Week 10 - Alvin Du

Andrew seems quite contradictory in his book Startup Vietnam. It appears to be a book about how to manage a startup business in modern Vietnam but as you keep reading, you'll encounter statements that seem to direct you the opposite way. After about 40 pages into the book, I came across a list of pros and cons of startup culture in Vietnam. There are a handful of good things to say such as everyone's enthusiasm to create things and the rise of technology. But there are actually a lot of cons that are listed, nearly three times as much. Andrew lists things such as failure to commit due to family issues or lack of decency to reply even as far as claiming Vietnamese people don't respect your time because they sit on your offer and eventually ghost you. All these cons are listed and yet the book is called Startup Vietnam, a book that is supposed to introduce you to entrepreneurship in modern Vietnam. The reason I think Andrew contradicts himself this book is because he wants to expose the audience to the reality of Vietnamese business practices. While Vietnam's business practices dont seem too ideal for entrepreneurship currently, it'll get better as Vietnam grows. Specifically, when there are more of the younger tech-savvy generation. Vietnam has so much potential to become a tech powerhouse, but in order to do so, the younger generation along with newfound culture needs to envelop the country first.

Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.