Reflection of the year 2021

It’s a year of thinking much to make big decisions.

#1: Move to a new home

I didn’t have any specific plan for the new apartment yet because we’re still good in the current one and it’s not easy to sell the apartment because it’s a special one with a garden and on the 3rd floor. The reason I want to buy a new apartment is that the noise at night and the overall quality of the building are not good for my baby girl to stay.

It’s interesting to look around to find the project that we will want to move to live there. So we visit Saigon Mia, Mizuki Park, then we visit Sunrise Riverside and the final one is SSR. Every project when I come to see, I want to move there because it’s better than the current one but fortunately that we make a decision to buy an apartment of SSR because it’s a new project, from a trusted property developer, having many public facilities for kids. The last thing is there is a raw apartment so that we can build and do the decoration by ourself from the beginning. It’s so much fun to bring ideas to do the house with an architect, a friend of mine to work on my apartment.

My apartment when receive.

We don’t use brick yet use glass for the wall of 2 bedrooms. Also, we do ideas for 2 bathrooms to make it disappear by illusion (very interesting). With the furniture and decoration, we use the color light grey as the main color. The apartment is small but it’s very convenient to live with the space-optimized.

#2: Quit job

It’s not an easy call, I was struggling about 6 months before making a decision. Actually, I have to ask the CEO 3 times for approval because my role in the company is important and I never think of quitting as the right solution. But I have to do it and to have the root cause of the decision I have to think a lot for a long time until I find the answer. And the answer is the broken relationship with the company working culture, I am the one who couldn’t work with the executive board or managers. Because of the wrong culture fit, I saw that I couldn’t contribute value to the company with a new strategic plan in a new chapter even though I really respect and appreciate the CEO / Chairman. He and I talked many times and understood the situation and agreed that my decision was the right one to do. It’s good for both.

Me and my CEO / Chairman.

I believe that our relationship will stay long and in the future, I hope to have an opportunity to be his partner in some projects.

#3: Start a new venture

Many friends of mine gave me the advice to think again and don’t be crazy! Why? Because my situation doesn’t make sense. First, I had a good position and good income with the company I was working on. I have to quit to start a new one. Second, my wife and I going to have a new baby soon in the next few months. Last, to start a new venture is very difficult and where is the money to start? Everything will be from zero and it will take a long time (months or a year) to prove the business model/idea to raise any fund. It sounds crazy indeed! To add one more thing, I have to do any idea that won’t conflict with the interest of the previous company because of the 1-year of non-compete clause. So it’s really hard and challenging.

Closed a pre-seed round — AirCity x Antler.

To make it short, after 10 weeks of joining the Entrepreneur in Residence program of Antler, the first time organized in Vietnam, my venture has successfully closed the pre-seed round with Antler — a global early-stage VC. The selection process is tough and competitive, I have learned a lot from this journey. So the new year comes with a new start where I can pour all my heart to build it.

Thanks, the year of hardship to prepare for new hope and a future.

SSR, mồng 2, 2/2/2022.