5 startup tips from the founder of Foody

Startup, a tough path. Is there a shortcut?

Foody.vn, which is considered Vietnam’s Yelp, made a storm on the news recently. Within one month, Foody announced its series B investment from Garena and series C from Tiger Global Management. This is Foody’s big step in expanding across the entire region.

I’ve read several articles about Dang Hoang Minh – Foody’s Founder and CEO. However, nothing satisfies my biggest question “What is his secret to success?”

Minh was born in 1984 in the North of Vietnam. He studied double degree of Software Engineering and Information System in Australia. However, his first year in Swinburne University was not smooth since his family business went down. He made a living from harvesting salad.

“I still remember the pain torturing my 10 fingers every day, but it was the fastest way to earn enough money”, he shared.

Although Minh understood that the financial pressure didn’t allow him to waste time in Australia, he seemed to be uncertain about his future. While his classmates used their time making website to earn decent money thanks to what they learnt, “I have no idea why I’m studying the programs. My dream was actually to become an architect. I applied IT simply because it was a hot career back then. I didn’t even think about start up until…”

Until his girlfriend broke up with him and two friends of him became so famous with their e-commerce forum. According to Minh, “It was very easy to do. The hardest thing was to build a community. The technology part was very simple”. These two shocks came at once and an inner voice told him “You are wasting your time. Go do something with your life.”

Minh came back to Vietnam and started looking for his own journey. Once again, he had no idea where to start. After applying for an outsourcing software company, Minh realised he was not good in coding programming. He gradually learnt about his hidden talent which was “I’m pretty good at business analysis and actually enjoy it!” At that time he started to thanks his years in Australia. The tough financial condition trained him to be a patient person. To keep him survive in a completely strange environment, he had never said NO to the difficulty no matter how hard it was. Those were what he applied to his startup life.

Thanks to the positive energy he has gained through those years striving on the farm, he looks at the failure of vnNhahang.com and Orderfood.vn with clear and calm eyes. What he takes from it is one lesson: “I should have focused on one thing at a time in my business instead of trying to cover everything at once” (vnNhahang.com tried to create a social, delivery and directory platform at the same time when it launched). Besides, his advices for startups include:

1. “Don’t wait until you are fully equipped”.

Experience cannot be taught in school, but in real business. “I took a course at Pace because it was more practical to learn from the experienced CEO than a professor who had never run a business himself. Actually, Google is my best professor”

2. “Sharing your idea! Don’t worry if someone steals it, if you can’t do any better than them, you will die eventually no matter what”.

Sharing brings you argument. Argument brings you more insight about your idea. It’s the best way to sharpen your weapon.