On a 6-year incubation journey, Danang Business Incubator has witnessed and nurtured nearly 100 business ideas to come into being and grow. Amongst them, there are successful businesses which are worth millions of dollars. Although their startup journeys are different, the founders have interesting things in common in terms of motivation to start a business and required qualities.  

I. MOTIVATION FOR START-UP

When starting a business, there are three main motivations that make a person want to become an entrepreneur:  

– To become an owner of a private business.

– To develop one's own idea. 

– To get the financial rewards you deserve.

Particularly for start-ups, motivation often comes from or is associated with solving a problem that is outstanding in society, which is often new, unsolved problems or those are or are uncertain to be successful. A true founder tends to pioneer in solving a problem and is really passionate about it. Passion leads to excitement, ownership, motivation to keep working even when it is challenging and desire to make life better. 

Let's take a look at a few examples from start-up projects that have participated in the Finc incubator program at DNES to learn more about startup dynamics.

The first one is the start-up idea of Umbalena – a reading app for children from 2-10 years old – developed by the founder thanks to her daughter's interest in reading books on foreign applications, in the context that Vietnam still does not have a reading app. Or the Hekate project with the Sumi app which is a chatbot that caters to entertainment for young people, with a greater desire that is to develop technology serving the community. As it can be seen, although motivation to begin varies, the founders are all aiming to solve a specific problem that is posed in society. The initial start-up motivation may come from the problems of yourself and your family, but as the time passes, the value of product and service which is useful to the community is the motivation to maintain and develop the project. 

 II. QUALITIES OF ENTREPRENEURS

There have been many articles and articles on the personalities of start-ups. According to a research paper published in the Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship (1982), 42 qualities are commonly found in successful entrepreneurs.  The most prominent are the qualities such as Determination, determination, vision; being proactive and responsible; striving to achieve the goal, persevering in solving the problem; always actively listening and exploiting feedback; knowing how to weigh risks; accepting failure; Creativity and innovation,… During DNES' more than 5 years of startup incubation, the people we came into contact with also had the same characteristics listed above. Let's take a look at the qualities of a startup as observed by DNES from the community of founders here: 

1. Innovate and update technology trends

Recent statistics show that technology, engineering and IT startups account for nearly 30% of about 500 large startups. The above number has demonstrated the explosion of technology, technology today.

Similarly, in Da Nang, tech start-ups are leading the wave of start-ups, grasping the latest trends and development rules of the market.

Let's go into the specific example with the representative is startup Datbike with the product is the weaver sports style electric motorcycle. Datbike introduced Weaver with outstanding features: full charge within 3 hours, running a maximum of 100km, and reaching the maximum speed of 80 km/h. It is the result of research and application of the technology process with a large-scale production line. The company has raised $2.6 million in funding led by jungle ventures. 

The next example is the introduction of Delta X robot by technology startup Doan Hong Trung. Delta X robots are used in the task of dropping and arranging conveyor belt products. The Delta X project has received a lot of attention from the robotics maker community, robotics lab and well-known technology newspapers. At the same time, the product also received many orders, cooperation offers from research centers and foreign companies, as well as successfully transported robots to nearly 30 countries around the world. It all proves the appeal of today's technology trends.

2. Accept failure and be ready to "start again"

One of the key factors that attract investors is that founders who have started before, have failed, even failed more and more will attract more attention. Looking back at the startup ecosystem in Da Nang, we see that there are people who have grown up from stumbling on such a startup journey.

Drawing on the experience from the failures of previous startups, Founder Le Anh Tuan has made Cashbag the number one online money-back app in Vietnam. Not stopping there, Mr. Tuan continued to launch Selly – a platform that connects retailers and suppliers. Selly's figure is 3,200 retail partners nationwide with an average monthly income of 5-10 million. 

Another familiar face of Da Nang startup village is Mr. Nguyen Quoc Han, founder of Easy Salon. This is a comprehensive management platform for beauty service providers. Learning from the failures of Bgift and Glamme, plus the continuous efforts, Quoc Han has helped Easy Salon successfully appear in 36 provinces and 2 countries. 

These two names represent a lot of young people starting a business in Da Nang who are not afraid to fail and know how to take advantage of previous startup experiences to serve as a springboard for today's greater success. 

3. Commit and accept trade-offs

Acknowledge that starting a business is a dream and proud career, but starting a business also means trade-offs and sacrifices. Acknowledge that starting a business is a dream and proud career, but starting a business also means trade-offs and sacrifices. 

Going back to the Umbalena project, it is never easy for women to start a business, especially as a mother. Mrs. Le Thi Cam Trinh has had to choose between family, children and work. However, thanks to the sense of commitment to the work, because of the mission that Umbalena has set – "Building a young generation of Vietnamese readers"- she and the Umbalena team have achieved remarkable achievements. It's a huge guest store of 1,000 books with 40,000 trusted parents and more than 60,000 children reading every day; Pioneering prize of Vietnam Women's Startup Contest 2020 and first prize of Startup Wheel 2020. 

And the last one is Datbike. In 2019, to expand production scale, a team of more than 10 young people has waded from Da Nang into Binh Duong. Accepting to go to a remote place, receiving meager salaries, they are still determined, and the result is success at the present time.

The information above is just the characteristics based on start-up journeys that Danang Business Incubator supports. Although start-ups have common characteristics, they are also very personal examples, very typical for a new wave of start-ups in Danang city. 

Let’s watch the video below to better understand founders’ profiles on the start-up journey

Author: Mr. Vo Duy Khuong