2024-08-19
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arts | Xu Muxin
edit | Liu Jing
Liu Guangyao once again appeared at the center of public opinion.
As the founder of the clothing brand bosie, he went viral as early as 2023 because of an article titled "I, Liu Guangyao, raised 500 million yuan and resigned as CEO at the age of 28", in which he announced that he would resign from bosie and transform into a personal IP. Prior to this, bosie had raised 8 rounds of financing.
Last Wednesday (August 15), Liu Guangyao publicly announced his divorce statement. Almost at the same time, a photo of Bosie andXinbang PharmaceuticalThe 10 million yuan loan agreement of former chairman An Huailue was also circulated on major social platforms. The next day at noon, Liu Guangyao published an open letter titled "A letter to Ms. An Ji, chairman of Xinbang Group: This is intolerable, what is not intolerable" on his personal WeChat public account.
Until now, everyone knows thatThe B2 round of financing of 100 million yuan from individual investors in January 2023 was also the beginning of the current marriage dispute.
Liu Guangyao seems to be a person with the physique of an internet celebrity. After he resigned as CEO, he gained a million fans within two months. At that time, Zibo barbecue was very popular, and a video of him describing how he became the top scholar in Zibo and was admitted to Peking University went viral. At a time when AI and the wave of going overseas are sweeping, Liu Guangyao told "Undercurrent Waves": He will start a business again.
Last weekend, "Undercurrent Waves" interviewed Liu Guangyao by phone.He talked about the dispute and the impact that subsequent public opinion had on him., starting a business again, and the life circumstances related to his personality. Because it involves a lot of personal disputes and conflicts, we have omitted or downplayed them.
Last year, Liu Guangyao gave a speech at 2023WAVES. At that time, he had to catch a flight to attend a fashion show, so he ran from the stage to the gate immediately after his speech. There were four or five people chasing him, including the organizers and staff who wanted to thank him, and his own assistant.
In a sense, this is a classic slice of Liu Guangyao's life story.He seems to like being chased, living at the center of the vortex, and enjoying it.
After a storm
「Undercurrent Waves」: Two days have passed, how are you doing now?
Liu Guangyao: I am in Hangzhou now, playing League of Legends from 10 am until now, because the best way to deal with an emotional crisis is to empty yourself physically.
I went through three stages in the past two days. In the first stage, I was very upset, so I wrote the article in 10 minutes, using an angry way to expose all the grievances of the past two years. The second stage was panic. I saw the number of views surge, and I felt that the matter was out of control. My personal venting behavior fermented in the public domain. The third stage, which is now, is a mixture of emotions. My circle of friends is full of people who care about me, but when I jump out and take a look, the Internet is flooded with voices scolding me. The contrast is huge. Although I think I deserve it overall, I have become a little numb.
「Undercurrent Waves」: Do you regret it now?
Liu Guangyao: I am a very contradictory person. If it happened again, I might not do it again, but now that it has happened, it is probably hard to say that I regret it. I am just very sorry.
"Undercurrent Waves": What misunderstandings do you think there are in the current public criticism?
Liu Guangyao: The first is homosexual marriage fraud, and the second is to emphasize the identity difference between a small town test-taker and a rich second-generation. You can say that I am a gigolo or that I am too impulsive in expressing my emotions to my ex-wife, but these two statements are too outrageous.
"Undercurrent Waves": Throughout this dispute, where do you think you did wrong?
Liu Guangyao: My personality. I have been jumping back and forth between extreme rationality and extreme sensibility. Although the sensibility is only 5%, the power that explodes is too strong. This is also a disadvantage in my entrepreneurship and life. For example, when we opened the Bosie Huaihai Road store, we could have taken a 500-square-meter location, but we ended up building 2,000 square meters without evaluating the threshold of loss.
"Undercurrent Waves": What impact has this public opinion storm had on you and your personal IP career?
Liu Guangyao: I may calm down for a while. I always thought that I was quite successful in self-media and should be able to interact well with the public. This incident also taught me a lesson. My personal IP account will continue to be suspended indefinitely, because if people hate you or don’t like you, there is no need to disgust them. This is how I am. If I am not needed, I will leave.
You can't let the more than one billion people in China get to know you seriously. They will only recognize one point, that is, you took the money and didn't return it, and you are still scolding the other party. They won't pay attention to these things.Venture CapitalThe narrative of this field will only think that this is a story of a son-in-law. BTW, I am a self-proclaimed son-in-law, so I am a little disappointed in human nature.
Re-starting a business is in preparation
「Undercurrent Waves」: Besides stopping updating, what are your plans next?
Liu Guangyao: Continue to start a business, no doubt. Simply put, this new project is aimed at overseas markets and is a customized e-commerce brand driven by AIGC.
"Undercurrent Waves": Will there be financing? How big will it be?
Liu Guangyao: The start-up capital is estimated to be around hundreds of millions of RMB.
「Undercurrent Waves」: Are there any old shareholders of Bosie among the investors of the new project?
Liu Guangyao: No, this time it is a strategic financing from an industry party.
"Undercurrent Waves": How to resolve the relationship with old shareholders?
Liu Guangyao: I will give all my personal shares in the new project to Bosie. I think this is also an explanation to Bosie's old shareholders.
"Undercurrent Waves": If you start a business again, will you continue to develop your personal IP?
Liu Guangyao: Yes, but it is not the focus. I was just joking with my friend that we have been working on IP for a year, but the traffic is not as big as the one-day traffic last Friday. I think in the final analysis, IP is a face, and if a person really wants to be influential and respected, what he needs is the substance.
"Undercurrent Waves": Is the identity of "Internet celebrity" a help or a hindrance to your re-entrepreneurship and financing?
Liu Guangyao: It has its pros and cons, just like marriage. The help is that more people know who I am, and whether I am a boss or a personal IP, I have achieved certain results. People believe that you can accomplish something, which is very important. The obstacles are also clear. From an Internet celebrity to a CEO, from the front stage to behind the scenes, I have to adapt to the change of identity. But I think my main job is still CEO.
"Undercurrent Waves": What lessons did you learn from Bosie?
Liu Guangyao: Three o'clock.
First, people. We need a more professional team with clearer division of labor. In the early days, I was the only one who made decisions, and at most I would bring in co-founders.
Second, money. Bosie was too extravagant in the past, and lacked awareness of budget, risk control, bottom line, and cash flow. When starting a business again, we will definitely prioritize cash flow and the survival of the project.
Third, strategy. In the past, bosses were greedy for big things and obsessed with speed and scale. We will be more patient with new projects.
Finally, there is the choice of the macro market. Although Bosie has many problems of its own, we have also suffered great losses due to the economic environment since 2022. Looking back today, many new consumer brands that choose to do offline retail have died. This is an objective factor, and we must choose a market that better matches the project.
"Undercurrent Waves": You have experienced the era of the new consumption boom, so do you feel a gap when starting a consumer brand business now?
Liu Guangyao: Actually, you need to change your expectations of the environment. I think it’s good that we have money to start a business now. Everyone knows that it’s difficult to start a business now, especially when there are no resources, no supply chain or platform at home. I don’t have such a big ego that I must do something big right away. Someone told me before that I would be successful after I turned 40. I believed it. This is a good psychological comfort. It’s okay if I can’t do it before I turn 40.
Starting a business is a partly painful thing, but overall happiness. Entrepreneurship is essentially for happiness, not for a certain result. Looking back today, if Bosie died, would it be better for everyone? What I mean is that when something is wrong, you should end it as soon as possible, and you should not considerSunk Costs, the same goes for marriage.
Drama and responsibility
"Undercurrent Waves": When you were in the middle of a personal emotional dispute, you announced that you were going to start a business again. How do you view the outside world's doubts?
Liu Guangyao: It is normal to have doubts. This matter itself is full of various dramatic elements. For me, the method is very simple. I try not to read comments. I don’t need to change public opinion or please anyone. After all, I am not acting and I don’t need box office. Many people think that every step you take is a planned and systematic operation. It is not. If you cross a certain bottom line, I am not happy with you and I will do you. It is that simple. It is not because I am a grassroots that I don’t care. I would be the same if I were a rich second generation. This is my personality and my outlook on life.
"Undercurrent Waves": It is true that a large part of public opinion is not on your side.
Liu Guangyao：Most people are just watching the drama. But I don’t know why, many girls on the Internet don’t like me. I know there are many comments about Phoenix men and son-in-law, and I can understand that. But what makes me happiest is that those who really know me support me and trust me. For example, I saw a comment like this:
"If you know Liu Guangyao, have met Liu Guangyao, and have been with Liu Guangyao, you will know that he may be a little bit boastful and proud, a little bit stupid and soft-hearted, but he is indeed a good person."
I do have many shortcomings, but one thing is my foundation: I will fight against anyone who refuses to accept my defeat.
「Undercurrent Waves」: What is your MBTI?
Liu Guangyao: INTP. I am 80% INTP, very introverted.
"Undercurrent Waves": Have you ever thought about a career other than entrepreneurship?
Liu Guangyao: It is difficult for me to work in a company. In fact, I have thought about writing a novel, making a movie, or becoming a football coach. But these things require money on the one hand, and a relaxed mental state on the other. I am still a layman now, and I am still quite interested in the things in the world.
「Undercurrent Waves」: What theme should you write about in a novel?
Liu Guangyao: "The Death of the Billion-Dollar Unicorn".
「Undercurrent Waves」: It seems like there are always a lot of dramatic things happening to you. Why is that?
Liu Guangyao: Alas, I don’t understand this either. You should be able to feel that I am a relatively rational and calm person overall. Maybe I have some strange physique. The current spread of public opinion and Bosie’s past are definitely not what I want. I definitely want to be able to go public in my first venture.
The first 20 years of my life were pretty stable, but I don’t know why things became so dramatic after I entered society. Maybe fate changed too quickly, and I just wanted to survive.
「Undercurrent Waves」: Do you like the state of being at the center of the vortex?
Liu Guangyao: I don't like it. It's a bit out of control now. They told me yesterday morning that this matter has beenWeiboThe second most searched topic. I am not very sensitive now, I am numb to it, life is changing too fast. But I will publish a book at the end of this year, a collection of essays called "Ten Thousand Days of Running", and now it seems that I have to add this chapter.
I don't reject drama, but my drama ends with that long article, end of the story. Next, I will focus on my new project. We are already recruiting people, and we are still short of a lot of core personnel. If you ask me to entangle this matter again, I will definitely not do it. I am not going to be a black-and-red artist.
「Undercurrent Waves」: Do you think you are a responsible person?
Liu Guangyao: I can say without shame that I have a strong sense of responsibility in my career. I actually had many opportunities to run away and close the company quickly, but I didn't do so. In fact, Bosie is not a completely failed investment project. Five of our 12 institutional shareholders made money.
In addition, I can take legal responsibility for the following statement: In the future, when I start any entrepreneurial project, I am willing to take the shares of all old shareholders until they can exit one day.
Image source: Unsplash
Layout｜Yao Nan
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