{"id":1601,"date":"2013-10-11T14:44:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-11T07:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.appota.com\/?p=1601"},"modified":"2021-04-13T17:12:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T10:12:40","slug":"10-reasons-why-vietnams-startup-scene-is-the-most-aggressive-in-southeast-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.appota.com\/vi\/10-reasons-why-vietnams-startup-scene-is-the-most-aggressive-in-southeast-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"10 reasons why Vietnam\u2019s startup scene is the most aggressive in Southeast Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

10 reasons why Vietnam\u2019s startup scene is the most aggressive in Southeast Asia<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/header>\n

\"startup-ecosystem-in-vietnam-is-hot\"<\/p>\n

When I published my\u00a0ten actions post\u00a0last month, it got a bunch of views. On one side, it\u2019s because I got the number ten in there, and people love clicking lists. But the key reason is Vietnamese entrepreneurs care about their startup scene. There\u2019s a resounding sense that the community needs to work together and build. And I\u2019m beginning to get the sense that, after traveling around Southeast Asia and speaking to movers and shakers throughout the region, that this might be something quite unique to Vietnam, at the moment.<\/p>\n

In other words, Vietnam is hot already, the startup scene doesn\u2019t need to be saved. It just needs to keep its momentum. Son Tran, founder and CEO of\u00a0Tiki.vn, which recently got a\u00a0round of series B funding, told me he thinks that Vietnam\u2019s startup peak is still coming and we won\u2019t see a slowdown until 2015 or 2016.<\/p>\n

First, the numbers.<\/h2>\n

Vietnam\u2019s entrepreneurial numbers for 2013 are showing serious progress. Here\u2019s a few.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • 1. New businesses are on the rise:\u00a0At a presentation last weekend at the TIGERS@Mekong event, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Cuong, deputy director-general of the ministry of planning and investment, noted that the number of new registered businesses has been declining since 2010. A clear indication of the steady decline of Vietnam\u2019s economic growth. But in 2013, the growth rate already far exceeds last year\u2019s number of registrations. By mid 2013, there are already 39,000 registrations compared to the 69,874 registered in the whole of 2012. These numbers tell a story; the economy is turning around. Or, in the face of a poor economy, Vietnamese are still able to be entrepreneurial.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \"vietnam-startup-ecosystem-hot\"<\/p>\n

      \n
    • 2. Vietnam is the regional leader in startup investments and exits:\u00a0Look at the\u00a0numbers, Vietnam has had five significant exits since January and over 15 significant tech investments. That\u2019s more than any other country in Southeast Asia (besides Singapore). Essentially, this means two things: investors see potential in Vietnam\u2019s IT landscape, and startups in Vietnam are delivering.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Temperament<\/h2>\n
        \n
      • 3. An aggressive and hungry mentality in a post-communist landscape:\u00a0After Vietnam\u00a0opened up in 1989\u00a0with the socialist-oriented market economy, Vietnam has been on a ferocious growth path that pulled it out of the\u00a0extreme poverty line by 2008\u00a0and experienced rapid GDP growth. Of course, one of the biggest engines of growth has been the advent of\u00a0Vietnam\u2019s many young corporations. The fierce growth of Vietnamese companies and competition can be attributed to the hardship and values of the previous generation being poured into the young hardworking modern generations. It\u2019s gone from generations of restrained poverty and war to waking up to opportunity. This carries over into Vietnam\u2019s startup scene. The mentality is that untapped markets and opportunities are ripe for the picking.<\/li>\n
      • 4. People are wily:\u00a0There\u2019s a saying in Vietnam that goes to the tune of \u201claws are as numerous as a jungle but the people follow the laws of the jungle.\u201d In other words, despite the hurdles and minefields of Vietnam\u2019s legal and political system, people still build hugely successful companies. Despite Vietnam\u2019s so-called corruption, it\u2019s local companies still seem to build into very successful corporations. This comes out of a practical business mentality from the younger and older entrepreneurs in all industries.<\/li>\n
      • 5. \u201cVietnamese people are inherently entrepreneurial\u201d:\u00a0At least that\u2019s the saying that you hear all the time in Vietnam. People open up mom-and-pop stores left and right. If a new shoe store opens up on a local street, within months you\u2019re bound to see a new competitor. People are always thinking about how to make money. Although this has manifested in scams and greedy business people, it\u2019s also instilled an underlying entrepreneurial spirit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        The history<\/h2>\n
          \n
        • 6. The Vietnamese diaspora:\u00a0Regrettably, Vietnam has experienced many wars with outsiders over the years. But this has also caused a large amount of Vietnamese people to live abroad. And as these individuals start to become more interested in the Vietnamese market or connect to local entrepreneurs, we\u2019re starting to see a few benefits. For example,\u00a0Nhom Mua, one of Vietnam\u2019s top daily deals sites that saw exponential growth from 2011 to 2012 before it crashed, was under the management of a team of foreigners and overseas Vietnamese returnees.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          The ecosystem is on a growth path<\/h2>\n
        • 7. Local and international events on the up:\u00a0In the past, I\u2019ve noted that Vietnam\u2019s events have been\u00a0growing very fast\u00a0with the addition of new hackathons and local conferences. There\u2019s everything from locally-organized events like StartMeUp to internationally licensed ones like DEMO ASEAN. It shows the level of interest in startups and entrepreneurship is not only organic and coming from the community, but it\u2019s also an interest from more mature markets. This serves to feed the ecosystem.<\/li>\n
        • 8. More leaders than you think:\u00a0I mentioned in\u00a0my 10 actions post that Vietnam\u2019s startup leaders are in hiding. That means there are more than you think. There are folks like Tai, founder and CEO of\u00a0Socbay, one of Vietnam\u2019s more successful mobile tech companies, who are considerably more low key about their moves and investments in the scene. Just because they\u2019re in hiding doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not doing something. That makes for a more competitive atmosphere, but it\u2019s also a resource that needs to be tapped into more.<\/li>\n
        • 9. A network of people that get things done:\u00a0Vietnam has long had a reputation for being a hard nut to crack. It\u2019s not nearly as open and easy to access as its neighbors. Despite this, a strong network of people connects Vietnam\u2019s two major cities and it requires just a few steps and legal hurdles to get in. If you look at the recent McDonald\u2019s entrance, it\u2019s a classic story of how the impossible is made possible in Vietnam via connections. All the other major businesses that successfully opened offices in Vietnam also understand this, including Samsung, Nokia, Rocket Internet, Microsoft, etc.<\/li>\n
        • 10. A growing number of startup initiatives:\u00a05desire, Hatch.vn, Startup.vn, Startups.vn, Saigon Hub, Start Center, Hub.IT, Seedfund.vn, VYE Bootcamp, Launch, Action Space, and Founders Institute are just a few initiatives that have been growing, especially in the last year. We\u2019ve seen a steady explosion of co-working spaces, listing sites, events, and programs that adapt to the needs of startups in the ecosystem. If this growth keeps pace, we will see a healthy and mature startup scene by the end of next year. And by healthy, I mean startups that can raise money, possibly exit, or acquire staggering amounts of users.<\/li>\n<\/section>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          \n
        • Bonus: 11. Foreign educated startups:\u00a0As I wrote\u00a0before\u00a0there\u2019s a new generation of young founders who were educated abroad and then came back to Vietnam to start a business. This more educated group understands the Western way of thinking and can apply those principles to Vietnam\u2019s economy.<\/li>\n<\/section>\n

           <\/p>\n

          Now, if all of the above continues its momentum, we may see Vietnam fulfilling Son Tran\u2019s startup prophecy that Vietnam\u2019s scene will continue to increase until 2015. Well, here\u2019s hoping.<\/p>\n

          \n

          Theo Techinasia<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

           <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            10 reasons why Vietnam\u2019s startup scene is the most aggressive in Southeast Asia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[887],"tags":[417,416,412,413,414,410,179,415,411,418,419,402],"yoast_head":"\n10 reasons why Vietnam\u2019s startup scene is the most aggressive in Southeast Asia - Appota News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.appota.com\/vi\/10-reasons-why-vietnams-startup-scene-is-the-most-aggressive-in-southeast-asia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 reasons why Vietnam\u2019s startup scene is the most aggressive in Southeast Asia - Appota News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  10 reasons why Vietnam\u2019s startup scene is the most aggressive in Southeast Asia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.appota.com\/vi\/10-reasons-why-vietnams-startup-scene-is-the-most-aggressive-in-southeast-asia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Appota News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-11T07:44:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-13T10:12:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.techinasia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/startup-ecosystem-in-vietnam-is-hot.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ng\u00f4 Cay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ng\u00f4 Cay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.appota.com\/vi\/10-reasons-why-vietnams-startup-scene-is-the-most-aggressive-in-southeast-asia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.appota.com\/vi\/10-reasons-why-vietnams-startup-scene-is-the-most-aggressive-in-southeast-asia\/\",\"name\":\"10 reasons why Vietnam\u2019s startup scene is the most aggressive in Southeast Asia - 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