Thanh Duy shared with us his thoughts on the G-Accelerator program and what it has done for him so far:
Please introduce yourself, let us know where you are from and what brought you here to GBSB Global?
"Yes, hi my name is Thanh Duy! I’m 29 years old, I’m from Germany and doing my master's in digital business. My first job was working in a start up in Germany which was an online second-hand kid clothing company, which was then bought by a Spanish company who was scaling very fast. Back then I was head of operations in charge of building up all the processes, quality check, etc... for this company however once the company was acquired, they implemented their own processes, so it was a difficult moment for me. However, it also made me open to looking for new opportunities."
"I then joined a digitalization project within the steel industry. The vision was to digitalize the whole steel supply chain and build up a platform. They felt threatened by amazon and Alibaba and therefore hired people from different start-ups to disrupt their own business model. Nobody of us knew what to expect from the steel industry, because there was no blueprint to how to build an industry platform, so we had to build - measure - learn our way through it. Which was also the reason why I was looking for a Master Program in Digital Business, to learn more about the scientific part of platform businesses."
So what skills did you aim to acquire from your master's program in Digital Business?
"In my last job we only practiced learning by doing when building the industry platform, but I wanted the tool box to able to build up a platform and understand the interconnection between different players. So, I was looking for a program which GBSB Global was offering and I’m really glad I took the opportunity. I’m also really glad for professors and courses that allowed us to have a view behind the scenes and also thanks to the courses, without the knowledge they were able to provide I wouldn’t have been able to develop the first idea for the project. So, everything was a coincidence, but this is how it works!"
What made you decide to apply to the G-Accelerator program?
"I was always thinking about this idea for a while, but with my past experience working in a startup I knew I never wanted to do it again basically because it becomes your whole life and I told myself that if I didn’t fully love the idea it wasn’t for me. However, being able to be a founder of one and see my own idea grow and be committed to something completely mine was very attractive. So, at the end I thought just do it! Life is full of chances and sometimes you don’t see it and you just walk right past it, so just try and I got accepted."
How has G-Accelerator helped you through the process?
"How it has helped, basically right now I am working alone and I don’t have a team so its construction sites everywhere, so you have to work everywhere and the program has really helped me work on things that I don’t want to work on, things that you would usually trust onto other team members that are stronger in this area than you are. So, it helps you invest the time in understanding those topics. It has also helped provide the structure needed to my project and the ability to see it from another perspective."
How has the mentoring process been?
"It has been very useful because when you start you always a bit fearful to share your idea because you’re always afraid in a startup environment that someone might use it, however those are the people who can give you the most feedback. However not sharing can slow you down and put you in bubble you cannot escape, therefore the G-Accelerator program provides you with a safe environment full of professionals who can give you constructive criticism. This gives you a possibility to keep improving your idea and make any changes needed."
What do you hope to gain at the end of the program?
"My main goal is that in June I will be able to pitch the idea, so I can stay in Barcelona and keep working on this. Spain has a lot of small businesses which makes me think this is the perfect place start, those small businesses are competing with each other but lack the tools to do so, therefore I hope that is where my idea can step in."
Thanh will continue to work on his project through the guidance of G-accelerator and we are eager to see what the future holds for him. We hope by sharing his thoughts we are giving an inside look to students who are thinking to apply to our second edition! If you would like to know more details, please visit our G-Accelerator page to learn more and how to apply.
