Dreame's Rapid Expansion: Ten Incubators and Internal Competition

Within three days, Yu Hao posted 11 consecutive Weibo posts attacking Xiaohongshu, once again taking his crazy and high - profile approach to the extreme.

In an environment where internet tycoons collectively keep silent, Yu Hao, the CEO of Dreame, goes against the trend. In the past year, he has single - handedly exceeded the KPI for entrepreneurs' external expressions.

Yu Hao almost actively pushed himself to the center of the storm. With high - profile words and deeds, he challenged NVIDIA, boasted of being the Chinese Elon Musk, invited Yu Chengdong to join the company, and claimed that Dreame's mobile phones would compete with Apple and Samsung for a share of the market; in terms of business, there is no boundary for expansion, covering everything from manned aircraft, rocket cars, home appliances, mobile phones, smart glasses, personal care products, and even mechanical watches, aiming to create an extremely large "Dreame universe" in the eyes of the outside world.

Caption: The smart glasses unveiled at the Dreame Silicon Valley press conference at the end of April. Photo by Tech Planet.

He often makes astonishing remarks: becoming the world's richest man within five years; aiming for 100 billion yuan in revenue in 2026, 300 billion yuan next year, and 1 trillion yuan the year after, with a year - on - year growth rate of 200% each year; becoming the first company in human history with a market value of one trillion US dollars; expanding the company's staff from 20,000 to 200,000 in the next stage; signing the world's ten most influential celebrities; opening 10,000 hot pot restaurants.

He almost creates controversial topics on his own initiative and then responds to them. He said he actively puts himself in a position where he will be ridiculed, not hesitating to become an image of talking nonsense for the sake of the company. He publicly explained why he has to be high - profile instead of making money quietly; he even responded to the differences between Dreame and LeEco.

The "lively personality" persona has attracted a large number of loyal fans for Yu Hao on the Internet, but at the same time, controversies have also poured in. One of the costs of putting himself at the center of the spotlight is that doubts and ridicule are directed at Dreame and himself: "talking big", "unreliable", being keen on "spending money", "the next Jia Yueting"...

Even within Dreame, many people say they don't understand Yu Hao and think Dreame is "too crazy".

Human nature likes to create gods, but the cruel reality can easily destroy them. In the eyes of many industry insiders, if Dreame and Yu Hao succeed, they will be the Chinese Tesla and Elon Musk, daring to think and act; if they fail, they may be "the next Jia Yueting of LeEco".

Ten incubators with internal competition

Yu Hao publicly revealed on Weibo that as of April 13, Dreame has 50,000 employees (including factory workers). There are more than 200 business units, and each business unit is benchmarked against an independent listed company. Each business unit is an independent operating unit, with independent finances and independent operations.

Caption: The mobile phone products released by Dreame in Silicon Valley, the United States at the end of April. Photo by Tech Planet.

It is understood that Dreame's more than 200 business units belong to incubators numbered from 1 to 10. The company adopts an incubator + BU operation model. The ten incubators cover various business tracks such as floor cleaners, lawn mowers, robots, AI wearables, trendy toys, automobiles, mobile phones, milk tea, coffee, and hot pot. Among them, the person in charge of Incubator No. 1 is the second employee of Dreame. An employee of Dreame told Tech Planet that in Dreame, there is no co - founder, and Yu Hao has the absolute say.

According to Yu Hao's management concept, the consideration for having more than 200 business units running in parallel is to "isolate risks from each other and share successful experiences". However, Dreame's ten incubators are in parallel competition, using the "Tian Ji's horse - racing" mechanism, allowing multiple BUs to compete simultaneously in the same track. Dreame employees said that for some businesses, several teams in the company are working on them at the same time, and the competition is fierce.

An employee of the automobile business told Tech Planet that in addition to the Starry Sky Project, Dreame's automobile business also has the Interstellar and Stellar Projects. The Starry Sky Project is currently developing the best, and the new cars have been unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in April and the Dreame Silicon Valley press conference in the United States.

The threshold for establishing a Dreame BU is low. As long as there is a team and an idea, an application can be made. However, on the other hand, encouraging innovation has led to a large number of non - public BUs within the company, and the frequency of establishment and elimination is extremely high. Some BUs are shut down after only 20 days of operation.

Establishing more than a dozen funds and forming a team of hundreds to seek financing

Dreame's greatest confidence comes from its revenue and profit. According to a Dreame employee who told Tech Planet, the company's revenue last year was about 40 - 50 billion yuan, and the profit was about 8 billion yuan.

In Dreame, floor cleaners are the main business, and in addition, the lawn mower business also accounts for a large proportion of the annual revenue. In the past, the profits from the main business were used to incubate various innovative businesses. However, this year, Dreame's blood - transfusion system has changed.

Caption: The refrigerator, a home appliance product released by Dreame in Silicon Valley, the United States at the end of April. Photo by Tech Planet.

The group reserves a certain amount of room for trial and error for each incubator. Business units that cannot achieve self - sufficiency can "borrow money" from the group. However, Dreame employees said that in March this year, the group clearly issued a "cut - off" notice. In April, the borrowing was halved, in May, it was reduced to a quarter, and in June, the borrowing will stop completely. At that time, BUs that cannot be self - supporting will be shut down. For each BU, the period from March to June is the cut - off line, and June is the deadline.

Therefore, the primary goal of each BU this year has become financing, and they are facing extremely high financing and fundraising targets: the target is set at 10 billion yuan in financing and 20 billion yuan in fundraising, and the assessment period is usually six months.

The group initially invested about 3 billion yuan to incubate BUs, and now requires each BU to be self - supporting. The company believes that "raising funds by telling stories" is easier than "focusing on business operations", so it encourages BUs to solve their survival problems through financing rather than simply relying on business profits. Dreame requires each mature BU to establish a fund with the same name, or the incubator can establish a unified fund for investment. The funds raised by BUs must be used to repay the group's loans first. If they cannot repay, they will face the risk of being shut down.

It is understood that Dreame has established more than a dozen funds internally and formed a team of hundreds of people to specifically seek financing. An informed source revealed that the funds have raised more than 10 billion yuan so far, and the first - phase funds of 3 - 4 billion yuan have arrived.

Aggressive expansion, passing pressure on to each employee

Result - orientation is one of Dreame's corporate values.

After employees join the company, they are assumed to have only 3 to 6 months. The capable will be promoted, and the incompetent will be demoted. However, the company's expansion goals are quite aggressive. Yu Hao has set the performance targets as 100 billion yuan in revenue in 2026, 300 billion yuan in 2027, and 1 trillion yuan in 2028, with a year - on - year growth rate of 200% each year. After the performance targets are broken down layer by layer, the pressure is passed on to each employee. While Dreame employees enjoy good benefits, they also face relatively high pressure. Many people leave the company before passing the six - month probation period.

An informed source told Tech Planet that in Dreame, the most difficult position is the BU director, the "most difficult sandwich layer". Because after a BU gets financing, the BU director has to account to the fund and the group. Projects that receive financing usually sign corresponding gambling agreements, and if they fail to meet the targets, they may be out.

In Dreame, each incubator and business unit has an open - minded approach to employment, and many incubator directors are in charge of cross - border businesses. However, one of the results of boldly using new people is that there are bound to be some mistakes. Some incubator directors are not familiar with the business, resulting in situations where the progress is exaggerated and the data is falsified during reports.

Only BUs with a monthly revenue of more than 10 million yuan are eligible to participate in Yu Hao's monthly meetings

One of the manifestations of the importance of each BU in the company is whether it can participate in the monthly meetings held by Yu Hao.

On the 15th of each month, Yu Hao holds monthly meetings with the directors of each incubator and BU of Dreame. In the past, the directors of each incubator and BU could participate, but this year, the threshold has been raised, and the monthly meetings are no longer inclusive.

An informed source told Tech Planet that a strict revenue threshold has been set for the monthly meetings. Only the directors of BUs with a monthly revenue of more than 10 million yuan are eligible to participate in the monthly meetings hosted by Yu Hao.

During the monthly meetings at Dreame, each director uses PPT for reports. A Dreame employee who has participated in the monthly meeting reports told Tech Planet that Yu Hao's meeting style is quite serious and efficient. He doesn't like people to be wordy and usually requires reporters to get straight to the point. If a report is too long, Yu Hao will interrupt directly. Moreover, his comments are often incisive and can accurately find the problems or loopholes of the reporters. "If he thinks you are telling a good story, including having a strategic direction and insight into the market, he will let you finish the whole PPT, but if he thinks you are being wordy and not getting to the point, he won't give you even a minute and will let you step down directly."

For some reports, Yu Hao will suddenly interrupt the reporter because of revenue issues. A Dreame employee revealed that during a report, when a BU director had only spoken for 30 seconds, Yu Hao interrupted and asked how much the revenue could reach this year and whether it could reach 1 billion yuan. When the director replied that it couldn't, Yu Hao asked him to step down directly.

Benchmarking against Huawei, Luckin Coffee, and Miss Fresh

Each of Dreame's more than 200 BUs is benchmarked against an independent company. In Yu Hao's public statements, Dreame has been benchmarked against Tesla, NVIDIA, Bugatti Veyron, Ctrip, etc. One of the most concerned businesses is the automobile business.

Caption: The Dreame rocket car unveiled at the Silicon Valley press conference at the end of April. Photo by Tech Planet.

On April 27, during the DREAME NEXT press conference held by Dreame in Silicon Valley, the United States, Ma Junye, the president of Dreame's Starry Sky Project, received a group interview from multiple media including Tech Planet and disclosed the substantial progress of car - making for the first time.

Ma Junye said that Dreame's automobile team began preparations between 2021 and 2022. The team currently has more than a thousand people, and about 70% of them are R & D personnel. It is expected that by the second half of this year, the total number of the team will exceed 2,000. Dreame's automobile is positioned to create a "global high - end new energy brand". It uses a "Huawei - like model" to build cars, jointly creating a new automobile brand with partners, operating with a light - asset model, and looking for mature automobile manufacturers at home and abroad for joint R & D and contract manufacturing. Dreame focuses on investing most of its funds and energy in the R & D end.

According to Dreame's product plan, the mass - produced models will be officially launched for sale in 2027. The first batch of products to be launched into the market will be pure - electric sports cars, and SUV products of the same series will be launched successively in the following months.

Regarding the pricing strategy, Ma Junye said that Dreame's direction is very clear. "Cars priced below 200,000 yuan will definitely not be made." The price of the mass - produced high - end models will be set at over one million yuan. The rocket car unveiled at the Silicon Valley press conference will cost and be sold at tens of millions of yuan.

In addition to the highly - developed and highly - regarded automobile business, Dreame is also quietly deploying many consumer projects. A Dreame employee revealed that currently, Dreame is promoting many offline businesses, including milk tea (Shanye Mitea), coffee (DMCAFE), ice cream, and hot pot (Boiling Point Project). Among them, the ice - cream business is benchmarked against Miss Fresh, and the coffee business is benchmarked against Luckin Coffee.

It is reported that Dreame currently has more than a dozen coffee shops. On Dianping, the coffee brand of Dreame in Suzhou is called "DMCAFE", and the group - buying price is between 9.9 and 18.9 yuan. The "DREAMECAFE PRO" store in Shanghai has higher - priced products, with an average per - capita consumption of 58 yuan. A cup of latte costs 48 yuan, and a cup of butter Americano costs 36 yuan, which is even more expensive than boutique coffee.

Yu Hao steps in to rescue the loss - making S - level business, Magic Atom

One of Dreame's S - level businesses is the robot company Magic Atom, which Yu Hao himself attaches great importance to. An informed source told Tech Planet that this star business is still in the red and has not achieved large - scale mass production.

In 2026, Magic Atom successfully appeared on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and became one of the well - known robot companies. This business was originally expected to be the first subsidiary of the Dreame ecosystem to go public. Dreame has completed a total of six rounds of financing, and Magic Atom has completed three rounds of financing since 2024. In March this year, it completed a 500 - million - yuan financing and established a multi - billion - yuan embodied intelligence ecological fund, planning to go public in 2026. However, in the same month, the founder and CEO of the project, Wu Changzheng, left the company, and the legal representative of the company was changed from Wu Changzheng to Chen Chunyu.

Yu Hao, as the actual controller, stepped in to rescue the situation. An internal screenshot of Magic Atom that leaked shows that Yu Hao said bluntly in the internal group that the team lacked courage and was on the defensive passively. He demanded to spend 200 million yuan in annual salary to recruit a