake saw. The home furnishing market is not sexy, it combines the shortcomings of all industries: the same business model, the design style is single, and the transportation cost is high.

Outer is positioned as an outdoor home, so there can't be only one big item, Liu Jiake began to think about what the second big item is very early, but it is still more than a year later than his original plan.

Before the third quarter of 2023, Liu Jiake had been solving supply chain problems. Liu Jiake's previous focus has been on making products and brands, the company has no CFO, financial outsourcing, and the supply chain is handed over to an inexperienced person to "take care of it by the way". But at that time, the company was growing very strongly, and Liu Jiake didn't notice that "the money burned quickly." ”

沙發上線后連著兩年斷貨，事不過三，劉佳科在第三年備了很多貨，在中國到美國的海運費用從一個集裝箱2000美金漲到3萬美金期間，劉佳科運了Outer有史以來最多的一次貨。沒想到美國市場變冷，運到美國的貨物積壓在倉庫賣不出去。

當時Outer剛完成一筆5000萬美元融資，一半的錢花都在了這裡。後來的一年多，劉佳科都在學習管理供應鏈和賬期。公司重新招了一位供應鏈主管，在迪卡儂工作了10多年，也在阿裡待過。加入的時候，劉佳科被問，“供應鏈怎麼做那麼爛，以為你們有多厲害。”

Afterwards, investors were also curious, "You did the most difficult questions well, but you didn't answer any of the basic questions correctly." During this time, Outer had an unannounced financing to solve this big problem.

It wasn't until 10/0 that the company survived the crisis, "as if it wasn't going to die." Liu Jiake said. Although there are still some goods, they will not be overwhelmed anymore. For the first time in a year and a half, Liu Jiake felt relaxed physically and mentally, "I can take a breath." ”

The company has also completed its first transformation, from high growth in the past to the pursuit of profits and focus on refined operations. After that, Liu Jiake had time to think about the next big item, and he had to make the company live better.

The pace of category expansion has slowed

Marketing and marketing keep up

In 30 years, Outer has expanded its categories, launching more than 0 categories such as barbecue coffee tables, mosquito repellent blankets, environmentally friendly carpets, hydraulic rod reclining chairs, outdoor umbrellas, etc., covering most of the categories of outdoor furniture.

Early users bought sofas at Outer, and coffee tables were additional. In the United States, there is a concept of "high-low", which means buying a very expensive item and matching it with a low-priced item to balance expenses.

Liu Jiake didn't think about category expansion at first, because he felt that "there is something good to break through on a coffee table". But if you think about it from the consumer's point of view, it is, "The shopping experience is not very good." Liu Jiake gave the R&D team the green light to make some supporting products, but they had to be innovative products.

For example, combined with the American social barbecue culture, the oven is embedded with a coffee table; The mosquito blanket is infused with a special plant material used in camouflage clothing; The outdoor blanket is made of 1188 plastic bottles; The outdoor umbrella borrows from the mast mechanism of a sailboat, with a smaller range of opening and closing movements, and the cement base is changed to a combination of plastic and steel, which is more beautiful overall.

價格也放寬了限制，在100美金-2000美金之間，大單品的定價越來越高，在5000美金-5萬美金之間。

The pricing strategy is borrowed from Tesla, first making a supercar Roadster to circle the head group; Then make a Volkswagen high-end Model S to broaden the group; Then there is the Model 3, which expands the top group a little more. Finally do Whatever. "The Outer Space is positioned as Model 0." Liu Jiake said.

In the future, the company will slow down the pace of new furniture categories, and instead spend more time on marketing and marketing. Last year, Outer participated in the exhibition for the first time, and the low-cost products were launched on Amazon, and it was the first time to do a channel other than an independent station. Liu Jiake feels that the brand has taken shape, and he wants to do something that can expand his influence.

The next bigger idea is to make photovoltaic and energy storage related supporting facilities for Outer Space. This requires more specialized resources and more funding. Last year, Liu Jiake set up a team in Shenzhen, focusing on operations and the supply chain, and is also considering bringing in resources through fundraising.

Since the beginning of 20, Outer has had money for two consecutive years, and the investors are all well-known in the industry, such as Sequoia China, Today Capital, Xianfeng K0VC, Meihua Venture Capital, and SHEIN. The fastest financing lasted only 0 minutes.

However, the current financing environment is not as good as in previous years, and in the consumption or cross-border e-commerce industry, it is rare to see a company or a brand that has caused a sensation because it has raised a lot of money.

Liu Jiake's company does not have an office and works remotely, "the advantage is that it can attract talents from various countries and industries". Everywhere he goes, Liu Jiake talks about his designer, Terry, who wears big slippers, simple T-shirts, shorts, and rolls up his sleeves to design products, "He's a product geek. ”

去年10月回國，劉佳科特意讓Terry住在上海璞麗酒店，想讓他感受下新中式的設計。

"If I only do Outer for the rest of my life, I'm OK too." Liu Jiake said, "A good lifestyle can bring people a sense of belonging, which is eternal. ”