Yu Hao, founder and chief executive of consumer‑appliance maker Dreame (追觅), has pushed back against a tide of public skepticism after his comment that the company’s ecosystem could one day become the first in human history to reach an almost unimaginable valuation. He told critics the target is not a one‑year brag but a 20‑year ambition intended to rally employees and supporters, and insisted Dreame’s performance to date justifies confidence rather than alarm.
In an extended response posted on January 17, Yu paced through achievements he says back up his rhetoric: world‑leading high‑speed motor technology running at 200,000 rpm, strong penetration of high‑end markets, sustained profitability since founding, and rapid year‑on‑year expansion he describes as “100% growth” for several consecutive years. He highlighted employment of roughly 40,000 people, an R&D and management cohort of 18,000, recent revenue at the scale of “hundreds of billions” and continued charitable activity, arguing the company has delivered concrete results rather than idle boasts.
Yu acknowledged that he has “bragged” in the past but insisted most of those claims were realised, and reassured stakeholders that Dreame is cautious rather than overreaching. He framed the audacious target as part of a broader mission to raise human productivity a hundredfold and promised that, if the company prospers, it will give back generously to society. The remarks followed a viral surge of attention online and reports of heated exchanges inside internal company groups.
For international readers the episode is revealing in two ways: it illustrates the appetite among some Chinese tech founders for millennial‑scale, transformative ambitions, and it shows how such rhetoric collides with public scrutiny in a more fractious digital era. Grand claims about future valuations are dramatic headline fodder, yet they also function as a recruiting and fundraising signal, a way to attract talent and capital by promising a stake in a transformational project.
At the same time, the rhetoric carries risk. Exaggerated or ambiguous figures — particularly when currency units and timescales are not clarified — can spook investors, unsettle employees and invite regulatory attention in China’s more risk‑sensitive environment. The balance between visionary language and operational transparency is now more consequential for founders than in earlier, more forgiving cycles.
Dreame’s particular story also maps onto a broader industrial trend: Chinese consumer‑technology firms are moving up the value chain, emphasising proprietary components and high‑end positioning rather than low‑cost volume. Yu’s reference to motor leadership and margin focus underscores that strategy. Whether that model scales into truly global platform ecosystems with the kind of market caps he envisages will depend on sustained innovation, international market access and consistent financial discipline.
For now the episode leaves Dreame in an ambivalent spot: the company enjoys demonstrable technical and commercial credentials, but the CEO’s sweeping timeline and valuation talk have triggered debate about corporate hubris and governance. How Dreame manages investor relations, employee morale and public perception in the coming months will be as decisive as its engineering advances.