Text | Beyond the page, author | Huahua
Luo Yonghao is becoming more and more like the kind of person who makes brands nervous.
Xibei and Mr. Savage ice cream are both typical examples. Once a brand is named by him, the matter often quickly ceases to be a consumer experience and becomes a public discussion.
Recently, it was Luo Yonghao’s turn to stand in the spotlight.
The cause was a quality control dispute over a universal roller stool. Make a Friend later apologized and announced a full refund without returns. A few days later, the real-name tax report against Luo Yonghao and “Make a Friend” became a hot search again. However, so far, the content of the report has not been officially verified.
What Luo Yonghao is best at is looking at others with a magnifying glass. This time, the magnifying glass was turned to his own hand.
1. An idealist
Luo Yonghao’s decision to make a mobile phone was a bit sudden.
An English teacher suddenly went to make mobile phones, and did not talk about mobile phones in the normal way of mobile phone companies.
While others talk about processors, screens, benchmarks, and prices, he talks about industrial design, user experience, aesthetics, and details; he turns the press conference into a personal speech, and turns a mobile phone company into an outlet for his own values.
Luo Yonghao was very infectious at that time.
Many people may not really need a Smartisan mobile phone, but they are willing to believe in his idealism.
He believes that products should have attitude and that consumers deserve to be taken seriously. He also believes that a person can use his own judgment to challenge an industry that has existed for many years.
The most attractive part of the hammer is also here.
It didn’t end up being a successful mobile phone company, but it left a group of very loyal users.
What these people like is not just Smartisan, but the energy in Luo Yonghao.
No one has really said this sentence, but it is very close to Luo Yonghao of that era.
It is precisely because of the cloak of idealism that Hammer’s failure is particularly cruel.
In 2018, Smartisan Technology fell into a capital chain crisis, factories were shut down, and suppliers, employees, and investors were all involved. Luo Yonghao later signed a personal guarantee and began to face huge debts.
In 2019, he was restricted from spending due to debt problems.
Luo Yonghao in public opinion has also changed from an idealistic entrepreneur to a “lazy CEO”.
Some people mocked him as a killer, while others were waiting to see what else this once eloquent man could say.
Luo Yonghao did say it.
He wrote “Confessions of a Lazy CEO,” admitting the debt and promising to pay it back.
That was the first time he really faced the consequences of entrepreneurial failure.
二、還債
On April 1, 2020, Luo Yonghao started live streaming, and the first sales exceeded 110 million yuan.
The image of a failed entrepreneur with huge debts suddenly starting to sell goods was even a bit absurd at the time.
But he really started paying it back.
Live broadcasts, commercials, variety shows, everything. He even joked that as long as he gave enough money, he could host weddings and funerals, or cut ribbons for the opening of popular shops.
Later, “True Return” became a very important stage in Luo Yonghao’s life.
In 2024, he disclosed that the cumulative debt repayment has reached 824 million yuan, including cash debt repayments brought by live broadcast e-commerce, as well as income from the disposal of Smartisan Technology assets.
In six years, a debt that could completely kill an entrepreneur was paid off bit by bit.
This incident reshaped Luo Yonghao’s public image.
People who like hammers talk about ideals; people who are willing to believe in “truth returns” believe in responsibility.
Later, many people’s tolerance towards him was based on this foundation.
This credit has entered his live broadcast room and also entered his judgment on brands and products.
3. Live delivery of goods
After the live broadcast, Luo Yonghao completed an important identity change.
He is no longer just an entrepreneur, but a ubiquitous personal media.
The live broadcast room, Weibo, and later video podcasts are all his media platforms.
His most valuable thing gradually transferred from a certain product or a certain company to himself.
In the Hammer era, he needs to create a product that consumers can believe in; in the live broadcast of goods, he needs to make consumers believe in their choices.
This is why his live broadcast room can expand from mobile phones and digital products to food, daily necessities, and home furnishings.
Luo Yonghao has gradually gained a special influence: he can speak for consumers and select things for consumers.
Later, he can even question a brand on behalf of consumers.
His name began to break away from the specific business and became a consumer judgment.
4. One person’s mouth begins to affect a group of people’s business
The Xibei incident brought this change to the forefront.
In September 2025, after eating Xibei, Luo Yonghao questioned its use of pre-made dishes and its high price on social platforms.
Things quickly got out of hand.
Xibei CEO Jia Guolong personally responded, saying that Xibei did not have pre-made dishes and stated that he would sue Luo Yonghao; Xibei subsequently disclosed Luo Yonghao’s consumption menu and opened the store’s back kitchen for supervision.
A meal that eventually became an issue that the entire catering industry was discussing.
Luo Yonghao’s identity also changed in the process.
If an ordinary consumer says that the meal is not delicious, the impact will be limited; if a big V says “there is a problem with this restaurant”, it will form public opinion; if Luo Yonghao speaks out, the brand will face a public topic that may continue to ferment.
He has long-term accumulation of consumer trust, mature communication skills, and knows how to promote a specific issue as an industry topic.
Luo Yonghao already has the influence of a private critic.
What brands are really afraid of is often this influence.
5. Luo Yonghao enters the position of being scrutinized
The sliding stool incident was a trigger point.
Not long ago, some consumers exposed that there were quality problems with the products purchased in the “Make a Friend” live broadcast room, and related dismantling videos were spread on social media. Subsequently, “Make a Friend” admitted the quality control problem, announced that it would remove the product from the shelves, terminate cooperation, and refund consumers without returning the product.
Luo Yonghao responded that the operations department had previously been negligent and this was a serious quality management accident.
This way of handling still has Luo Yonghao’s style: discover the problem, admit the problem, compensate, hold accountable, and explain.
But the position of public opinion has changed.
This is not a special requirement for Luo Yonghao.
The responsibility he has long required of brands also applies to his own live broadcast room.
Luo Yonghao can explain or point out that the same product also appears in other live broadcast rooms.
But what consumers ultimately judge is whether his live broadcast room has done what it should do.
This rule also holds true for Luo Yonghao.
6. Go to the place opposite you
Many people will think that Luo Yonghao has changed.
From an idealistic entrepreneur to a traffic figure, from a person who makes mobile phones to a person who sells goods, from a person who speaks for consumers, to a person who also needs to face business interests.
But that thing about him was always there.
He still likes to express himself, is easily irritated by specific issues, trusts his own judgment unconditionally, and seems to stand up without any fear.
Today’s Luo Yonghao has huge communication capabilities.
When he was young, he might have offended only one person if he said a wrong word. Nowadays, one sentence directly affects a brand.
In his early years, he challenged authority and faced the consequences himself, and now he has become an authority in the eyes of others.
It’s just that the people on stage need to bear another set of rules.
7. Luo Yonghao’s credit
Luo Yonghao has always had a strong vitality in him.
When his business failed, he started over; he owed more than 600 million, and he paid it back by selling goods through live broadcasts; when the hammer was gone, he continued to do AR; when live broadcasts became big, he went back to podcasting.
He can always move on from his previous identity.
This time, what he needs to face is not entrepreneurial failure or debt, but public trust.
The money can be paid back, the company can be redone, and the public outcry will pass.
Only public trust is difficult to re-establish.
Especially for Luo Yonghao, a large part of his commercial value comes from the public’s belief.
When he says something is good, consumers are willing to listen; when he says a brand has problems, everyone is willing to discuss it; when he says an industry needs to change, the public is willing to follow suit.
Luo Yonghao never lacks the former, but the latter is what he really needs to keep.
8. Why does Luo Yonghao?
It’s interesting to say that many people like Luo Yonghao precisely because he dares to offend some people.
He has spoken for consumers and scolded brands for users.
He initially rebelled against industry rules, then exposed routines in the business world, and then became more and more like a professional questioner.
But those who question will also be questioned one day.
It took Luo Yonghao more than 20 years to go from an English teacher to an entrepreneur, and then from a live broadcast room to a person with public influence.
Along the way, he gained attention through expression, won back credibility through actions, and gained a greater say through credibility.
The cycle also began to reverse itself, requiring him to take on more responsibility.
This is probably the most interesting turn in Luo Yonghao’s life.
He once liked to ask others one thing: Why?
Now, more and more people are beginning to return this sentence to him.
【Outside the page】Words:
Many people like Luo Yonghao, not just because he speaks freely.
More often than not, people like a person who dares to speak because he said what he wanted to say but was unable to say.
This is also the most fascinating thing about personal IP: it can compress the complex world into one person’s judgment.
But after all, the world is more complicated than one person’s judgment.
The farther one goes, the louder the voice, the more room for judgment one needs to leave.
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