Question

Hi everyone,

I’m Vu Nguyet Anh – Founder/CEO of Rudicaf – the most prestigious Dating service brand in Vietnam.

Actually, I graduated in Television Director major from Hanoi academy of Theatre and Cinema. I had more than 10 years of experience in Television/Communication industry and that’s why until today, I can use a lot of skills and the large network in this industry for my current business.

In 2011, I started my business for the first time with Dating service – a very new industry in Vietnam. Of course, it was not related to my forte (Television/Communication) at all and it was a big challenge to me. Furthermore, I borrowed a loan from the bank to start my business which was very risky.

After more than a year, because of lacking experience in finance management and especially the bad timing of this business, I had to close my company and went to work for other companies trying to pay back the money to the bank.

4 years after, while I was working in another industry, I still kept myself updated with Dating service industry to develop the insight and catch a good timing to revive my business.

In 2016, I decided to quit my current job and back to my start-up dream with a new dating service brand: Rudicaf. Luckily, this time, the timing is much better because today, start-up becoming a hot trend in Vietnam and we have received a lot of support. It’s also easier to meet potential investors, raise funds, do branding for free or with low fees in many big channels… and, especially, the customers are now ready to pay high fees for high quality dating service.

With such favorablec onditions, after a short time since the service was launched, I was awarded as the best Start-up woman of the year of 2016 and Rudicaf was ranked at 4th in Top 20 Favorite Start-ups in Vietnam. I consider this the very first success as well as motivation, but at the same time, the pressure to push myself try harder and harder. Since then, Rudicaf keeps appearing on the biggest and most prestigious TV channels, newspapers and magazines in Vietnam. Besides, because I have always focus on creating high quality social network, it turns out to support me a lot in my business.

 So, today, in Woomentum, I’m willing to share with you all my experience about communication, start-up and everything related…

I will be available on 31th May and 1th June from 2:30pm to 3pm SGT to talk here on Woomentum!

Comments

Hi,

Thanks for your questions! Here are my answers for you:

1. What is the most challenging aspect that a startup need to face in Vietnam? and how to overcome it?

In my opinion, two biggest challenges are:

- Legal risk: The products/service of most start-up are new and even the first one in the market. We don’t know exactly what kind of legal papers that we need to prepare so we always face the legal risk

- Human resource: It's not easy to hire and keep the good employees due to the low salary and inconvenient working condition of start-up.

Until now, I couldn’t say how to overcome it because we are very new in the market and in the start-up community in Vietnam. But I think that we will be patient and try our best to overcome and go further, sustainably  in the future.

2. Is it easy or very challenging to find fund in Vietnam and Why? Do you have any recommendation of  how I could reach out to the angel investors in Vietnam?

As I mentioned in my introduction, today, start-up becoming a hot trend in Vietnam and that's why, many many incubators, accelerators, ventures and investors are looking for cooperation opportunity in Vietnam start-up market. In my experience, if you have a good idea and a potential project, it will not be difficult to find fund. 

There are many way to approach the potential angel investors such as participate the networking event of start-up community or pitching in the competition for new start-ups.

3. What is the best method of communication/marketing method that is most suitable for Vietnam market?

We couldn't say which communication/marketing method is the best because it depends on many factors such as your industry, your product, your target customer, your aim and your market, etc.

In our case, because our industry and our product are very specific and our target customers are selective so we couldn't use the common method as digital marketing or mass marketing but just PR channel (television & newspaper) and building up the personal brand name (of CEO). We found that it's effective and match with our aim (get the faith from the customer).

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Hi Mouna,

Thanks for your questions! Here are my answers for you:

I would like to learn more on how you built your brand and how social media played a role in engaging audience for your business.

It's a whole process. I worked for many companies in different industries, I spent time to participated many many events, networking activities... and It took many years to build a relationship network as of now.

About the engaging audience for our business, I just tried to update our social network with the positives news, interesting blogs and shared our knowledge about dating service.

I like Rudicaf concept alot and I would like to understand a bit more about the model. 

Our service just provides to selective members, who are:

- Single by law

- Graduated from university

- Have a decent job and salary

We have now 4 membership package from 500-1000 USD with different support service

Please refer https://rudicaf.com/pages/faqs for more details.

Are members also Vietnamese living overseas?

Currently, we just provide service to Vietnamese people who living in Hanoi. In the future, we may expand to other cities and other countries.

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Hi,

Thanks for your questions! Here are my answers for you:

1. What were the most important lessons that you learned from the failure of your Dating service in 2011? You also mentioned "lacking experience in finance management and especially the bad timing of this business", if possible can you also eloborate on these two points?

- Finance: Save, save and save. While starting up, we need to minimize all the cost and optimize the amount. We also need to concern about the fund. Never let our company fall into the situation of running out of money.

- Timing: I realize that the timing is the most important factor which effect to the start-up success. If  we start too early, the market is still not ready to accept out product; if we start too late, we have many strong competitors.

2. What would you have done differently in 2011 if you have a time-machine?

I still had started-up and failed, but I had saved money to minimize the loan from the bank.

For me, that failure is very valued and it's the great teacher who will help me following the sucess in the future easier.

3. I am also super excited for Rudicaf! Can you tell me about how Rudicaf facilitates (help) 2 users across their dating experience?

Rudicaf doesn’t focus on matching two people but builds a high quality dating community where members could have new qualified friends. By that way, the busy people have more chance to expand their network first, and then choose the one who match with them to develop the relationship.

In RUDICAF Dating – our strategic product currently – the first date booking app in Vietnam, we screen the members with strict and high standards (single by law, graduated from university and have a decent job and salary). After their profiles are screened and confirmed, they will pay very high fee for membership package (from 500-100 USD/year) to have an account. After signing in in the app, they could see the profiles of other members and book a date with them if wanted.

4. Currently, I am also involved with a "luxury" service startup in a different market. Rudicaf's service price tag belongs to the mid to high end of the spectrum. How do we, as service provider, convince the target customers to purchase our memberships? What does Rudicaf promise to its users to justify for the hefty fee? Do you think the users will be curious about the stats (e.g. number of dates, success rate, etc.)?

In our case, we just affirm our brand, our reputation and our quality. By that way, the customers will initially approach us to sign-up. We don’t promise that we will help them to find someome to love or get marriage but we promise that we’ll always control and ensure the quality of our dating community.

I think when we focus on nich market with selective customers and high fee, we need to show them the specific value that they can get from only you but no other place. 

Answer 1

Hi Nguyet Anh, I'm really impressed by what you have accomplished! Currently I'm based in Singapore but Vietnam is an exciting market that my startup would like to discover, so I have 3 questions th ...

Answer 2

Hi Nguyet Anh, I would like to learn more on how you built your brand and how social media played a role in engaging audience for your business. I like Rudicaf concept alot and I would like to under ...

Answer 3

Hi Nguyet Anh, It is amazing to read about your journey and how you adjusted your career path along the way. Grit is certainly one of, if not, the most important qualities of entrepreneur. So I would ...