Chinese upstart Xiaomi is today losing one of its most important, influential personnel within the company. Its the name most of us know much more than perhaps Xiaomi’s own founders — Hugo Barra.
Yes, the man responsible for Xiaomi’s aggressive international expansion drive is stepping down. He, who is recognized as the company’s man on the front lines is calling it quits after a three and a half year long stint. He was brought onboard to lead the company’s global expansion and act as their prominent English spokesperson at these locations.
Barra was roped in to join Xiaomi back in 2013 when the company was still trying to firmly grasp the Chinese market. This rockstar startup, he says, had an appetite for more and wanted to expand beyond its current confines. The company was currently operating only in Greater China. He departed from his role as the Vice President of Android at Google and moved to Beijing to join the Chinese phone maker. And this opportunity is one of the biggest leaps of faith he’s taken and paid off. He adds,
When Lei Jun and Bin Lin came to me nearly four years ago with the opportunity to help turn a young rockstar startup into a global player, I embarked on what has been the greatest and most challenging adventure of my life.
I moved to Beijing, 6,500 miles out of my comfort zone in Silicon Valley, to build from scratch a startup team within a bigger startup. This journey has been nothing short of spectacular in every way, and I can proudly say that Xiaomi Global is the first baby I helped bring into the world.
As for the reason of his sudden departure, Barra mentions that he has helped Xiaomi build a strong, globally-minded executive team. And it is now time for him to depart and move back to Silicon Valley, where there is home and family. He has also added that working in a singular environment has also started taking a toll on his health. Thus, he is taking some time off and moving back home but will continue to hold an advisory role at Xiaomi. In his official statement on Facebook, he said,
But what I’ve realized is that the last few years of living in such a singular environment have taken a huge toll on my life and started affecting my health. My friends, what I consider to be my home, and my life are back in Silicon Valley, which is also much closer to my family. Seeing how much I’ve left behind these past few years, it is clear to me that the time has come to return.
Under his leadership, Xiaomi first stepped foot outside its home country and expanded to more than twenty countries in the next three odd years. It expanded to locations across Asia including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and even India. And out country has definitely been a prominent acceptor of the technology and affordable smartphones. The company recently crossed $1 billion annual revenues in India, that made it the fastest company to achieve this milestone.
The company then expanded to Russia, Mexico, and Poland before making its way to one of the toughest markets – U.S.A. Hugo Barra made contact with his roots and launched Xiaomi in the United States in an official partnership with Google. Starting off with the Mi TV, Xiaomi has also launched its smartphones in the country as well. But the company, like every other Chinese upstart, has accepted that it has grown faster than it should actually have. And it now grasping the problem by the hook and taking control of the situation.
But, the said development coincides with the departure of the Global VP, which can be seen as a point of concern for the business. But, he has assured that Xiaomi is currently in hands of some pretty enthusiastic and important hands. And the global expansion of this startup is now complete. It is no longer an in-house operation and is functioning at a massive scale. With regards to the same, he adds,
As I thought about this late last year, I concluded that Xiaomi is in a very good place on its global expansion path.
Thus, Xiaomi is now going through a major executive reshuffling. Hugo Barra’s responsibilities are now being handed over to Senior Vice President Xiang Wang. He will now lead the company’s international business going forward. Commenting on his departure, Xiaomi co-founder Bin Lin, said,
When Hugo joined us 3.5 years ago, we started an amazing adventure to turn Xiaomi into a global player. We have come a long way since, and I couldn’t thank him enough for contributing so much to Xiaomi’s journey. As much as we would love to have Hugo stay with us in Beijing for a much longer time, we understand his personal challenges and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
Hugo Barra currently plans to go back home, to Silicon Valley, and take some time off — probably spending some quality family time. He’ll then start looking for more arduous opportunities right there in the U.S. And we’d like to thank him for bringing Xiaomi to India and wish him luck for his next adventure.
