Vietnamese entrepreneurs officially have a new hero: Bill Nguyen. Last time we wrote about Bill, he sold his online music application Lala.com to Apple. Bill is back. This time, he teamed up with another Influential Vietnamese Peter Pham (whom we hope to profile soon) for a $41 million dollar venture called Color.
Color is a smartphone app that lets you share photos and create albums with people around you. There’s no following or friending, just spontaneous sharing wherever you are. You know, the way it used to be before Facebook and Twitter. I personally think it is a very cool idea, some do not. However, I’m not here to write a product review. I’m here to say:
Did anyone notice that Silicon Valley’s hottest new project is run by two Vietnamese guys?!
Bill and Peter have set a milestone for the young Vietnamese American community.
It is too soon to say if Color will fail or succeed, but the road to this point is a success in its own right.
Now, can we make this type of talent a capability that we can nurture within our community? Can we make this type of success repeatable, in a way that Chinese, Taiwanese, and Indians have done in Silicon Valley? I believe we can. I see clear synergies between OneVietnam (the collaboration platform), SAVVI (the network of expertise), and VietAmCham (the voice of the larger Viet business community).
We host a free monthly speaker series called aSaigon/CreativeMorning that brings just these kinds of people to breakfast with young creative minds in Vietnam. The way to see this entrepreneurial culture in country is to start behaving “as is”. As it is already happening. Join us, please. http://saigoncreativemornings.blogspot.com
David