Mission Accomplished*

Ok. I'm back. I didn't forget about this, I just kept putting it off in lieu of other things. Last time I talked to you I was homeless (although I had a wonderful couch with wonderful hosts), jobless (although if I started to starve, I could have started teaching English immediately), and one pair of shoes closer to being shoeless. Let's just say a lot has happened since then.

Also, I have decided to start writing in installments in order to help motivate me to actually post more often. This is one of many installments of events from the last month....

Now, when I say Mission Accomplished*, the asterisk is to denote that this statement is more comparable to when Bush declared Mission Accomplished in reference to the Iraq war 5 years ago than when Neil Armstrong (supposedly) landed on the moon. I have now accomplished phase one of my mission, which was to show up to Vietnam without a job and to get a job via networking. However, as I realize that I don't really have a phase 2 or beyond planned yet, I guess that is my entire mission as of right now, and it has thus been accomplished. Step 1: Get Job. Step 2. Step 3: Profit. Figuring out that blank of Step 2 will be the key to removing the asterisk.

I have now been working for the last two weeks at a venture capital company called Mekong Ventures. It was founded by some of the top entrepreneurs and people in the investment community here, such as Chris Freund, the founder of Mekong Capital- the largest private equity company in all of the land. He was the first person I met here as part of my network-establishing process, and although at the time he had no openings at his larger firm, he recommended that I speak to the CEO of Mekong Ventures. Unfortunately, although I believe I made a smart move to leave the US as it was imploding, things are not much better anywhere else. Every person I met with, while impressed by my ambition, was either firing, not hiring, or only hiring specific senior roles. Additionally, just about every expat here is in a more senior management position, which I am clearly not qualified for (or am I), and companies want to fill more junior positions with people who speak the language and are willing to work for a few hundred dollars a month- i.e. Vietnamese locals. (Granted, my salary is slave wages).

Another problem is that there is a huge gap between first steps and final steps here. I have cold-called CEOs of investment banks and fund management companies here, and they were willing to meet just a couple hours later. However, in one specific instance that is still ongoing, the final steps of actually getting a job offer are so dreadfully drawn out and frustratingly vague, that it makes me want to push a random person off of his motorbike at full speed to ease the tension. It also made me realize that although a lot of people and companies here are talking themselves up to be the king of the hill, they are just blowing smoke through the floating smoke rings that embody Vietnam. The truth is that there are so few worthwhile deals to be made right now that if you want to play the game, you need to talk yourself up well above your actual notch on the totem pole. I have now met with a good portion of the investment community, and everyone has spent part of the time talking shit about other people- which is actually great insight for me and has been the best part of getting a job after arriving rather than by who looks good on their website. At least there have been some people (that look very good on their website) who have garnered no respect from the majority, so I can gauge the accuracy of these opinions accordingly.

Anyways, when I first met the Tuong Anh, the CEO of Mekong Ventures, I really had no idea it was for an actual interview. The nice part about networking and meeting for coffee or a drink rather than in an office for an interview for a specific position, is the calming informality. I really knew nothing about the company other than what was on the website, which was outdated, and had no idea of the company's needs at the time being. To my surprise, she was looking for a partner to take the company into a new direction. It is a small ($3 million) holding company put together by the board members, and although she wasn't the only one involved, there were no other full time employees. To her surprise, I look 16, which is why one of her questions was how do I think other people would feel if I were sitting on the board of a company and they saw how young I looked? While my stated answer was that once they realize I am capable, it wont matter, the truth is that most Vietnamese are really young, and some 40-year-olds look younger than I do. Leaving the meeting, I was a little dumbfounded about the position I was just interviewed for, but also realistic that there was no way that I was getting it.

That afternoon, I cold-called the guy from the investment banking company mentioned above, and when I heard back from Tuong Anh that now would not be a good time to take me on at Mekong Ventures, I became gung-ho for this other company. Although the company name is not widely known, this man is known to others in the community as Mr. Vietnam (even though he is British), and after meeting other people there, I became intrigued by this opportunity. They were looking for people, although they weren't really sure what for, but it didn't really matter. Every meeting I had, it seemed like I had the job, but every meeting turned into meeting after meeting and waiting for over a month for the process to run its course. I talked to one person who came here and the process from interviewing until getting the job at one company took 6 months, so I guess I shouldn't be too impatient at 2 months time.

After realizing that there weren't going to be any other jobs here, I decided to sit tight and wait for this other company to figure out staffing issues, and in the meantime I would read every report and news article on Vietnam in the last year and work on my Vietnamese. Then one day I got two calls- one from the head of a fund here that had a vacancy and who had heard about me from one of the people I had met along the way, and the other from Mekong Ventures to say that (3 weeks later) they actually did want to give me the job. The former call seemed very promising at first, but in the end they really were looking for a local Vietnamese. I probably should have seen this coming when I went to meet all the people there, and I met all the expats in their offices which surrounded the floor of the Vietnamese people they were managing. One of the guys made a very candid statement that the Vietnamese can be managed to do amazing things, but they can only produce to the extent that you manage them. He was basically making a point, which has been reiterated to me by many people, that the Vietnamese cannot think outside of the box. This is a theme that will recur in future posts, but in the meantime don't take this as an all-encompassing or racist statement by these people. There have been many Vietnamese that will honestly tell you the same.

When I actually received my offer at Mekong Ventures, I was still in limbo with these two other places, so I agreed to a contract where in the first month I could continue weighing other options and look for other jobs. Right now I am working in a beautiful office that is actually a villa that used to be the Chilean consulate. It is a place where I have the most room to make my own decisions and have the most influence in the future success (or failure of the company). I will also be working with exciting young companies and influential businessmen and investors. The downside is it is not at all what I was expecting when coming here. I came in order to have much more responsibility than I could in the US and to learn as much as I could about another country and economy. I assumed that the best way to do that would be to work at one of the biggest and best regarded companies here, where I could be mentored by seasoned professionals and be around a lot of other people. In my current position, while I do have access to these people, I am in essence creating my own company here solely with the CEO. I will be doing a lot more learning on my own and from my own experiences, but I will have to be making or breaking my own way here. I wont be pulled along for the ride while just sucking in information as I would be at other places. This is an extraordinarily unique opportunity, and I am still try to grasp the full monty of what I am and what I will be doing. But the most important reason I chose to come to Vietnam is a result of getting the advice to take as much risk as I could while I am young, so this clearly fits the mold. Worst case scenario, I fail, and it takes me a few more tries to invent the light bulb.

Next installments will discuss my house/assortment of housemates, the drunk/homeless/mentally disturbed motorbike driver who lives on a pushcart outside our door, my motorbike that I just bought today and driving in the city now that I am comfortable, my one trip out of the city, and more. Hopefully I will get into more of a groove writing these and you wont have to wait as long.

And more pictures....