Wiziin, Vietnam-based venture investment management startup, provides tech platforms specializing in data-driven solutions for startups and investors in capital raising, dealmaking, and co-invest monitoring, has successfully raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding
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| Company | Wiziin Inc |
| Location | Ho Chi Minh City |
| Deadline | 30/07/2023 |
| Position | Community Lead |
Wiziin is powering the private equity investment revolution by providing a user-centric way to bear the burden of capital raising, facilitate deal-making, simplify investor relations for SMEs, and co-invest monitoring for investors.
As an adaptive company, we place a great deal of building a new way to bridge the gap between investors and founders, enabling start-ups to get the resources they need easier and faster and investors to make better investments.
Since 2023, Wiziin provides a new open community-based platform for venture investors that specializes in investing in digital assets in startups and early-stage ventures. The platform enables individual investors to form investment clubs, raise funds, do due diligence, deal structure, and make decisions by voting. Given that the adoption of blockchain technology is on the rise, Wiziin is building solutions for professional individual investors to invest more efficiently together in innovative startups.
We’re looking for a web3-savvy Community Lead to join our marketing team. In this role, you’ll be responsible for creating and executing innovative strategies to engage and grow our web3 community.
The successful candidate will know how to work the press, network all media contacts has an eye for a story, and be able to produce high-quality communications materials.
Here are the skills we are looking for
The traits that will help you harmony with our culture:
This is not a traditional working position. We absolutely appreciate and value people with an entrepreneurial spirit and those skills associated to build something huge. If you are looking for a safe journey, this will not be it
If you feel hyped after reading this, send your CV to us via THIS FORM for an interview schedule. As an entrepreneurial team, we love to work directly with the candidate.
Learn more about us at
There is a crucial thing that only top founders know better than others: when you meet with VCs, don’t just fixate on getting their money — learn from them. So which question should you ask to gain the most from the meeting?
For any offered meeting with a VC, the possibility it will result in funding is between 1% and 10%. That means you have 90+% chance that you will not raise money from this person. So if money is your only goal for that meeting, you are wasting 90%+ of your time.
It’s better to consider the meeting as an opportunity to build your company using the information you get from the VC, not just the money you might get. This will give you a higher return on your time.
Remember that investors see 1000s of companies and have invested in 10s or 100s of them over their careers, which means they’ve likely seen different insights than you have. They see and hear things that you may not. This wealth of experience is sitting right in front of you. You just need to know what to ask, and how.
To help the founder get the best from this mindset, I’ve collected 30+ great questions that I’ve observed from others in the pitching meeting connected by Wiziin and James Currier from NfX. These are useful questions that every founder should ask to open up the dialogue and start building more authentic, open, and long-term relationships with their investor. These questions focused on
| THE QUESTIONS |
|---|
| Getting an Understanding of How Your Company is Viewed |
| You’re busy, and a lot of people want to see you. Why did you decide to take the meeting with me? What were you hoping to hear? |
| When you look at my deck, do you think it good reflects the business as I’ve now described it to you? |
| When you explain this to your partners, how will you describe this business? |
| What are the negatives your partners will think of first when they look at this business? What initial concerns might they have? |
| How much do you think location matters? How should I be thinking about location/geography? |
| How can you see this company fitting in your portfolio? |
| Are there challenges to this company fitting in your portfolio? |
| KNOW THE DOWNSIDE |
| What is the one thing you think I’m underestimating or being naive about? |
| What are the main obstacles you see to our success? What are the main concerns you have that could cause you not to invest? |
| Can you see your partnership investing in this company? |
| After what I’ve described, are there patterns you’ve seen in the past (positive or negative) that would apply to this business? E.g. ad tech is dead, hospitals are horrible customers, sales teams are great customers, etc. |
| COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE |
| How many other companies have you seen that seem to be targeting the same sector? |
| Have you seen somebody try this business and fail or succeed in the last ten years? |
| How common is this idea in the world already? Have you ever seen anything like this before? |
| Are there successful companies this startup reminds you of? Any good analogies? (e.g. the “Craigslist” of farming equipment) |
| Do you get the sense that we’ll be able to defend this business once it’s up and running? |
| Are there any companies you think it’d be natural for this company to partner with either now or shortly? |
| Is there anything I’ve shown you that is on trend with other companies you’re seeing? |
| Now that I’ve explained the business, what sectors would you categorize it in? |
| ADDRESSABLE MARKET |
| Does the way we’ve calculated TAM feel right to you? |
| The way I’ve calculated TAM is on this slide. Is there another way you could think of calculating the TAM? |
| Could we redefine our market to make it a bigger market? E.g. Airbnb TAM as home rentals vs. much bigger Airbnb TAM as hotels. |
| What’s your opinion of the niche this company is targeting to enter this market? In talking this through, is there any sub-segment of the market where you think the fast-moving water will be? |
| Can you see this being a billion-dollar company? Why or why not? |
| What do you think are the biggest opportunities ahead of us in this space? |
| LEVEL UP YOUR FUNDRAISING PROCESS |
| If this company were to go public, what would you expect the fundraising history to have been? What would you expect about the future financing and dilution characteristics of this business? |
| I’d like to fill in this round with a few smaller checks from angels and advisors. Can you think of anyone who would be dynamite to advise me on getting this going even if you don’t invest? (Make it clear that you’re not asking for an introduction.) |
| Other than you, who would you recommend is the best type of investor for this type of business? Does anybody come to mind? I’m not asking for an introduction. |
| If you had somebody else helping you evaluate this company, whose opinion would you trust? |
| I understand that statistically, the chances of you investing in this company are only 1%-10%. I don’t want an intro, but I’m just curious, who else would you expect I’m talking to about raising capital? |
| THE RIGHT KPIS |
| What’s the main metric that would prove that this is going to be a great business? |
| What sort of traction metrics would make investing in this business a no-brainer? Where does this company sit on the ladder of proof based on what you know? |
| What experience have you had with companies that try to distribute on the channel(s) that I’m planning to use? And what were your lessons with companies working with that channel? |
| When this company is worth $2B and we look back, what do you think the likely path is that the business would have taken to get there? |
| HOW YOUR TEAM MEASURES UP |
| On a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you think we have founder-market fit or founder-product fit? |
| What attributes do we need to be excellent at to make this business work? What are the skillsets and expertise that we need to be world-class to succeed? E.g. Digital marketing expertise, being a supply chain guru, etc. |
| Just meeting me, do I feel like the kind of person to make this business work? |
| When you look at the team that I’ve assembled here, how would you compare them to other investments that you’ve invested in? |
| Talk with me about the team you see here. What are the pros and cons of the team I’ve built so far? |
| Who would you like to see me add to this team in the next year? |
| What are the top cultural characteristics that this company would need to have to be successful? Being aggressive? Careful and frugal? Highly compliant? Breaking the rules? Sales-driven? Tech-driven? |
VCs are a resource. They are pattern recognition machines that have been trained by thousands and thousands of data points from the startups they’ve seen. They’re a strategic wellspring of the startup ecosystem that is there for you to avail yourself of. If you ask the right questions, VCs can help calibrate your business, help you avoid costly mistakes, and ultimately get your startup to become the best version of itself and maximize your chances of success.
Nếu bạn có một startup và muốn đẩy nhanh tốc độ phát triển, hãy tham gia ngay Chương trình Ươm tạo Khởi nghiệp tại UII với những quyền lợi và hỗ trợ đặc biệt để giúp bạn:
Chương trình Ươm tạo Khởi nghiệp tại UII (UII Incubation Program) là chương trình ươm tạo chất lượng cao, được cung cấp hoàn toàn miễn phí dành cho các startup ở giai đoạn đầu trong các lĩnh vực công nghệ, giáo dục, tài chính, thương mại, v/v, tại khu vực TP.HCM và Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long. UII Incubation Program kéo dài 6 tháng, được thiết kế với không gian làm việc chung, chương trình đào tạo, tư vấn và nhiều hoạt động khác, để giúp các startup xây dựng sản phẩm từ ý tưởng, tìm kiếm khách hàng và đánh giá thị trường tiềm năng.
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Viện Đổi mới Sáng tạo UEH (UII) là một trong những đơn vị hỗ trợ startup có nhiều hoạt động sôi nổi nhất trong hệ sinh thái khởi nghiệp tại TP.HCM và khu vực Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long. Chúng tôi luôn đồng hành cùng những nhà sáng lập với các giải pháp Đổi mới Sáng tạo – Ứng dụng Công nghệ để giải quyết các vấn đề của cộng đồng.
Từ năm 2022, UII Incubation Program sẽ có mặt tại khu vực Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long với với sự hỗ trợ đến từ Mekong Incubator tại UEH Vĩnh Long.
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UII – Where every idea has a story!
Why do most social networks never take off? Why are marketplaces such difficult businesses? Why do startups with the best technology fail so often?
There are two broad business models: pipes and platforms. You could be running your business the wrong way if you’re building a platform, but using pipe strategies.
Pipes have been around us for as long as we’ve had industry. They’ve been the dominant model of business. Firms create stuff, push them out and sell them to customers. Value is produced upstream and consumed downstream. There is a linear flow, much like water flowing through a pipe.
We see pipes everywhere. Every consumer good that we use essentially comes to us via a pipe. All of manufacturing runs on a pipe model. Television and Radio are pipes spewing out content at us. Our education system is a pipe where teachers push out their ‘knowledge’ to children. Prior to the internet, much of the services industry ran on the pipe model as well.
This model was brought over to the internet as well. Blogs run on a pipe model. An e-commerce store like Zappos works as a pipe as well. Single-user SAAS runs on a pipe model where the software is created by the business and delivered on a pay-as-you-use model to the consumer.
Had the internet not come up, we would never have seen the emergence of platform business models. Unlike pipes, platforms do not just create and push stuff out. They allow users to create and consume value. At the technology layer, external developers can extend platform functionality using APIs. At the business layer, users (producers) can create value on the platform for other users (consumers) to consume. This is a massive shift from any form of business we have ever known in our industrial hangover.
TV Channels work on a Pipe model but YouTube works on a Platform model. Encyclopedia Britannica worked on a Pipe model but Wikipedia has flipped it and built value on a Platform model. Our classrooms still work on a Pipe model but Udemy and Skillshare are turning on the Platform model for education.
So why is the distinction important? Platforms are fundamentally different business model. If you go about building a platform the way you would build a pipe, you are probably setting yourself up for failure.
We’ve been building pipes for the last few centuries and we often tend to bring over that execution model to building platforms. The media industry is struggling to come to terms with the fact that the model has shifted. Traditional retail, a pipe, is being disrupted by the rise of marketplaces and in-store technology, which work on the platform model.
So how do you avoid this as an entrepreneur? Here’s a quick summary of the ways that these two models of building businesses are different from each other.
Getting users onboard is fairly straightforward for pipes. You get users in and convert them to transact. Much like driving footfalls into a retail store and converting them, online stores also focus on getting users in and converting them.
Many platforms launch and follow pipe tactics like the above. Getting users in, and trying to convert them to certain actions. However, platforms often have no value when the first few users come in. They suffer from a chicken and egg problem, which I talk extensively about on this blog. Users (as producers) typically produce value for other users (consumers). Producers upload photos on Flickr and product listings on eBay, which consumers consume. Hence, without producers, there is no value for consumers and without consumers, there is no value for producers.
Platforms have two key challenges:
Without solving for these two challenges, driving site traffic or app downloads will not help with user acquisition.
Startups often fail when they are actually building platforms but use Pipe Thinking for user acquisition.
Creating a pipe is very different from creating a platform. Creating a pipe requires us to build with the consumer in mind. An online travel agent likeKayak.com is a pipe that allows users to consume air lie tickets. All features are built with a view to enabling consumers to find and consume airline tickets.
In contrast, a platform requires us to build with both producers and consumers in mind. Building YouTube, Dribbble or AirBnB requires us to build tools for producers (e.g. video hosting on YouTube) as well as for consumers (e.g. video viewing, voting, etc.). Keeping two separate lenses helps us build out the right features.
The use cases for pipes are usually well established. The use cases for platforms, sometimes, emerge through usage. E.g. Twitter developed many use cases over time. It started off as something which allowed you to express yourself within the constraints of 140 characters (hardly useful?), moved to a platform for sharing and consuming news and content, and ultimately created an entirely new model for consuming trending topics. Users often take platforms in surprisingly new directions. There’s only so much that customer development helps you with.
Monetization for a pipe, again, is straightforward. You calculate all the costs of running a unit through a pipe all the way to the end consumer and you ensure that Price = Cost + Desired Margin. This is an oversimplification of the intricate art of pricing, but it captures the fact that the customer is typically the one consuming value created by the business.
On a platform business, monetization isn’t quite as straightforward. When producers and consumers transact (e.g. Airbnb, SitterCity, Etsy), one or both sides pay the platform a transaction cut. When producers create content to engage consumers (YouTube), the platform may monetize consumer attention (through advertising). In some cases, platforms may license API usage.
Platform economics isn’t quite as straightforward either. At least one side is usually subsidized to participate on the platform. Producers may even be incentivized to participate. For pipes, a simple formula helps understand monetization:
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) < Life Time Value (LTV)
This formula works extremely well for eCommerce shops or subscription plays. On platforms, more of a systems view is needed to balance out subsidies and prices and determine the traction needed on either side for the business model to work.
However, platform thinking applies to all Internet businesses.
If the Internet hadn’t happened, we would still be in a world dominated by pipes. The Internet, being a participatory network, is a platform itself and allows any business, building on top of it, to leverage these platform properties.
Every business on the Internet has some Platform properties. I did mention earlier that blogs, e-commerce stores, and single-user SAAS work on pipe models. However, by virtue of the fact that they are Internet-enabled, even they have elements that make them platform-like. Blogs allow comments and discussions. The main interaction involves the blogger pushing content to the reader, but secondary interactions (like comments) lend a blog some of the characteristics of platforms. Readers co-create value.
Ecommerce sites have reviews created by users, again an “intelligent” platform model.
In the future, every company will be a tech company. We already see this change around us as companies move to restructure their business models in a way that uses data to create value.
We are moving from linear to networked business models, from dumb pipes to intelligent platforms. All businesses will need to move to this new model at some point, or risk being disrupted by platforms that do.
There are two types of business models: Pipes and Platforms. Startups that don’t realize this fail. Startups with the best technology often fail because they build the wrong business model.
In the future, every company needs to be a tech company. This is why most social networks and marketplaces fail.
Source: Wired
As a later-stage company, you will have a broader set of investors to choose from than you did in the early days. If you are a high-growth company choosing from a strong crop of investors, consider the following factors when selecting a later-stage funder:
Follow-on capital. Some late-stage funds can deploy hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. Is the fund able to follow on as you raise larger rounds?
Public market impact. Some public market investors, such as T. Rowe Price and Fidelity, send a strongly positive market signal, as they are known as long-term holders of general equities. As you go public, they may hold your stock over the longer run, and this may impact your post-IPO perception and performance.
Note: At least one public market investor recently began publicly listing month-by-month changes in value in their private market portfolio (which makes no sense—can you really change a public company’s valuation on a monthly basis?). This has caused issues for these companies in follow-on fundraises, secondaries, and employee morale.
Strategic value. Late-stage investors may have specific industry knowledge, partnership/introduction potential, or country-specific knowledge. For example, when entering the Chinese market, Uber originally set up a stand-alone subsidiary through which money was raised from Chinese funders who can help with government relations and other aspects of entering China. An investment from a strategic investor can also solidify a key partnership. For example, when Google signed the deal to power Yahoo! Search (at the time a company-making move), Google took an investment round from Yahoo!
Simple terms. Some late-stage private equity firms or hedge funds ask for complex structures or extra liquidation preferences when doing investments. Terms may include additional issuance of shares under an IPO price, extra clawback of value during a sale under a certain price, and the like. If you are able to keep terms simple that is often worth the trade-off of also getting a lower valuation.
Board seats. A number of late-stage investors are willing to invest without taking a board seat—something DST pioneered. Avoiding a bloated board may become challenging as the number of rounds a company completes grows.
Ability to buy secondary stock or drive tenders. Some companies will couple a primary financing event (buying preferred stock) with a secondary sale or tender (allowing employees, founders, or early investors to sell part of their stake). Depending on the fund they may or may not have the appetite or the SEC registrations
Late-stage financings are not that different from earlier-stage rounds for the key terms to consider. However, at the later stages the two most important items you’ll weigh tend to collapse down to preference and board membership.
Preference. While top-tier early-stage investors tend to have a clear preference structure (i.e., non-participating preferred 1), private equity firms and family offices may ask for unusual preference structures that effectively convert an equity round into a debt round. For example, if the company and investor cannot agree on valuation, the private equity fund may ask for a 2X or 3X preference, as well as a ratchet on the next round. Similarly, later-stage investors may put in special provisions around IPOs (e.g., if the IPO prices under a certain valuation, or takes longer than six to nine months, the investor gets extra stock), future fundraises, or other aspects of the company’s life cycle. In general, you should avoid these special terms if you can, although you may not have the chance to do so, especially if your valuation starts to exceed your core business metrics or capital is scarce.
Board membership. As with all financings, a key element to think through is whether or not to add a board member as part of the round. In general, larger boards are harder to manage. However, late-stage investors may bring a perspective to the board that has been lacking up to this point—around financial discipline, for example, or the state of the public market. This perspective can be helpful or destructive, depending on the board member and broader company context. On average, later-stage investors will be more numbers/revenue/margin driven, and this can drive a company down either a very good or a very bad path.
Additionally, later-stage investors may not be as used to dealing with the many “oh shit” moments that a startup typically faces in a rapidly evolving market, with a shifting product road map, and a changing org structure. Some late-stage investors are notoriously hands-off/founder-friendly (e.g., Yuri Milner and DST). However, many are used to “safer” late-stage investments and can cause trouble for a high-growth startup that’s still rapidly evolving.
Choose your board members carefully! And consider avoiding new additions altogether, unless your late-stage investors can help in unique ways. Depending on the dynamics around your fundraising, you may not have a choice—e.g., if the investor requires a board seat and you do not have a good alternative option.
Before adding anyone as a board member, make sure to (1) do due diligence on her past investments and board seats; (2) have frank conversations about company direction and expectations; and (3) decide if there are other ways to give late-stage investors meaningful impact and access to company information—without adding a board seat. Alternatively, a late-stage investor may be able to add enormous value to your board and even help to clean out poorly performing early-stage investors. See the section on Removing Board Members for more information on this.
Sources: THE HIGH GROWTH HANDBOOK BY ELAD GIL
BLOCK71’s Global Startup Runway is a 12-month intensive equity-free incubation program designed to help the most promising Founders leverage BLOCK71 and its partners’ global network and expertise to take on uniquely Asian markets, and scale high-impact solutions to create value for society and industry. Wiziin collaborated with the program as a community partner.
They’re always excited to work with startups looking to scale high-impact solutions that address challenges and opportunities for Smart Environments, Future of Food, Health and Wellbeing, Industry 4.0 and/or Web3.
Join BLOCK71’s Global Startup Runway for privileged access and dedicated support to:
✅ Secure strategic grants and funding
✅ Land business deals and partnerships
✅ Develop defensible technology
✅ Expand and localize to new markets
✅ Scale sustainably for impact
Wiziin is in a long-term relationship together with BLOCK71 Saigon to bring the best support for Vietnam startups to grow and gain more traction to enter the global market. We believe these world-class programs can give much-needed resources to startups’ needs. Let’s catch the chance!
Be a part of this program’s next Cohort in Vietnam!
According to AlphaBeta’s data in the report “Unlocking Vietnam’s digital potential,” if fully utilized, digital transformation can bring an annual economic value up to VND 1,733 trillion (US$74 billion) for Vietnam by 2030. Knowing that situation, getting a tech program to Vietnam is one of Google’s priorities.
Google for Startups Startup Academy Vietnam, organized by Google and the National Innovation Center (NIC) – Ministry of Planning & Investment (MPI), is a five-day, intensive onsite Bootcamp for early-stage Vietnamese tech startups.
Wiziin collaborated with the program as a community partner. We believe this is the greatest chance for Vietnam Startup to go big, go global.
The program is designed to fast-track Vietnamese tech startups in education, retail, and healthcare by providing them access to the best of Google’s expertise, resources, and network.
Apply now if your startup wants to get to know best practices in design, product, and technology. people leadership and fundraising from Google’s experts, the ones behind many successful tech products we use daily.
Besides that, you will also have access to Google network of mentors who are successful entrepreneurs, industry experts, and experienced investors like Diệp Nguyễn (MoMo), Hùng Trần (Got It, Inc), Vy Lê (Do Ventures), Thạch Lê Anh (VSV), Đô Bùi (ThinkZone Ventures), etc.
The Academy will consist of two cohorts in 2022: Ho Chi Minh City cohort in October and
Hanoi cohort in November
The program will be conducted in English (and when applicable, Vietnamese), and accepts applications from startups headquartered in Vietnam.
Register here:https://goo.gle/join-googleforstartups
Deadline: 12/8/2022
On June 22, 2022, Wiziin is honored to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CardinalRain – CardinalRain Inc. Representative, including Founder, Mr. CY Huang; Vice President, Ms. Nicole Chan; Director, Mr. Julian Su, InnoSquare Project Manager, Ms. Pham Thi Thoa, and InnoSquare project managers, Mr. Dang Thanh Chung and Mr. Nguyen Trung Quan. Representative Wiziin Inc. including, Founder and CEO, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tien; Head of Marketing Department, Ms. To Tam; Head of Operation Department, Ms. Lai Tram; Investment association, Mr. Nguyen Duy.
Founded in Taiwan, CardinalRain is an active accelerator program that has a strong strategic innovation ecosystem for startups, partnering with Amazon Web Services, New Taipei City Government, and FCC Partners which help Taiwan startups to scale up to other markets in South East Asia.
During the signing ceremony, the two sides emphasized the importance of the development vision to the international market for Startup Vietnam and Taiwan and expressed their desire and goal to create a startup ecosystem in the region of Asia Pacific. The two sides agreed in the coming time to continue to promote cooperation in knowledge sharing, expert connection, and investment opportunities on three main aspects including
CardinalRain’s founder, Mr. CY Huang shared, “The signing of the memorandum of understanding marks an important step in promoting cooperation between Taiwanese and Vietnamese startups, which promises to be a great future. bring more cooperation results in the future”.
The founder and CEO of Wiziin Inc., Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tien shared that the two sides will gradually realize the set cooperation plans, and believe that the cooperation of the two sides will create great value for both sides for the startup communities in Vietnam and Taiwan.
With early-stage startups, what you already have may not be enough for investors to linger longer to “find out” your potential. So, show your team’s potential in the most impressive way at your PD. The article will give a simple guideline as well as some tips from a VC perspective to help teams have the most effective PD and pitching.
Key question: Is the market you selected big enough and has enough room for you?
Pain points:
Key question: How does your product solve the pain point of the market?
Key question: How does your product make money?
Key question: How do you outperform your competitors (directly and indirectly)?
Key question: How is your product performing?
Key question: How do you develop strategies and specific plans to realize them?
Business expansion strategies typically include:
Put the strategy into an Action plan with specific timelines and actions the team takes to realize it.
Key question: Why should investors believe that you will do what you say?
This is one of the most important factors, because in the early stage, all the numbers are not certain and clear enough. At that time, a quality and enthusiastic team will be an extremely important factor for investors to believe.
Key question: How would you recommend investment cooperation?
