The story of how I got on a journey to change the lives of a million truckers in Vietnam (and potentially beyond)
It’s 2am as I lie awake in bed, thinking about the journey I am on.
Only 11 short months ago, I was hatching a new venture after a previous failed project. The idea came from witnessing the huge inefficiency of 10 trucks in the Long An factory where I worked for a year. And that’s only 10 trucks, what about the hundreds of thousands, nearly a million trucks in Vietnam?
I started by buying a dozen possible .com domains for $30. Two weeks later I had decided on the name LOGIVAN. It was the only name that made people on the street think of logistics — and it even sounds like a Logitem copycat, so what?
#JustDoIt
A month later we were frantically talking to as many shippers and truckers as possible. We set out to understand the market thoroughly, knowing the number one reason a start-up fails is a lack of a genuine problem in the first place. And we noticed the fragmentation facet that dominates the trucking industry in many single landmass countries (Vietnam included). A million trucks. 90% of trucking companies have fewer than 5 trucks. Truck capacity is extremely under-utilised. No co-ordination. No optimisation. Nothing. Just pure inefficiency. Pure waste.
So here comes the platform Uber for trucks. It made complete sense. The market was so rife with small players, arbitrage had become rampant. The truck owners had lost all their independence and bargaining power to the agents. But technology could solve this information asymmetry. A technology solution could unify the ecosystem of small independent truckers, giving them the power to control their business and eliminate the cutthroat brokerage layers.
Without further ado, I designed the LOGIVAN logo — not fancy or slick, but at least it captured a sense of forward motion. We created the first messy looking landing page. Made the first unconvincing pitch deck. Sold the product MVP in the wrong way. Looking back everything seemed too embarrassing, too rudimentary, too basic… but I just did it anyway. Fuck perfect presentation, perfect pitch, perfect product.
If I waited until everything was perfect, LOGIVAN would still be at zero today.
Then the first order came in. It was 100 tons of minerals, and it felt awesome. It was then that we started to learn the complexities of moving cargo around, and how technology is going to remake the whole world of freight movement.
By going to the China border during Lunar New Year, we captured hundreds of truckers stuck in a 10-km traffic jam. We had chance to ask about their life and work, helping us refine the product to their needs. There was one big eye-opener. Explaining the concept and even the app-functionality to non-tech-savvy drivers was tough. It was fucking painful. But we had to continue. This antiquated market was in need of disruption, and we were there doing it. No excuses.
Then the magic began. I didn’t expect to win UberExchange and go to Silicon Valley to meet Uber executives. I didn’t expect to receive $600K seed investment after only 4 months from the first domain purchase. I didn’t expect to win Best Startup 2018 at RISE Hong Kong. I didn’t expect that this small seed could so quickly snowball into the media spotlight. Building a company to create a legacy (the good type!) has always been our dream and our motivation.
Along the way I’m lucky to have met incredible people who are extremely entrepreneurial and capable. You know the kind of people that just make you feel you can ride a crazy roller-coaster with them, indefinitely. The kind of people I love working with and learning from.
N — I’m touched by your generosity, your extreme sense of responsibility and your intelligence. Your confidence to present new ideas and opposing viewpoints is a huge strength to the team. We need different opinions. I hate agreeableness. I love a healthy dose of competition, a touch of ownership and plenty of perspective diversity. Then we have a perfect cocktail for the next unicorn team.
K — your commitment continues to amaze me and others. You’ve laid the foundation of LOGIVAN’s products by relentlessly coding days and nights. Sometimes I wonder how a 23-yr-old engineer could release 2 LOGIVAN apps in 2 months. We were blown away by your talent and skills. #PrayForReusableCode
T — thank you for stepping up the game and became our first growth hacker. Your versatility is impressive and cannot appreciate enough of your sacrifice of your side business to join LOGIVAN full-time.
Yinglan — you’re a genius and a super connector. No one can make faster laser-sharp decisions like you can. I’m proud to be backed by you and high profile investors in Asia. We will continue to push for change and innovation in Asian logistics and make you proud. #UndisputedLeadership
Today we announce a new funding round led by Ethos Partners, joined with Insignia Ventures Partners and Vinacapital. The addition of strategic regional investors will propel LOGIVAN’s growth to a new level. We’ll relentlessly iterate on our products to make our corporate clients impressed and onboard more truckers in our system.
Let’s keep truckin’ with LOGIVAN team. I hope we all grow to be wonder men and wonder women in this exciting journey ahead.
P/S: We’re growing fast. If you want to be part of the story, reach out to me at LP@logivan.com.
Update 01: We have raised another round of $5.5m funding in February 2019 from Asia’s prominent angel investors and VCs. Our current number of truck suppliers is 26,000.
