No Retreat
"No Retreat" chronicles the relentless rise of Xiaomi and its visionary founder Lei Jun, from his college days inspired by *Fire in the Valley* to building one of the world’s most disruptive tech giants. Follow Lei’s journey: leaving a stable job to co-found Kingsoft, transitioning to angel investing after Kingsoft’s IPO, then spotting a gap in China’s mobile market to launch Xiaomi in 2010. The book dives into gritty details—assembling a star team of ex-Microsoft, Google, and Motorola engineers, breaking through supply chain barriers with bold moves like signing unread contracts with Qualcomm, and revolutionizing smartphone pricing with the 1999-yuan Xiaomi 1. It also covers Xiaomi’s 2014 peak, the crippling 2016 supply chain and product crises, Lei’s "second startup" to rebuild the company, and the strategic pivot to AIoT and global expansion. Highlighting Xiaomi’s radical 5% hardware profit cap and mission to democratize technology, this book offers a front-row seat to how a scrappy startup redefined China’s tech industry and challenged global players.