Growth Tigers Podcast

In this week's episode we talk to Barry Do, the CMO of Timo.vn - Vietnam's very first all digital bank! He's been with the project from the very start and has already put nearly 3 years into the development of the company. He shares about how the company was formed, how they have been able to operate as a bank without needing to get a fully license, and what they are doing that makes Timo so different than traditional banks in Vietnam. Barry shares that they've crossed some initial milestones in terms of deposits (over $1,000,000usd) and that they are making a big push in 2017 to make it to 100,000 users. He also shares about some of their new products that are coming (line of credit, more savings options, and hopefully some lending products soon), and their new MasterCard that gives 0% foreign exchange fees - you know.. those fees that the banks tap on to every transaction you make outside of your home currency even though they already get their profit on differences in exchange rates.... Anyway.. Barry

In this week's episode we talk to fingo (www.fingo.vn) and its parent company Finnology (www.finnology.com). Finnology is a company that has taken their deep expertise in financial product marketing and lead generation in the Czech Republic and turned it into a scalable platform, leading to the creation of fingo in Vietnam. If you've ever spent an afternoon looking for a credit card and found the information online to be confusing and overbearing, then Finnology has the tools for you! They help provide customers with information about debit and credit card instruments across different providers and then support quick action for the call center to get in contact with you before redirecting your case to a sales agent. There are a few key items here for me. First is that they are 100% focused on customer experience and providing the right information and in simple language. Second is that they do not pass your information on to sales until you have confirmed that you are actually interested in talking to them. I

In this week's episode we talk to Mr. Tuan Anh (LinkedIn) from Angels for Us (www.angels4.us), an angel investment and coaching organization from Vietnam. They are helping build stronger startups here in Ho Chi Minh City not only by investing money, but also by building up content and educational programs for founders to learn how to maximize their opportunities for creating successful enterprises. A4U works independently and with incubators/accelerators to build appropriate systems to support founders and helps link the Vietnam ecosystem with organizations from around the world. Tuan Anh has a long background in finance and investing, having previously operated a mergers and acquisitions firm in Vietnam. He also quietly does quite a lot to help the community by coaching and mentoring outside of A4U as well. He's part of the leadership of the SME Mentoring group, something he calls 'The best business network he's ever been part of', and is very well read. If you are an entrepreneur looking for support here in

This week we talk to the teams of batch one of the Vietnam Innovative Startup Accelerator (www.viisa.vn). In episode 16 we talked to Adrian Tan (www.growthtigers.com/gt16/), the program manager to learn more about the program. Now we get to meet most of the teams from the very first batch. There are some really interesting teams in there and I think we'll see some great successes for sure! The way I approached this episode, after being asked to be a mentor for the VIISA program, was to come up with 5 or 6 questions that the teams would get asked to answer quickly by potential supporters at events or in the course of looking for investment. My questions ended up being: 1. What is the exact product? 2. What problem are you solving? 3. Why did you choose this problem? 4. What are the top 3 things you know about your customers/users? 5. what is your traction? 6. What do the next 6 months of development look like? I interviewed the following teams (in no specific order): 1. Wisepass - www.wisepass.co - Monthly Mem

In this week's episode we talk to a different breed of entrepreneur. Peter Pham (LinkedIn) is the founder of Phoenix Capital Group (www.phx-cap.com), which mainly provides financial services and marketing advisory services in Vietnam. He's a different breed because his entire focus is on utilizing systems and models to create scalable, anti-fragile businesses. His background is in technology and human behavior, not in finance or marketing. This makes his approach highly logical and methodical, you can call his work highly data driven. Beyond his business, Peter is a successful author and podcast host. His book The Big Trade (Amazon - Eng , Tiki - Vnese) and the subsequent podcast series of the same name have gone on to be downloaded over 200,000 times! He regularly interviews thought leaders and even presidential candidates! We cover all about his podcast and the work with Phoenix Capital group in the podcast, so I'll  leave the rest for you there. This was a very interesting interview where we

Happy Holidays to everyone! This week's episode has been one of my favorite to record thus far. If you haven't had the pleasure of enjoying a fresh coconut on the banks of the Saigon river with a good conversation partner, then I think you are missing something special! I had the pleasure of sitting down with Adrian Tan (LinkedIn, Facebook) and chatted about his experiences in Singapore with JFDI (www.jfdi.asia) and how it led him to be the program director for the VIISA (www.viisa.vn). We talk about his startup failures, what he learned how he has applied them, and corporate innovations. We learn about how the punk hardcore scene in Singapore (Yes, there was one!) taught him to open himself up to different view points and to read more broad materials. We learn about what VIISA is and why teams in Vietnam should be excited. After talking to Adrian, I'm convinced that you need to get to CirCo Co-working space (www.circo.co) and find him to see what you can do to get your startup business into the program.

In this weeks' episode we interview Angelia Le (LinkedIn , Facebook) about her new venture FounderGirls (FounderGirls.com) that the first female capital firm for women, by women in Vietnam and they are looking to connect, inspire, empower, and redefine what is possible for women entrepreneurs.  Even though she's still quite young she's got a number of businesses under her belt - 2 failures and a (current) success. She's also working for some of the biggest media in the world including Cosmopolitan Magazine and CNN. She shared that her inspiration to become an enterpreneur was that her parents told her that she couldn't. So not only is she talented and successful, she's also driven. Listen to the podcast to find out more about her journey and what's coming up next for Angelia! All details can be found at www.growthtigers.com/gt15 Notes: -How she started her first business at 20 years old in Singapore! Didn't work out…. - and… how she tried again in a different business at 21 years old! Both in F

  This week's episode can be found at www.growthtigers.com/gt14 In this week's episode I talk about 5 myths of the Vietnam startup ecosystem. These are just myths that I got by asking a few associates that work with startups and entrepreneurship about what people believe about the ecosystem, that they really shouldn't. Funding, Market Knowldege, Competitions, Copycats, and Profit are all covered in the episode. I start with the myth and then I give a few ideas of why I think it persists. I would love to hear your thoughts, so please let me know what you think and if you have any myths of your own! People or Companies in this episode: Ngoc Nguyen - Dealstreet Asia Elsa Speak Gotit! Ticketbox DesignBold Timo OnOnPay Hottab Misfit Wearables Autonomous TinyPulse Zalora Lazada Uber VNG VatGia Appota Graphics provided by Duc M. Nghiem – www.ducmnghiem.com Intro music credit to Serge Quadrado – http://muzaproduction.net/  via Jamendo

In this week's episode we talk to Linh Hoang (LinkedIn ) from Viet Youth Entreprneurs (www.vye.vn) and CirCo co-working space (www.circo.co). Over the last 6 years he's been a big part of the development of the startup community here in Vietnam, helping spearhead bootcamps with Stanford University, the US Consulate General, UNICEF, and local investors and schools. In total, the network of VYE reaches out to over 50,000 young people in Vietnam with an interest in entrepreneurship. Linh shares why he joined up with VYE, how they build their community, and what the future of VYE looks like with the formation of CirCo co-working space. Speaking of CirCo - they are Growth Tigers very first sponsor! The next few weeks will be focused on the entrepreneurs you will find working at CirCO, and how you can have the chance of interacting with them. Stay tuned! If you want to find out more about Linh or Circo - head to www.circo.co or on Facebook at fb.com/circo.co Notes: How Linh got started with Viet Youth En

In this week's episode I read through a list of positives and negatives about the Vietnam entrepreneurship ecosystem. This list was sent to me by someone who wished to remain anonymous due to potential conflicts with future business endeavors. I think it's pretty telling about the ecosystem that an objective opinion could be the cause of business difficulties. This is especially true when the fact is that the deficits in the ecosystem are fairly well known by those who have spent some time working with the community. Either way, I thought it was important to share this list and start some conversation around the topic. Each community builder has a different way of dealing with the negatives they encounter. I'm a believer in the Boulder Thesis myself. I think that the community can only grow stronger by increased by peer based learning and free transfer of knowledge between local networks. You can also increase the strength of the community by increasing the interactions between different local communitie

By chance I ran into Sopheakmonkol (referred to by Monkol in the interview due to my personal linguistic challenges  - LinkedIn, Facebook) in late November 2016 right before the Echelon Vietnam 2016 entrepreneurship conference as part of an event with the Asia-New Zealand Foundation.  Completely unexpected, I knew that his story was one that I had to share with you. Starting out as a charitable activity designed to give laptops to talented young people, Codingate (www.codingate.com) is a rapidly growing web development and design agency in Cambodia. Monkol always has this amazing smile on his face, has been introduced to me previously as 'Captain Cambodia' and is building a real growth company and empowering young people to take ownership over their futures. There is a lot more to learn about this man, and you'll find it in the episode! Notes: Why he believes that Codingate has the purpose of human capacity development in Cambodia. What Monkol means by human capacity development The structure of Co

In this bonus content we explore who this Hao Tran guy actually is! I know he's an interesting fellow, but I hope from this episode you get a bit more clarity on his personality and vision. Please let me know if you like it by commenting on facebook! (www.fb.com/growthtigers) Highlights About Travel Hacking About his investments in Vietnam (personal) Inspiration Mentors Advice Enjoy and a new episode is coming on Thursday!

This week's episode is a two part exploration of the life and insights of Mr. Hao Tran (facebook.com/haontran). He's a young guy, just 24, from San Francisco and has settled into Vietnam for just 6 months, but that's the entire point of this episode. Though young, Hao has developed keen insights into the ecosystem through his work with 500 Startups and Vietcetera (www.vietcetera.com), where he has published upwards of 30 articles in a very short amount of time. "Protect yourself, execute, and be confident and the rest will take care of itself" In this, the first part of the episode we talk about how he got to Vietnam and the main things he's learned thus far. He's got some great thoughts and even shares one or two things I didn't know. In the second part, published next week Monday, we'll explore his personal journey including travel hacks, investments, inspiration, advice, and mentorship! Notes: Hao's experience in Silicon Valley [ from 2:00] Why Hao is in Vietnam [from 3:40] How many startups Hao has seen

This week we have Duke (Duc) Nguyen (fb.com/smartedunow) on the show and we talk a lot about how technology can bring better education to more people. Duke shares a lot about the ideas behind SEN, Smart Education Now - http://smartedunow.com/, and how he and his team are making progress in Vietnam. SEN has roots going back 5 years, but is less than 2 years old as its own company. Even in this short amount of time, they've managed to sign deals with a number of schools and publishers (http://smartedunow.com/partners). With experience based in the US from 2010, they are delivering a new way of applying technology for students in Vietnam and helping change the approach to education in the process. With hopes to reach 1 millions students, they've certainly got off to a good start. "Know yourself, know your product, know your market" Duke himself was educated here in Vietnam and then went off to Australia for graduate school before returning home. He's already built one business off of his technical skills, b

In this week's episode we have agent Duc M. Nghiem (FB.com/ducmnghiem) on the show and he's sharing all of S.H.I.E.L.D's (http://www.shield.to) secrets. More than just a silly comparison to that Marvel group (the other SHIELD, for reference), the team that Duc is leading is helping build a stronger generation of tech entrepreneurs in Vietnam. Starting with the promise of 1 event per week and supported by some of the most familiar names in the ecosystem, including our guest from GT05 - Anh Minh Do, SHIELD is delivering quality programs and connections for young entrepreneurs in Vietnam. "Build the ship on your way down" An entrepreneur himself, Duc has been through a failure or two already at the age of 27. He goes into a lot of detail about what he's learned through over 40 workshops and events, how his mentors help him develop and what to look forward to from the SHIELD Academy. Want to know more, just shoot him a message on FB and he'll get right back to you! Notes: How he came up with his first busin

Lucy Keoni (LinkedIn) is on a mission to change the way the world views startups, diversity, gender equality, and social impact. She's got Vietnam in her blood and is making a difference in meaningful ways in Silicon Valley.  Her work at StartUpRising (http://www.startuprising.tech/)  is focused on mobilizing the tech community from intent to impact with a very strong drive on inclusion and diversity.  She was named one of the 2016 Women Worth Watching and one of the 40 under 40 rising stars in Silicon Valley. "What small thing can you do everyday to get you to your dream" Lucy has an incredible story, is a relentless entrepreneur, and is leaving the world better than she found it.  While she hasn't reached Vietnam with her work yet, I have a feeling we'll see her here soon. Get in touch with Lucy at lucy@startuprising.tech or facebook. Show Notes: How Lucy started her life, and what the journey to end up in the US was like How Lucy's mother ingrained entrepreneurship and business in her

This week we talk to Hung Tran from GotIt!  (GotItapp.co), one of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley. I am not exaggerating here, they really are on track to be the next big thing. They got a 9 Million USD series A earlier this year from Capricorn Ventures (http://capricornllc.com/ , Capricorn Crunchbase Listing), who have also invested in companies you may have heard of... like Tesla and SpaceX, among others. So when I say that Hung is leading one of the next big things in Silicon Valley, I mean it! "When you are an entrepreneur it means you have no fear to anything, so why not" This conversation with Hung gives us a deeper look at how he's managed to achieve such success in the US, beyond just the technical capacity. Though he's a PhD in Computer Science, it's really the mindset behind the man that make his success possible. With mentors such as Kien Pham (Profile), Peter Relan (Profile), and Guy Kawasaki (Yes, that one - Profile) it's proof positive that Hung is going places. S

Minh (www.anhminhdo.com) started out as a blogger who was teaching in An Giang in the Mekong Delta, but these days he's a director at Vertex Ventures - an arm of the Singaporean Temasek Fund; (hint - that's a big fund).  Minh is usually one of the first names that anyone brings up when talking about Vietnam and entrepreneurship and he's got a very broad knowledge of what is going on throughout the country. In this episode he details what has driven him to incrementally to have more influence in the Vietnam Startup Ecosystem. It's always enlightening to talk to Minh because he usually doesn't hold back on his analysis of what's going on. Don't expect to talk too much about what's happening in the Vietnam ecosystem right now in this interview, as we go behind the scenes and talk about Minh himself. It's a conversation you'd usually only get if you were to meet him in person and though this is a recording, I hope you feel like you are right there with us. You can contact Minh at hello@anhmind

In today's epidode we talk to Tran Luong Son, co-founder of VietSoftware (www.vsi-international.com) and founding member of the MITFive program(www.mitfive.net) in Vietnam. Over the course of his career he's gone from a Ph.D in Russia to a 15 year partner of IBM in developing software and a Fulbright scholar. Along the way he turned his focus to helping young entrepreneurs, so give it a listen and gain some insights on what makes him tick! Show Notes: Why he decided to get a MBA in mid-career How he started in software His first products, including 2 failures How Vietsoftware developed partnerships to grow Challenges that Son has had over the last 16 years Why Son interviews every business owner he meets, including street hawkers. What inspires Son to help people Why his mentors have been important to him. Advice that he got that keeps him motivated. Son's new initiative for startups in Vietnam - MITFive

This interview with Quan MT revealed some of the key aspects of his character that have lead to the tremendous success of Beeketing, his startup in the world of e-commerce marketing automation.  Specifically they make plugins for Shopify, and they boast more than 40,000 monthly active users with 50% month on month growth when I interviewed Quan. An amazing story for any entrepreneur, for a young guy from Vietnam, that started doing business back in high school... it's simply amazing! Quan is always full of energy, but in this interview he shows you how he uses that energy to drive the company forward. Really great insights here. Learn more about Beeketing at www.beeketing.com and read insights from Quan at www.quaninte.com Show notes below, In this episode we'll learn: How Quan got started with business in high school How his business both helped him to go to university, and then drop out. How he decided that he needed a bigger purpose in business. How Beeketing started as a side project