Former Vietnam CEO of Facebook talked about the case of WeFit: Collecting money from the trainees is also a form of raising capital, can not let the creative voice of the startup overwhelm the trust of users!

Ms. Le Diep Kieu Trang used to be the Director of Facebook Vietnam and Director of Go-Viet. She is currently the founder of Alabaster.

The online seminar “Risks of Vietnam startup bubble” was organized by VnExpress in the context of WeFit – a bright startup in the field of Fitness and Beauty of Vietnam which has just declared bankruptcy.

With the startup bubble burst and the specific example of the WeFit incident, former Vietnam Facebook CEO Le Diep Kieu Trang said that the focus should be more attention to the impact of the phenomenon on the market.

“In the case of WeFit, from my own perspective, I think the most worrying thing is that such a startup company has raised capital from users. And when they go bankrupt, users lose money ,” Trang said. to speak.

When a startup fails, it’s natural for investors to lose money. When investors invest, they know they can win, they can lose.

For the startup itself, failure is also common when starting a business with a higher failure rate than success rate.

The model is similar, but ClassPass only sells episodes for 1 month, while WeFit’s packages are up to 18 months.

” But the user, when buying a product that suddenly loses money, I think that is very interesting, especially for the management of the economy. How will the country interfere with the rapid development of different business models? “

“On the one hand, the regulatory agency also wants to facilitate creativity, and creativity here is not only about technology but also in business model. On the one hand, the state management agency is the only unit. can keep the market stable, and should not let the creative voices overwhelm the booming voice of the market and the safety and trust of users for startups, “Trang said. .

The Alabaster founder thinks that is the most important issue. And the success of a startup failure is normal, as long as the entrepreneur does not profit. The self-seeking person will be well condemned. But if they do their best, then in investment, winning or losing is normal.

Against the proposal of the State management agency to intervene in the startup, Mr. Tran Bang Viet – Chairman of the Federation of Global Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs in Vietnam (JCI Vietnam) – said that if the State and the government countries that intervene, impact will probably kill creativity.

” The goal of the government and those who do it well is to keep things running normally, nothing extraordinary is to succeed. Entrepreneurship is creativity, risk-taking, and disrupting existing things.”

“A startup ecosystem not only needs the State, incubators, accelerates, not only needs startups, but also the public and smart users who fit it. In the last story of WeFit, maybe users lose a certain amount of money, it’s not so much that using that example requires the State to intervene. I don’t encourage that, so let the market self-regulate , “said Mr. Tran Bang Viet.

Keeping her thesis, Le Diep Kieu Trang said that no economy has 100% freedom to belong to the invisible hand. In the WeFit story, Ms. Trang said that we have to raise the issue of regulations in raising capital. So which rules of prepayment, while such prepayments are also a form of capital mobilization.

WeFit, although the Fitness model is similar to ClassPass in New York, offers an “unlimited buffet” for all users and pays in turn to gym partners. But while ClassPass sells only one-month episodes, WeFit’s episodes vary in terms of duration and 18-month purchases.

” There is no prohibition on prepayment, but such a prepayment must have certain steps on how much you have the right to mobilize? You must have regulations on how to mobilize it. Because innovation doesn’t stop at technology, it can invade other management tools in the economy like Money Supply – the money supply, and this will be a huge influence. if talking about fintech “.

“With fintech, it can not be said that because of innovation, we forget the responsibility of the State in keeping the economy stable, the currency stable, the monetary policy stabilized and the exchange rate policy. If not, it will affect all the economy that traditional businesses will suffer first, “Trang said.

Ms. Trang also commented: WeFit’s story today may be a small story, but if the voice in the name of creativity without taking into account the common interests of the community, that creativity is not right.

Bao Bao

According to Young Intellectuals