Chapter 18 — When I Stop Being Invisible

Cannot be copied. These four words were worth my twelve years in Hang Vien. That night, To Niem cooked dinner for me. She has entered the twelfth grade, studying is very stressful, but she still persists in going to the kitchen once every weekend.

“Mom, how many people are there in your company now?”

“Seven people.”

"Previously, my mother alone was in charge of all eight departments of Hang Vien. Now that seven people are working together to make one product, is the allocation of resources like that any more reasonable?"

I looked at the baby.

"You're making fun of how stupid I was in the past, right?"

"No. I'm saying that now mom is finally back to normal."

This little girl. Talking is worse than me. When Gian Chu Technology was established for six months, the number of customers had already exceeded one hundred. Monthly revenue exceeds eighty thousand. Tham Dich began contacting round A investors. The first venture capital fund to actively seek out was Thanh Nguyen Fund. The partnership director, whose last name is Trinh, is a woman in her forties who has successfully invested in three listed companies. Boss Trinh came to Gian Chu to survey all morning. Do not view PPT. Don't look at the data. Just directly view the product system and feedback from customers. After watching, she asked me:

“Boss To, what is the renewal rate of your customers?”

“Industry average?”

“About 60 to 70%.”

“Why is your side so much taller?”

“Because my product doesn't sell features, it sells solutions.”

“When each customer starts using it, my team spends three days doing a business survey, then adjusts the form to their actual process.”

“In essence, we have embedded the consulting service directly into the SaaS product.”

“Isn't that a lot of work?”

"The first phase is expensive. But after adjusting, customer engagement is extremely high."

“Because our tools… are ingrained in their processes.”

She looked at me for a long time.

“Boss To, how old are you this year?”

“Forty-three.”

“At this age, being CEO of a technology startup... is not much.”

"I don't come from a technical background. I come from an administrative background."

She paused for a beat.

“Administrative?”

"I worked as an administrative specialist at my old company for twelve years. After being fired, I went out and started a business."

Boss Trinh put down his pen.

“Boss To, do you know why I came here today?”

"I do not know."

"Ha Duy met me at a drinking party. That day he drank a little too much and said one sentence."

"'The most solid project I've ever invested in — the founder was previously an administrative expert who was fired. Now the product she makes... is a hundred times better than the three million yuan system her old company once bought.'"

“He was drunk and said random things.”

“He said one more thing.”

“‘If you want to invest in her, you have to hurry up. Six months from now… you won't have enough money left to invest.’”

I said nothing. Boss Trinh stood up.

"Round A, twenty million. Valuation eighty million. This is my sincerity."

Twenty million. My total income from twelve years in Hang Vien combined... is less than half of this number.

“Boss Trinh, I need to see the terms.”

"Of course. Let the lawyers of both sides do their work."

She stopped for a moment.

“But I have one condition.”

“What conditions?”

“Personally, me will pour another million. No shares. Consider it a capital that you can freely use.”

“In return, each lady will have a meal with me and talk about business management.”

She picked up her bag and walked out the door.

“Because a person can endure being in a company for twelve years, taking on the work of eight departments ad infinitum without a single complaint — I've met quite a few people like that.”

“But those who dare to stand up from that chair…”

“Count and count again… not many people.”

“I want to see how far you… will go.”

She left. As soon as the door closed, Tham Dich rushed in from the next room.