Chapter 17 — When I Stop Being Invisible

"Boss Tham, you have the resources in the consulting industry and the customer network. I have the product and implementation experience. The two sides together will be better than each person doing half."

“Are you serious?”

“When am I ever not serious?”

He took off his glasses and wiped them a bit.

“Give me time to think.”

"Three days. Last time you gave me three days, this time I will also give you three days."

He laughed. Three days later, Tham Dich agreed. We spent two weeks registering a new company. The name was given by me — Gian Chu Technology. Taken from the sentence "If you don't care, it's too much." To Niem's comment is:

“Mom, this guy… is a bit too artistic.”

"No. That's great. It's the same as my mother's name — Gian Chu, Gian·To."

“I've been thinking a lot.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

The first round of funding came earlier than expected. Ha Duy proactively became an angel investor. He poured in three million. His original words were:

"Boss To, I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of your operating toolkit. Using Thien Vu Communications for three months, administrative efficiency increased by 55%, even exceeding the commitment level. If this product is made into SaaS - you do not lack customers, just lack of team and time. Three million is enough for you to complete the MVP stage."

The day I signed the contract, I sat in the meeting room for a long time. Forty-three years old. Fired for four months. Currently, I am the founder of a technology company. What the future holds, I'm not sure. But there's one thing I know for sure — I will never go back to being that person who "does everything, but no one sees" again. Gian Chu Technology's development team is very small. Including me there are seven people. Two programmers, one product manager, one UI designer, Vu Tieu Man moved from Thuy Hoa to be in charge of operations, Tieu Ly is in sales, and I hold the position of CEO and Product Director. Office rented in the western startup area of the city, sixty square meters wide. Open the window and see a ginkgo tree. It took us two months to complete the MVP version. The core features are all drawn from my twelve years of experience at Hang Vien — process template warehouse, inter-departmental coordination tracking board, smart scheduling tool, SOP automatic generation system. Not a huge, complicated system. They are small, compact, precise tools. Address head-on the twenty most common operational problems of businesses ranging from fifty to three hundred people. The first week of launch, Ha Duy introduced us to five potential customers. I went directly to give three presentations. After hearing this, the first customer immediately said:

"Why does this seem to understand our company? It's ten times easier to use than the OA we've been using for the past two years."

Because of those weaknesses, I spent twelve years in Hang Vien. Every smallest detail... is honed from real work. The second customer asked directly:

"Do you have an annual package? I want to sign for two years."

The third customer was even more direct. After watching half of it, he said: "Don't watch anymore. I believe Ha Duy's recommendation. Where to sign the contract?" Vu Tieu Man stood next to record the entire process. On the way home, the girl said: "Miss To, I have followed you on three projects. I have never seen a customer close an order this quickly."

“Because the product solves a real problem the. Not some virtual problems on PPT.”

In the first month of launch, the product closed twelve customers, with a monthly revenue of eighteen thousand. Not much. But for a seven-person startup, it's enough to live on. Tham Dich, as a co-founder, is mainly in charge of strategy and capital raising. During an internal review meeting, he said one sentence: "To Van, do you know what the biggest difference is between Gian Chu and other operational SaaS software?"

“Other people's products are features imagined by technical people. As for your product, it was created by one person who worked for twelve years, stepping on each hole one by one."

“So your core barrier is not technology, but experience. This cannot be copied.”

I nodded.