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Most leaders who fail internationally were not incompetent — they were excellent at home. Local optimization and global readiness require fundamentally different decision-making logic, and very few people name exactly where those logics diverge. These are the five moments where the split happens. Decision 1: Who Do You Hire First in a New Market? The locally optimized leader hires for familiarity: someone recommended by a trusted contact, someone who "knows the culture," ofte

Hiring an AI consultant has become the new "we need a website" — a reflex, not a decision. Across my work with SMEs in Vietnam, Singapore, and the UAE, the most expensive mistake I see founders make is not choosing the wrong consultant. It is walking into the engagement without knowing what they actually need. This AI consultant SME checklist exists because that gap costs real money and real months. The Real Problem Is Not the AI Before we get to the five questions, one frame

Vietnam posted 7.8% GDP growth in Q1 2025 — but HSBC's accompanying analysis flagged elevated energy costs as the primary downside risk to that trajectory. Strong macro growth does not immunize your franchise unit economics from input-cost pressure. If your investment model was built on 2022 or 2023 cost assumptions, it was built on a world that no longer exists. Why Have SEA Franchise Input Costs Repriced? Three live signals are reshaping the input-cost reality for Southeast

Here's the latest update of the franchise market in Vietnam, as of April 2022.

What do you think are the key factors that attract foreign businesses to do franchise in Vietnam? Or in other words, why is Vietnam...

What it takes to be an entrepreneur, startup founder, VC, and shark Women in leadership & the story of Shark Linh Thai, of the the very...

A stakeholder's point of view on how to effectively build talent, and the support system for the startup & innovation ecosystem in...

How startups and companies get ahead and stay competitive with innovation stack Meet Le Diep Kieu Trang & Sonny Vu, partners in business...

Where the Vietnamese startup ecosystem is from a shark's point of view and practical tips for Viet founders to succeed Meet Shark Pham...

Why people and their qualities are of utmost importance and top criteria for this shark when investing into startups in Vietnam. Meet...

Talent is one of the top criteria when selecting which SMEs in Vietnam to invest in. Meet our guest Minh Giang Nguyen - Director of...

The sharing economy & how it could help startups thrive with democritized investment platforms. An insight discussion on crowd-funding...