VCs are seeking Vietnamese Web 2.0 Startups

2007/3/30

How Much to Clone YouTube

Tags:
@ 03:22 PM (17 months, 17 days ago)
Following the first Vietnamese YouTube clone, others would be launched soon. How about the cost, based on my initial estimate* for the site of 1/10th of size of YouTube (as in February 2007) the workout is as follows:
    Grid-computing costs for 1 year = $4,000.00
    Storage costs for 1 year = $15,000.00
    Bandwidth costs for 1 year = $40,000.00
    Development cost = $30,000.00
    Maintenance cost = $12,000.00
    Editorial team = $25,000.00
    Grand Total =  $126,000.00
It is minimum cost for year one, so what is your revenue model? When and how you clone exit?
* Estimate used Vormiteer calculation (built with Rails).
* YouTube bandwidth costs could reach $1 million a month according to Forbes

Do You Need MBA?

Tags:
@ 12:31 AM (17 months, 18 days ago)
Thinking of web business startup but not confident of your academic education as Mekong Capital prefers entrepreneur wannabes with MBA degree (my earlier post)? No worry, yesterday Forbes featured an article: Do M.B.A.s Make Better Entrepreneurs? Looking into some recent successful Chinese entrepreneurs: Alibaba.com' Jack Ma, Focus Media's Jason Jiang, Baidu' Robin Li, NetEase's William Ding, Tencent's Pony Ma - no MBA. Go ahead Vietnamese entrepreneurs 2.0.

2007/3/27

The Elevator Pitch

Tags:
@ 02:47 AM (17 months, 21 days ago)
Nice clip from Sean Wise.

2007/3/26

The $20 Million Challenge

Tags:
@ 05:10 PM (17 months, 21 days ago)
Early 2007 Mekong Capital Vietnam launched $20 million challenge -Thách thức $20 triệu competition. It is truly a business plan competition even it is stated beyond that. The priority categories are distribution of branded consumer products, retails, franchise and no mention of web services. This implies Mekong Capital would not join Vina Capital DFJ and IDGVV on tech VC battle ground. Young tech entrepreneurs rather digg into CNN Business 2.0 feature as Mekong Capital does not favor tech savvy guys under 25 and have no MBA diploma. The 22 year old Mark Zuckerberg with his Facebook could reach $1 billion. Vietnamese Phùng Tiến Công started nhacso.net with FPT Music in 2005 at 24 years old. As my earlier post, if you have a good concept and dream team just start and VC should come along. Competitions and gameshows can make an American Idol and The Apprentice but not a Simon Fuller and Donald Trump.

2007/3/24

Yahoo and Ebay who moves first?

Tags:
@ 01:31 AM (17 months, 24 days ago)
Yahoo! Singapore Pte. Ltd. has Vietnamese version recently, some sections are being developing, News was being sourced from largest circulation newspaper Tuoi Tre. Ebay does not want to be late in this potential market, Ebay Vietnamese version are live now. It seems that Ebay is betting on Vietnam after losing to Yahoo! in other Asian markets. In order to beat Ebay in Vietnam, Yahoo should find out local partnership as it did in other Asian markets. Who are the targets? Will IDG Vietnam bring its Chodientu to the table?

2007/3/19

CNET Clone?

Tags:
@ 11:56 PM (17 months, 28 days ago)
Amid new wave of Web 2.0, a Vietnamese Cnet clone has been launched recently. It is named The Gioi Phang (means The World is Flat). Two years ago, Cnet was looked down by blogosphere and just early this year Engadget had nearly 10 million page views on iPhone Day. Investors downgrade Cnet stock also. If you plan digital gadget sites, think Engadget, Gizmodo instead of Cnet.

2007/3/17

Introduction to Venture Capital

Tags:
@ 09:14 AM (18 months, 18 hours ago)

Will Price has a great lecture on venture capital.

2007/3/14

Vietnam Online Advertising Network

Tags:
@ 06:30 PM (18 months, 3 days ago)
Still in its infancy but highly potential, Vietnam online advertising market has few players and lack of creative solutions. Banners and buttons are dominant types of online ads while other types are in good position in international market. Even IAB Standards and Guidelines are new concept in Vietnam. Being the most aggressive player, OAC represents some highest traffic news site: Vietnamnet, 24h. OAC now are trying to apply IAB standards to its own sites and clients'. Competitor VnExpress handles its own advertising sales and find a partnership with Singapore Admax for international expansion.The largest ISP VDC is testing AdServer on its managed sites. Quantrimang is the first site to replicate Google AdSense text links, actually it cheated AdSense in 2006 as Google AdSense does not support Vietnamese sites yet. There is an opportunity for players to become leading online advertising network with ad serving component core technology. Allyes AdNetwork in China is a good case to study. Visionary players also should look ahead to contextual advertising solutions before Google AdSense become publishers' favorite.

2007/3/10

Social Media vs Traditional TV

Tags:
@ 11:23 PM (18 months, 7 days ago)
Stock market has been focal point of Vietnamese people early 2007. Amid the heating fortune quest, Vietnam Television VTV launched InfoTV channel on its pay TV platforms (both cable and satellite) in March 2007. Concept originally as a shopping channel but turned focus to financial news especially stock market related information. How it make content: get archived data on Internet, shooting at exchange floors, interview some investors, finance experts... and collect articles from newspapers as update to its viewers. If Vietnam were ten year back, the channel had been a rock star then. But unlike Thailand in 1996-1997 with poor Internet infrastructure, Vietnamese broadband users can access financial data from local and international stock markets as easy as InfoTV editors. Stock news was updated in near real time in forums. Finance and investment knowledge was shared and tracked back instantly. The ones who watch InfoTV next day are lagged behind the market move as web active users had made decision earlier. The old thinking InfoTV editors are not aware that media shift is happening allover the world. Giant BBC is monitoring the trend with UK regulator Ofcom support. So if you are connected YOU are the ones.

2007/3/7

The First Vietnamese YouTube Clone

Tags:
@ 09:21 PM (18 months, 10 days ago)
Following many China firms cloning YouTube recently, Vega Technology Group launched Clip in February 2007 as the first Vietnamese YouTube clone. The user interface is similar to almost other YouTube clones. Color scheme is exactly the same with Chinese YoQoo. Clip streaming speed is better than YouTube at Clip site (access from Vietnam), but no significant different at users' blog as most Vietnamese bloggers use non Vietnamese blog services (Yahoo 360, Opera, Wordpress, Blogger and others descending order). There is no revenue model at Clip now and no social networking partner yet. We would see some MySpace, Facebook clones soon so that Clip could team up.

2007/3/1

Vietnam is ready for Web 2.0?

Tags:
@ 02:58 PM (18 months, 16 days ago)
Reading recently James Seng’s post about Web 2.0 in Singapore and Spannerworks Web 2.0 taking off in China, I think it is time for Vietnam to start Web 2.0 services. Here are the reasons.
1) Vietnam is a large market.
Population of more than 85 millions (about one third from 15 to 30 years old) and nearly 15 millions internet users. Some Vietnamese websites reach high rank with Alexa. Online games are so popular with Vietnamese youngsters. Vietnam could become the next China or India.
2) Available funding for Web 2.0
IDG Venture Vietnam is willing to invest into Web 2.0 start-ups with big portion of $100 million fund. FPT Capital is looking for partners who can manage portfolio of Web 2.0 services. Other VC funds are setting up to grasp this potential market.
3) HR 2.0
There are not many Web 2.0 visionaries in Vietnam like in other countries but the pool of web developing talents is available enough for Web 2.0 services. Some young designers can work with leading Hollywood studios.