1. Stable political environment

Vietnam elected an all new class of General Secretary, President and Prime Minister in April 2016, which leaves people wondering in which direction the new leaders will take. So far, we’ve seen a surprisingly determined push towards a more pro-business, pro-investment government. While corruption remains an issue, Vietnam has a fairly stable political environment, ideal for sustainable economic growth. This stability is especially valued, in light of the political tumult in other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand or the Philippines.

2. Impressive GDP growth

When most of the developed economies are still in recovery mode, Vietnam stands out as an out-performer with 6.4% GDP growth in 2016. This growth has been attributed to strong performance in manufacturing, exports, and agriculture. Forecasts point to similarly stellar performance in 2017–2020 period. …

This is one of my favorite books that I frequently revisit. As I grow older and as my career develops, life continues to present a flux of possible choices and opportunities. This is mostly a good and fortunate thing (not many people have the luxury to choose). But clearly, too many choices can be paralyzing.

To solve that problem, Greg Mckeown proposes a somewhat radical approach: eliminate most and pursue few. …

Freelancers are like the white walkers — they’re multiplying FAST. In the US alone, there are roughly 53 million freelancers, accounting for 34% of the country’s total workforce. It’s expected that in 5 years, this number will reach a staggering 50%. Remarkably, the same trend is also observed across Europe.

Why is this shift happening? I think there are a few drivers underlying this shift:

1. Technology makes remote working much easier: ubiquitous access to fast internet, cloud/mobile softwares, live communication tools — these all have helped unchain workers from their desks. People can now work from almost anywhere.

2. The on-demand economy: Startups like Uber, Lyft, Homejoy, Postmates, etc. have created an entire new class of workers. They pick jobs they like, work when they want, and get paid by the hour. I asked my Uber driver the other day how he feels about his job. “It’s not the best,” he said, “but it’s a lot better than working at warehouses or restaurants. I drive 8 hours a day, but can go offline and take breaks whenever I…

Definition by Oxford English Dictionary.

In the world of consumer internet, curation is no longer just a trend. It has become intrinsic to digital products and their core strategy. Curation is the product.

This shift is no surprise considering the growth of the World Wide Web in the last decade. In 2004, there were about 51M websites, and currently more than 915M.

Source: http://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/

This number is expected to reach 1 billion some time later this year. The same trajectory can be observed for other digital assets such as SKUs in online stores, online services, images, videos, ideas, etc.

The web is now this vast ocean in which users are barely able to stay afloat. Curation comes to the rescue. The “curators” are generally expert(s) in a particular field: design, fashion, photography, food, software, etc. They simply collect things according to their personal preference or a preset standard. …

As a VC analyst at Partech Ventures, I’ve processed through hundreds of pitch decks. Some are fascinating, some boring, some are really well-designed, and some look like they’ve been preserved from the 1990s. I generally prefer speaking to entrepreneurs, but because of time constraint, unfortunately pitch decks are still the most common way for founders to introduce their startups.

After some time, I’ve started to recognize a pattern: the decks that generally make it to the “next round” (introductory call) all have one element that other decks lack or fail to convey clearly: the vision.

By “vision”, I don’t mean farfetched purpose statements such as “We want to be the next Uber for X” or “We want to unbundle Y and replace Z completely” — you leave these at the beginning to paint the big picture. …

3 years ago, during my junior year in college, my iPhone broke, so I began looking for a new phone online. I was on a student budget, but having a smart phone was very important to me, so I decided to invest on a good one.

At the time, The Google Nexus was one of the hottest new smart phones. It had this thin shiny look to it, and on the website, it bragged to have one of the most powerful processors on the market which closed the deal for me. I ordered the phone from Google’s website and it arrived a couple days later. I remember the first time turning on the phone, I was mesmerized by the screen’s brilliance. I loved using it too: the phone was smooth and fast, the pictures on it looked beautiful. …