A doctor familiar with Shark Tank "fixes" the startup invested by Shark Binh: The B2B model is unattractive, hardware products go against the trend, pricing "counting crabs in the hole"

E Link Gate has been invested by Shark Binh in episode 7 Shark Tank Vietnam 2021. However, according to Dr. Ngo Cong Truong, this startup "has an unattractive business model and the solution may be useless in the future". Not only E Link Gate, but many Vietnamese startups are 'misunderstood' about the concept of 'pioneer' and pricing according to 'counting crabs in holes'.

Dr. Ngo Cong Truong – Founder and Professional Director of John & Partners Education and Consulting Company

Dr. Ngo Cong Truong - Founder and Professional Director of John & Partners Education and Consulting Company, is a familiar face with Shark Tank Vietnam, when many times invited by the program to be the speaker of the seminar. small 'Swim with Sharks'.

Recently, Shark Tank's fanpage posted a video about this doctor's comments on the business model of E Link Gate. In episode 7, although not interested in the B2B2B sales model but interested in eLinkMe products, Shark Binh proposed to pour $400,000, of which $100,000 was exchanged for 10% shares, $300,000 would convert shares according to KPIs. specifically to produce and commercialize products on a large scale.

In the video, Dr. Ngo Cong Truong was not afraid to frankly criticize E Link Gate's business model, and commented that the solution of this startup may be useless in the future, when the problem is like founder and CEO. Nguyen Xuan Hoang mentioned on Shark Tank Vietnam, disappeared.

In addition, he also pointed out the lame comparison between E Link Gate and Teamviewer. It is always convenient to 'exploit' the common disease of Vietnamese startups, such as 'misconceptions' about the concept of 'pioneering' or 'business valuation.

E LINK GATE'S BUSINESS MODEL IS UNATTRACTIVE AND WRONG

"First, let's evaluate a little about Teamviewer. Teamviewer is cloudbase-based software - cloud computing, used to distribute information technology resources on demand. This software has been used many times. Now, a long time ago, Teamviewer's business model is B2C, B2B2C, which means it can be easily scaled up," said Mr. Ngo Cong Truong.

The model of E Link Gate is B2B, B2B2B; while, more and more people want to turn the letter B into the letter C. The reason Uber - Grab - Airbnb is successful is because they only focus on B2C. When investing, what the Sharks only care about is the scale-up and payback rate for them. When the Sharks hear this model is B2B and then B2B2B, they find it 'hard to chew'. Especially B2B, selling for a long time and very difficult to scale up.

"So, when I heard the founder answer Shark Phu's question, I thought 'this guy is dead'. Shark Phu asked deeply, because he was the boss of B2B. Before starting with Sun House, Shark Phu also sell those.

Shark Phu asked 'how do you go to sell', the founder replied 'direct sales'. Direct sales ie selling to 1 million businesses, you have to knock on the door 1 million times. That's why I said: his business model is not attractive", Mr. Ngo Cong Truong analyzed further.

Dr. Ngo Cong Truong is a familiar face with Shark Tank Vietnam.


There is another irony, the beauty of founder Nguyen Xuan Hoang is also his 'deadly'. The beauty of founder Nguyen Xuan Hoang is that he first created an eLinkMe product, then registered exclusively for intellectual property in many places.

However, the legendary billionaire Bill Gates once said roughly: "If you are the first, there will be 2 cases. Case number 1, you are superman and you are very good, no one in the world has it. can do things like you; case number 2, there are many people in this world who know but they don't, you are the first and only person to decide to do it".


"But I'm sorry, I'm sorry to touch, but I have to say, anyway, you guys have participated in the program for the 3rd time. In Vietnam, not only E Link Gate but also many startups fall into the digital case. 2", Founder and Professional Director of John & Partners Education and Consulting Company, frankly concluded.


First, starting a business means that I know a customer has a pain - aka painpoint and I find a solution to solve that pain. The important thing is that you can solve that pain or not, but customers often don't care much about whether your device is good or not and before it existed in life or not?!


We just assume that our computer is broken, then Teamviewer will fix it and do it for ages. Therefore, Mr. Ngo Cong Truong thinks that he sees no reason why people don't use Teamviewer, to switch to using E Link Gate.


Second, business models have moved to the cloud – basecloud. The leading enterprise in this trend is Amazon, currently AWS - Amazon Web Services is doing a lot of services in this field. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is one of the richest people on the planet. Amazon got rich not from selling books or from e-commerce, but from cloud services.


So, if we make products based on hardware now - hardware is going against the trend of the times, going back to the old days. Or as Shark Binh said, 'now if you want to make hardware, you have to go in the direction of free, giving people free to use'.


The simplest digital devices today are digital television equipment, which is not intended to encourage people to use it, we only pay a monthly fee. "The Sharks here are all 'martial arts masters', so 'smells' know right away whether this business model is attractive or not," the doctor affirmed.


 GATE'S SOLUTION MAY BE USEFUL IN THE FUTURE


On the other hand, Grab and Uber have solved the problem of making the call center disappear, while Mai Linh and Vinasun are still trying to optimize it. Therefore, in the future, it is possible that the need to use E Link Gate's products will also disappear.

Shark Binh's investment deal in E Link Gate is considered 'smart and filtered'.


"In the past 5 years, how many people using a desktop or laptop computer and then broke down and had to go to the emergency room as the founder E Link Gate mentioned on Shark Tank Vietnam? Many startups keep looking for a solution. problem, without thinking further: in the future, will the problem disappear?


As we all know, in the future, there are current jobs that will disappear; ie there is no concept of unemployment because there is nothing left to do. If in the future, the market and users no longer have problems like Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoang suggested, what will E Link Gate solve?", Mr. Ngo Cong Truong continued to analyze.


Businesses like Intel solved the problems that E Link Gate presented and it's gone! Mr. Ngo Cong Truong added: mega factory - Vinamilk's super-large dairy factory, also has another name, 'ghost factory' because there are not many workers. Amazon warehouses are also called 'ghost warehouses', because there are no workers.


When the equipment in the Vinamilk factory is nearing failure, it will send a signal to the factory in Sweden to notify that: this device has about 1,000 hours left to run, partners should prepare a replacement device to ship over. for Vinamilk. Factories like Vinamilk's have no inventory, because the hardware stock in the factory has been destroyed by the new method mentioned above. The current economic development trend is day by day, handling all problems through cloud computing - cloudbase.


Because of concerns for E Link Gate's business model, it can be seen that the Sharks are not very interested. And Shark Binh made a very smart deal and... filtered the core. Divide 40% into 10% and 30%, 10% immediately reduce his down round to 1 million USD; about post money to more than 5 million USD and he has 1 million USD, 30% that is a safe round.


Because of the nature of Shark Binh, he has 100,000 USD to do testing and design thinking for the founder. In the worst case that this startup fails, Shark Binh will also lose 100,000 USD.


"In addition to the business model and product, the pricing method of E Link Gate also has problems. Sorry, I see this startup's price is allergic. In Vietnam, I see a lot of startups pricing. in the style of E Link Gate, all 'counting crabs in the hole'", Mr. Ngo Cong Truong continued.


In business, we have Benchmarking tool – in Vietnamese there is no equivalent word, which means comparison and transformation. We have to compare Apple with Apple, not a chicken with a duck. Teamviewer is B2C, B2B2C, and E Link Gate is B2B then B2B2B, how to compare Benchmarking?!


RECOMMENDED E-LINK GATE IF THEY WANT TO CHANGE THE BUSINESS MODEL


Muốn chuyển đổi, E Link Gate có thể tham khảo mô hình kinh doanh của WinRAR.T


Sau tất cả, anh Ngô Công Trường tâm đắc với mô hình kinh doanh của WinRAR nhất. WinRAR là phần mềm nén tập tin và dữ liệu; công ty này có mô hình kinh doanh thông minh kiệt xuất trên thế giới.


Anh kể, hồi sinh viên anh đã xài WinRAR và luôn tự hỏi: công ty này cho từng cá nhân xài sản phẩm miễn phí, vậy họ sống bằng cách nào? Sau khi tìm hiểu, anh mới biết rằng, WinRAR thay đổi một hành vi và có mô hình kinh danh B2B2C vô cùng thông minh.


WinRAR thừa biết rằng: hơn 90% người dùng của mình là những khách hàng cá nhân luôn thích sự miễn phí và WinRAR sẵn lòng cho họ tiếp tục sử dụng sản phẩm, vì trên thực tế, doanh thu từ những khách hàng này vừa ít lại vừa khó kiếm được.


Tuy nhiên, nếu đã quá quen sử dụng WinRAR ở nhà, các người dùng này sẽ trở thành một "đại sứ thương hiệu", góp phần đem WinRAR đến gần hơn những khách hàng tiềm năng: các tập đoàn mà họ làm việc.


Đối với những tập đoàn "tỷ đô", những người sử dụng WinRAR để nén những đơn hàng, những hợp đồng và dữ liệu đáng giá "triệu đô", sử dụng phần mềm WinRAR đã được mua bản quyền là một việc tất yếu. Kết luận ở đây, nếu sản phẩm miễn phí thì người dùng mới chính là sản phẩm.


Thế nên, lời khuyên của anh Ngô Công Trường cho founder E Link Gate - nếu vẫn muốn tiếp tục đi theo con đường này: thì phải sản xuất ra hardware giá cực thấp. Để có giá thấp nhất, startup này phải cân nhắc nơi sản xuất.


"Trong lĩnh vực hardware có anh hàng xóm Trung Quốc giỏi khủng khiếp. Cứ vào tháng tư/tháng năm hàng năm, chúng ta đi hội chợ Canton Fair ở Quảng Châu – Quảng Đông, Shark Hưng nói giá sản xuất hardware của Trung Quốc bằng 1/3 Việt Nam, nhưng nếu mình qua đặt hàng ở những hội chợ này, giá có thể bằng 1/10 và 1/20.



Nếu E Link Gate muốn thay đổi mô hình kinh doanh, thì giá sản phẩm hardware phải cực thấp hoặc có khi cho không khách hàng. E Link Gate nên kiếm tiền bằng mô hình khác. Đây là tôi đang giả định đưa ra giải pháp cho 1 vấn đề. Còn trong tương lai, điều không may mắn cho E Link Gate khi vấn đề mà họ đang giải quyết có thể biến mất; đó lại là một câu chuyện khác", vị tiến sĩ này khuyến nghị.

AI Tự Động Hoá Cho Doanh Nghiệp: Bước Đột Phá Trong Công Nghệ 4.0
Bởi Nguyen Trung 30 Mar, 2024
Khám phá sức mạnh của AI tự động hoá cho doanh nghiệp, từ lợi ích, ứng dụng thực tế, thách thức, đến tương lai và hướng dẫn lựa chọn giải pháp phù hợp.
7 Bước Tiến Bộ Đáng Kinh Ngạc Từ Ứng Dụng AI Trong Công Nghiệp
Bởi Nguyen Trung 19 Mar, 2024
Khám phá 7 bước tiến bộ đáng kinh ngạc từ ứng dụng AI cho công nghiệp và cách chúng đang cách mạng hóa ngành công nghiệp từ tự động hóa đến quản lý thông minh.
Bởi Nguyen Trung 14 Mar, 2024
Khám phá làm thế nào ứng dụng AI cho công nghiệp đang thay đổi bộ mặt của sản xuất và quản lý công nghiệp, từ tối ưu hóa sản xuất đến bảo dưỡng dự đoán.
Share by: