Dreame founder Yu Hao responds to the 'Crashed Elderly Man' incident, where founder IP is deeply tied to the brand. Despite successful cold start, the company faces risks in cross-sector car manufacturing, and brand independence remains to be built.
Late on the night of May 12, a discussion about "Old Man Beng" climbed into the top ten on Zhihu's hot list, drawing 2.22 million views. The protagonist was Yu Hao, founder of Dreame Technology—a Tsinghua学霸, serial robotics entrepreneur, and rising star in the cleaning appliance industry with annual sales of over 10 million units.
An article by Shou Lou Chu pushed him into the spotlight: "He's chasing traffic to secure money from local government industrial funds." Yu Hao responded late at night, but the backlash didn't stop—it spread from Zhihu to Weibo, trending on both platforms.
This isn't the first time Dreame has hit the hot search because of its founder. Over the past three years, Yu Hao's "Tsinghua genius entrepreneur" persona has been the core engine behind Dreame's cold start. But this time, that engine has become a Sword of Damocles hanging over the company.
1. Founder IP Is a Shortcut to Cold Start
When Dreame was founded in 2017, the cleaning appliance market had already been carved up by Dyson, Puppy, and Laik. How does a new brand survive? Dreame's choice: build founder Yu Hao into a "Tsinghua genius serial entrepreneur."
This playbook isn't new. Lei Jun and Xiaomi are the most successful examples—"Lei Jun equals Xiaomi." The founder's IP is the brand IP, saving massive advertising costs. Dreame followed the model closely: Yu Hao made frequent public appearances, gave interviews, appeared on entrepreneurship shows, and tightly bound his personal story to the brand narrative.
The results were striking. Dreame surpassed 10 million units sold in 2020 and broke 10 billion RMB in revenue in 2023. The capital market bought into the narrative: Tsinghua tech background + serial entrepreneurial experience + product execution capability = worth investing in.
But a shortcut for cold start can also become a ceiling in the mature phase.
2. After the Money Arrives, What Then?
The core accusation in the Shou Lou Chu article is that Dreame took money from local government industrial funds, and Yu Hao's traffic-chasing is just to sell a story to capital.
This accusation isn't new. Tesla took U.S. government subsidies, NIO received investment from Hefei's government, and Li Auto got personal investment from Meituan's Wang Xing—hard-tech entrepreneurship is never fully clean.
The key question is: after taking the money, does delivery keep pace? Tesla delivered the Model 3, NIO delivered the ES8, and Li Auto delivered the ONE. What has Dreame delivered?
Dreame's delivery is clear: smart cleaning appliances, over 10 million units sold annually, with overseas revenue accounting for more than 60%. This isn't PPT car-making; it's real, hard sales.
But here's the issue: cleaning appliances and car manufacturing are two completely different levels of delivery difficulty. If Yu Hao now wants to cross over into car manufacturing, will the capital market still buy it?
3. The Sword of Damocles
The risk of tying a brand to a founder's IP is most extreme in the case of Jia Yueting. "Jia Yueting equals LeEco equals FF." Personal credit collapse equals brand credit collapse, with no firewall.
Lei Jun is the positive example. In Xiaomi's early days, "Lei Jun equals Xiaomi," but as Xiaomi matured, Lei Jun gradually stepped back, and the brand built its independence. Now when people say "Xiaomi," they think of phones and cars, not Lei Jun personally.
Dreame is now at a crossroads. Yu Hao's personal IP has completed its cold-start mission, but the brand's independence hasn't been established. With the "Old Man Beng" backlash, Dreame's brand search index has taken a hit—that's the cost of the binding.
What's more, Yu Hao wants to enter car manufacturing. That's a capital-intensive, long-cycle, high-risk arena where a founder's personal credibility directly translates into fundraising ability. One reputational crisis could directly impact the valuation of the next funding round.
Conclusion
Dreame's real test isn't what the truth behind "Old Man Beng" is, but whether the brand can break free from the founder's IP.
Yu Hao's ability isn't in question, and Dreame's delivery isn't in question. But crossing over into car manufacturing is a different story—the capital market's patience for a "Tsinghua genius making cars" is far less than its patience for a "Tsinghua genius making cleaning appliances."
The Sword of Damocles is already overhead. What Dreame needs to do is build a brand firewall before the sword falls.