The Founder on Founder Podcast series is a weekly podcast hosted by Olivier Raussin, Managing Partner at FEBE Ventures, an early stage Venture Capital fund supporting outstanding entrepreneurs in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. It features tech entrepreneurs with a focus on Southeast Asia’s innovation business and tech landscape.
The podcast uncovers stories from outstanding entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia on their journey, insights and advice on running a tech company.
Featured in this episode is Dzung Dang, Co-founder of VUI App by Nano Technologies, who will share his 10+ years journey in tech and finance that led him to build his own fintech startup today.
Having experience working as a consultant at McKinsey to pursuing an MBA at HBS, his big leap was when Dzung took on the role of becoming the General Manager at Uber Vietnam.
“Everybody knows Uber now. Uber was famous back then in the US but in Vietnam it was nothing. When I consulted friends and advisors if I should do it, all said no. Number one, there’s a lot of taxis. Number two, you can never win taxis. Number three, what do you want to do with a taxi company? And so for the first time, I said okay I’m swimming against the current, against everybody else.”
Also Read: Here’s why startups need to approach digital marketing as applied data science
“If I do not win, I will acquire valuable experiences. Then I can go back to school, I can study my second year of school, get a decent job or I can come back to McKinsey. Or if I succeed, then financial rewards will be sizeable and I will still have a good experience. Now looking back, I feel like I made the right decision.”
“When I made the choice to join Uber and stick my neck with it, it gave me a very liberating feeling that this is your life, and this is your decision. No matter what whether you win or you lose, its your life.”
After Uber, Dzung became the CEO of ZaloPay, a Vietnam digital payment platform developed by VNG Company before starting his fintech company Nano Technologies.
Vui App by Nano Technologies provides an early-wage access platform, giving workers the option to access their wages on-demand and providing HR teams with a new incentive to keep and recruit workers more effectively
Nano Technologies is one of the only two Vietnamese startups that have recently been accepted into Y Combinator (YC) that launched Airbnb and Stripe among others.
Some insights that Dzung would like to share to other founders on their entrepreneurial path:
- Have a respect for time. Dzung believes that doing a startup is not only just a way to make money and build a new business, but also is the fastest way to solve a problem. Time is an irreversible resource so having a respect for time is having a respect for yourself and your teammates. Focus on solving the problem.
- Respect yourself in a sense of acknowledging what you can do and what you cannot do. If you can do something, do it, and do a good job because that is what you’re meant to do here. If you don’t know how to do it, just ask for support, and that’s what team is for.
- Talk to your customers. Understand their problems, be there for them, live in their shoes and perhaps you will discover more that will bring more meaning to your mission.
Listen to the full podcast here!
–
Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.
Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page
Image credit: Pan Species on Unsplash
The post How this app is helping low-income workers to achieve financial stability appeared first on e27.