From Startup Failures to Leading Meituan Delivery Frontend: Lessons from Engineer Hong Lei

Background and Early Interest

Hong Lei began competing in computer contests during high school in Zhejiang, earning several awards despite limited local support for technology. He enrolled at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law to study International Trade, but his passion for computing persisted, leading him to take a leave of absence and start a location‑based local service venture, which ultimately failed due to market immaturity.

First Professional Steps at Yahoo China

After the startup, Hong joined Yahoo China, initially as a product manager for a music search product. Frustrated by technical obstacles, he moved to backend development and then to frontend work, gaining experience across the stack. He also contributed to an MSN Messenger plugin that added encryption and tab management features, which helped him secure a role at Yahoo.

Transition to Frontend Engineering

While at Yahoo, Hong shifted from product to operations, handling data‑driven reporting for music search. This exposure deepened his product understanding and motivated him to take on frontend tasks using his PHP background. A memorable incident involved a pixel‑level UI complaint that taught him the importance of meeting design specifications and collaborating closely with designers.

Advice for Interns and New Graduates

Clarify the type of work you enjoy; passion drives deep expertise.

Seek a first job at a large internet company (e.g., BAT or Meituan) to benefit from systematic growth platforms.

Build solid fundamentals from the ground up rather than relying solely on high‑level libraries.

Encouraging Role Changes and Rotation

Hong advocates for engineers to take on challenging projects and to rotate across teams. At Meituan, he participated in product‑line rotations and applied ideas from one domain (e.g., LocalStorage caching) to another, illustrating the value of cross‑disciplinary learning.

Entrepreneurial Experience and Reflections

Leaving Yahoo, Hong co‑founded a new venture, experimenting with web games and Symbian apps. He learned that successful entrepreneurship requires patience, deep involvement in all business aspects, and the ability to pivot quickly when a direction proves untenable.

Joining Meituan and Building the Delivery Frontend Team

In 2013 Hong joined Meituan’s mobile frontend group, starting with the Touch version of the product. He later managed the delivery frontend team, growing it from three members to over a hundred engineers, establishing systematic talent pipelines for related businesses such as Maoyan and Meituan Hotels.

Technical Philosophy

He emphasizes that technology must serve business value; overly academic or non‑practical work has limited impact. Engineers should understand product and business logic to deliver appropriate technical solutions.

Final Advice for Engineers

Delve into low‑level principles rather than staying at the application layer.

Apply learned knowledge creatively to improve implementations.

Cultivate long‑term patience, a core value at Meituan.