Two founders of the Chinese startup behind popular short video app Kuaishou said they’re unhappy about the company’s performance and growth.
In an open letter leaked to media on Monday, Su Hua and Cheng Yixiao, both founders of Kuaishou, told their employees that the company was facing hidden danger despite its success.
“We are no longer the fastest team. In the process of growing up, our muscles become weaker and our reactions become slower. Our connection with users is also weakening,” the letter read.
The Beijing-based company, which is backed by Tencent and just celebrated its eighth anniversary, saw the daily active users (DAU) of its flagship app Kuaishou topping 200 million recently.
But the “loose organisation” and “oblivious attitudes” were putting a “slow company label” on Kuaishou and keeping Su and Cheng “awake at night with worry”, they said.
Su and Cheng declared the company entering a “battle mode” and set a huge growth target – Kuaishou is to increase its DAU by 100 million and reach 300 million by next February.
The company also has ambitious revenue targets, aiming for RMB 30 billion (USD 4.36 billion) in revenue and expects to turn profitable this year. It just introduced new e-commerce shopping integrations with JD.com and Pinduouo which helps its users sell products via the app.
Kuaishou’s DAU grew by 40 million in five months’ time, but the expansion of the company far legs behind its main competitor ByteDance.
Douyin, the domestic version of ByteDance’s viral short-video sharing app TikTok, said its DAU passed 250 million in 2018.