Jason Lusk, ClickSpace founder, on making room for entrepreneurship in Vietnam

From left: Tien Dung Le, Jason Lusk, and Thuy Nguyen. Photo: ClickSpace

Jason Lusk first came to Hanoi to work on a freelance project but ended up becoming a co-founder of ClickSpace, one of the first coworking spaces in Hanoi, Vietnam. While there, he spent time connecting with expat talents in Hanoi: entrepreneurs, consultants, freelancers, and the trailing spouses of diplomats and NGO leaders. All of them were seeking opportunities to connect and work together.

Unfortunately, Hanoi did not have much infrastructure for collaboration. That was why ClickSpace was born: to provide a comfortable, contemporary workspace where talented expats and Vietnamese can work, connect and collaborate.

We spoke to Jason via email to find out more about his story, ClickSpace and his thoughts on the startup scene in Hanoi.

SGE: What brought you to Hanoi, Vietnam?

Jason: I visited Vietnam in 2011 on a video production project. I spent four days in the field with my in-country contact, an American entrepreneur who came to Hanoi 20 years ago.  He has since become one of Asia’s leading spice exporters. I found his story very exciting, and I could feel this incredible entrepreneurial energy in Vietnam.

 In America, we used to believe that the son would always do better than the father. Americans no longer believe that about their country. The Vietnamese do. I wanted to experience that for myself, so I resigned from my public relations job, put my possessions in storage and came to Hanoi to freelance.

Why did you choose to start a co-working space in Hanoi?

For entrepreneurs, freelancers and consultants in Vietnam, it takes more than a home office or a comfy coffee shop to work effectively. You need collaborators, and you need services.

My first few months in Hanoi were eye opening. Vietnam may have unlimited economic potential, but it is still very difficult to do simple things. If you need office supplies in the West, you order from Staples and a few hours later a nice, branded truck pulls up with your order. In Hanoi, you have to buy from several small shops, none of which have catalogs or websites. Business is always in Vietnamese, deliveries come by xe om (motorbike taxi), and transactions are almost always in cash. The first time I needed PostIt notes, it turned into a half-day shopping expedition.

Finding collaborators is also difficult. I consult to public relations clients on two continents, and I routinely need access to designers, web developers, photographers and video production companies. Networking my way to them, especially to talented young Vietnamese collaborators, can be a challenge.

Together with my partners Thuy Nguyen and Tien Dung Le, I started ClickSpace last year as a collaborative workspace for ourselves. We have a shared assistant and a shared driver. My productivity doubled overnight. Suddenly, all the daily hassles of doing business in Hanoi were gone. I helped Thuy and Tiendung build a new website for their project management consultancy. They introduced me to a new client and a whole raft of Vietnamese collaborators. The arrangement worked so well that we started thinking, “We have extra space. Why not open it up to other consultants, freelancers and entrepreneurs like us?”

Photo: ClickSpace