Luo Yonghao
AsianFin — Luo Yonghao, the founder of Smartisan and a household name in China ’ s consumer tech and livestreaming circuits, has re-emerged in the public eye after years of relative silence.
At a roundtable event in Beijing, Luo joined two young founders, Xie Yang of Fellou and Wang Dengke of Duxiang, for a wide-ranging discussion on artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, and the scars and lessons of past ventures.
Luo, who now runs a new tech startup, disclosed that his team plans to launch an AI productivity tool within the next two to three months, focusing initially on email-related workflows. Despite lacking the firepower for large-scale model pretraining, Luo said he is betting on fast iteration and user feedback to refine the product.
" Many AI-powered email tools today, whether from Yahoo, Google, or high-profile startups, still fail to deliver a great user experience, " Luo said. " We believe we can do better — not by outspending them, but by out-executing them. "
In a rare public retelling, Luo reflected on the downfall of Smartisan, the smartphone company he founded in 2012 that was once hailed as a bold challenger to Apple and Xiaomi. He revealed that Smartisan ’ s assets — including intellectual property and core staff — were sold to ByteDance at what he described as a " humiliating " price amid a liquidity crunch.
TNT, Smartisan ’ s ambitious phone-to-PC hybrid, failed commercially but drew interest from tech giants, including Huawei and ByteDance. Luo recounted a meeting with Huawei ’ s Richard Yu, where Smartisan ’ s lean team impressed enough to prompt attempted poaching of top talent. Though TNT was mocked publicly after its launch at Beijing ’ s Bird ’ s Nest Stadium in 2018, Luo insisted the product was ahead of its time.
" I was just too early, " Luo said, noting that similar concepts are now being pursued by others in the market.
After Smartisan ’ s collapse and public debt struggles, Luo transitioned to livestream e-commerce on Douyin in 2020, repaying millions in liabilities. In 2022, he announced a return to tech through a new venture, Thin Red Line, focused initially on AR smart glasses. But after burning through capital and facing hardware and software hurdles, Luo pivoted toward AI software.
" I never left the tech industry, " he said. " We realized AR glasses wouldn ’ t be commercialized anytime soon, so we redirected our efforts. "
The upcoming AI tool, aimed at improving email efficiency, is expected to debut this year. Luo believes AI won ’ t displace everyone, but those who fail to adopt it risk irrelevance. " Even if you ’ re slacking off at work, you better spend that time learning AI, " he quipped.
Luo also signaled a desire to serve as a platform for young AI entrepreneurs, hinting at an " AI Spring Festival Gala " to showcase promising early-stage software products. " We ’ ll help select and promote genuinely good products from founders with limited resources, " he said, noting his track record with viral hits like Bullet Messenger.
He also shared a personal encounter with Liang Wenfeng of DeepSeek, who encouraged him to leverage his strengths in communication and consider launching an AI-focused podcast by the end of 2025.
As Chinese tech faces a generational shift, Luo argued that " timeliness " and founder-led vision are increasingly vital in an era where large incumbents, including Apple, struggle to innovate despite dominant resources.
" Startups must believe in themselves. Venture capital needs to remember what ‘ venture ’ really means, " Luo said. " In this AI era, the future belongs to those who move fast, especially the young. "
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