My 4 lessons from Professor Alan Phan's startup story highlight the experiences and realities of entrepreneurship, aspects that are rarely discussed in books or the media. I hope this will encourage many people to consider the opportunity to start their own business, because those who write about entrepreneurship are often not the ones actually living it. This article focuses on the difficult beginnings, with limited funds, daily mistakes, but also valuable experiences and achievements.
1. What is Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship (startup) is the process of starting a new business, usually a small one, with the goal of innovation, creativity, and seizing new market opportunities. Startup founders typically look for a unique market approach, often through the development and application of new technologies or offering differentiated products/services.
Some characteristics of startups include flexibility, innovation, high risks, and the ability to quickly adapt to market fluctuations. Starting a startup often involves raising investment capital, building a team, and developing a strategic business plan.
2. Why Do I Support Your Startup Stories?
In the world of business and startups, there’s a truth rarely discussed in textbooks or the media—entrepreneurship is not easy. Deciding to start a business can lead to significant challenges, losing a lot of money, and at times, feeling desperate. Families may not understand and might mock you, but the important thing is to go through it to grow.
I know many entrepreneurs who k,have faced failures, but through these failures, they’ve learned much more. There’s no such thing as failure if you can learn from it. A famous book says, “There’s no failure, only challenges,” and this holds true in the entrepreneurial journey.
One important trait of an entrepreneur is the ability to solve problems and a passion for it. You may spend a lot of time and effort, but if you love problem-solving, you can become a successful entrepreneur. The world of startups isn’t known to everyone because no school teaches it, and it’s not in textbooks. Universities typically teach skills for working for others, while the reality of entrepreneurship is quite different.
People often want their children to be “stable,” but the truth is maintaining stability in this poor industry is a challenge. You may face many difficulties before you can buy a house or a car in the challenging Hanoi. However, successful entrepreneurs like the owner of Xôi Yến, a former FTU student who founded Take One, or the CEO of Vật Giá, are proof that startups can lead to success and financial prosperity.
3. What is an Entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is someone with a clear vision of what they want to become and sets goals to achieve success in building and growing their business. What’s important is that they not only focus on making money but also have a bigger mission, beyond personal satisfaction and wealth.
Entrepreneurship isn’t just about making money; it’s about fulfilling personal dreams and passions, while also contributing to society. Entrepreneurs understand that their success is not just personal but also closely connected to the community and the environment around them.
Respect for the environment and the interests of consumers is crucial in how they conduct business. Entrepreneurs know that to sustain and grow their businesses in the long run, they need to build a supportive community and solve real problems for customers.
Lastly, making money is not the only goal; it’s also a legitimate process. Entrepreneurs are not just concerned with making profits at any cost, but also focus on building meaningful and sustainable businesses, while maintaining ethical and social values.
See more: 3 Surprising Benefits of Shared Offices for Entrepreneurs
4. What Should You Prepare to Turn Your Startup Story into Reality?
4.1 Overcoming Mental Barriers to Start Your Entrepreneurial Journey
Vietnamese people are not used to welcoming failure; they don’t want their children to take risks and will try everything to prevent it. Families often want their children to “focus on studying,” not realizing that universities don’t teach much to help with careers. You need to “train” your parents to get used to the fact that they cannot intervene in your future anymore. You must let your family know upfront that entrepreneurship can involve losing money and many other things, so don’t pressure your children when they fall, and let them fall a few times—they’ll get up and keep going (a better approach is not to tell your parents).
Another barrier is your own limits. You have a brilliant startup idea, you spend months thinking about it, but you don’t dare to do anything because of “shyness.” You’re too comfortable within your safety zone, and you convince yourself that you’re not ready to execute this entrepreneurial idea. To overcome this barrier, you need to build the habit of taking action immediately, as the saying goes, “Do it if you like it.” You must abandon the habit of procrastination because if you wait until tomorrow, it will keep getting postponed, and then never happen.
As for the lack of resources, you should know that every startup story is resource-deprived, whether you do a little or a lot. The best time to start is today, not tomorrow. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and if you want to dive into cold water, you need to first pour water over your feet. The best time to start is while you’re young and energetic because there’s no better time than during your student years. Thinking a lot without doing is like doing without thinking.
See more: If I Knew This Before Starting My Business
4.2 Sales: The First Lesson to Continue Your Startup Story
The first lesson is to value money and understand how hard it is for parents to earn it. Communication is a vital skill for success, and sales is a vital skill for entrepreneurs. Participate in a sales job that forces you to overcome shyness, speak in front of a crowd, and accept rejection with a smile. Learning the spirit of persistence is crucial. When you start a business, the owner is also the salesperson, accountant, cleaner, producer, etc.
Sales is an honorable profession because they feed the entire organization. Always see every sales opportunity as a challenge to conquer. Try selling various products to understand how to approach individual customers versus organizational ones. I remember carrying rice wine to each room in the Construction dormitory near Tet, asking to sell, and while everyone liked it, none of them had money to buy. Looking back, it was quite awkward. No matter how awkward your actions are, they will always be a fond memory later. So don’t hesitate to do things you’ve never done before.
4.3 Learn Small Business Steps After Starting
Once you’ve built up confidence, start doing things where you have to bear the full responsibility. Remember the mantra, “start small, really small.” Some people who like business and have a good idea tend to make the mistake of pouring all their money into it and making it look grand and impressive. They don’t realize that 99.99% of first-time businesses will fail, not because the idea is bad, but because their execution is poor. Doing a few small business ventures will teach you valuable lessons about marketing, logistics, location selection, decoration, sales, negotiation, purchasing, preparation, planning, and maintaining a fighting spirit.
To learn to swim, you need to drink a lot of pool water first. Reading books alone won’t make you an entrepreneur; you need to dive in yourself. Street-smart is as important as book-smart (sorry for using the English term because explaining it in Vietnamese would be too long).
Many business professors in Vietnamese universities are poor because they are not close to businesses, and what they teach is often from books. A few of them actually run a business, so don’t expect much from university education for entrepreneurship. You learn about “strategy,” “branding,” etc., which are for big businesses. Startups need completely different lessons. You can start small, like selling flowers on March 8th, and then scale up to selling clothes online. You should start with a small group, not alone, to learn teamwork.
An important part is to start building your own entrepreneurial ecosystem. Don’t listen to or be close to those with stable, comfortable mindsets; they will try to drag you down to be “stable” like them. They’ll give a thousand reasons why you won’t succeed, and your ideas aren’t worth it. Find like-minded friends and mentors who have already started their businesses to learn from them. Only entrepreneurs will lift each other up and bring joy during difficult times.
Around them, you’ll find challenges lighter and obstacles more exciting. Some lessons can be learned without paying the price. And without a mentor, you’ll move very slowly. Do you wait until graduation for a “stable” job with a stable income before starting a business? No. You don’t need experience from corporations; you just need to be resourceful.
Read books, read many books about business and startups. I’ve read and listened to audiobooks for over 300-400 books. Nearly everything I do or plan to do has already been inspired by books. Billionaire entrepreneurs read an extraordinary amount of books. Students mostly focus on “gossip,” and the words they read most are “leaked,” “rape,” “long legs”… Read one book a month, reduce the time spent on entertainment and curiosity-satisfying content.
4.4 Real Business Makes Your Startup Story More Authentic
The time has come when you have a potential idea and want to turn it into a legacy. Now, it’s real money and real people, no longer just speculation. Because you don’t know what’s ahead, many young people end up bankrupt, regretting the losses. Write it on the wall and remind yourself never to forget.
Oh yeah! My idea is worth millions of dollars!
Always start a business by testing the viability of your idea first. It’s a must. If you have an idea to deliver vegetarian food to homes, don't rush into buying furniture or investing in a website. Test how large your market is and how capable you are of fulfilling the demand. Start by creating a simple blog, advertise around your office area, cook at home, and deliver the meals yourself. Moving from idea to reality is a completely different story. The market may not be as big as you think. If you’ve already bought too many things or rented a place, you may waste a lot of resources.
Starting a business is about building wealth, not proving how smart you are. Make a plan and always calculate things ahead. Risks are inevitable, but plan it in a way that you won’t suffer too much when you fall, and you’ll still have the motivation to keep going. Many people fall too hard, so when they think back, they’re filled with fear.
Remember that ideas are cheap, execution is what counts. Nokia used to be a wood pulp company, Deawoo was a textile factory… The idea itself is not as important as your ability to execute it. There's a company in the US worth $6 billion that simply makes stuffed bears to order, where customers sew the bears themselves. A piece of advice from an old expert is to only start a business with an existing idea, but you do it better, cater to a specific group of customers more effectively, and your chances of success will be much higher. Don’t “fight” with an idea that has never existed before in the world, the chances of failure will be very high.
4.5 Money is one of the most important things in the startup process
Money is the lifeblood of a business, and businesses usually fail because they run out of money. Therefore, when starting out, you must find ways to save money in your investment. The costs are often 3-4 times higher than your one-page “business plan.” You must calculate carefully and make sure you have enough money for a year; don’t expect that 3-4 months of revenue will cover your expenses to continue. Buy second-hand goods, ask for donations, use open-source software, have a website built for free, or search Google for a logo and customize it, for example.
Second-hand items you buy and resell can still fetch nearly the price you paid for them, so you’ll keep a lot of money left. As long as you have money, you can keep finding ways to make things happen. Once you run out of money, it will be hard to ask for or borrow from anyone else. There’s a misconception that startups need a lot of money, but in reality, you need to be good at managing money. No matter what, you’ll never have enough money to start your first business, and the more you do, the more you’ll run out. And you should use your own money for the startup, not money from your parents, to ensure that every decision you make—whether it's hiring people or buying equipment—is the right one.
4.6 People will be the key resources to help you succeed with your choices
You should only start a business with a founding team of no more than 2 people running the operation. A third person will create conflicts. If you look at successful big companies, they were mostly started by 2 people or 1 person. Google was Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Apple was the two Steves, Microsoft was Bill Gates and Paul Allen (Steve Ballmer joined later to help with operations, not to co-found). Mistakes in hiring people can end your business, so choose team members who are passionate about the idea, not just doing it for the money.
Choose people you like and can get along with, so that during tough times, you can empathize with each other. Only choose people who have the potential to stay with your business for the long term. Treat your employees well, like family, because they are the ones you’ll interact with most, and they will decide the quality of your life. Only such people will make tough times and challenges easier. Starting a business will promise a lot of difficulties and challenges.
Raising a startup is like raising a newborn baby; its only goal is to survive, have food, and avoid disease. Don’t feed it too much in an attempt to make it grow fast. Learn and apply Lean Startup principles. This means that customers are a part of the production and product-building process. Like Google Docs, which is continuously improved based on customer feedback, while Microsoft Word only updates every two years, making it harder to fix problems in time.
If you’ve read all the way to the end and still find it interesting, you may be ready to become an entrepreneur. With the effort I’ve put into this, I want to help as many people as possible. To be fair, if you like it, please share it with as many people as possible to spread the knowledge.
Collected (Alan Phan)
