Binh went live to discuss the leadership mindset during the entrepreneurial era amid public growing interest in the controversy surrounding the AntEx cryptocurrency project.

The livestream attracted over 5,000 concurrent viewers and hundreds of comments within minutes of starting. In the second half of the session, Binh shared business philosophies or what he called the 'root value-chain formula for all things.'

He advised leaders to rethink the current era, the purpose of their business, and the effort needed to achieve results.

Failure leads to new startup

He also answered viewer questions. As for his most “painful failure”, he mentioned chodientu.vn, when foreign e-commerce giants entered Vietnam and competed with capital hundreds of times larger.

At that time, investors declared no further funding and requested withdrawal of capital. Binh arranged for them to exit.

However, Binh said this failure allowed him to turn his life around. From 2004 to 2013, running the e-marketplace, he said he 'always lived off the mother's milk, relying on investors' goodwill.'

After that, starting from scratch, he rebuilt a startup that survives to this day.

Acknowledging a life 'riddled with failures,' Binh said over 20 years, he had nearly gone bankrupt five or six times. In his darkest moments, the most important quality, according to him, was “calmness.”

From that point, he began to revisit the fundamentals: identifying the current era, deciding whether to stop or continue, recognizing his strongest expertise, and letting those factors guide his next steps.

Binh said all failures shape who we are today. If we maintain a positive mindset and are willing to rebuild from the ashes, our lives will move forward.

“We only truly fail if we gain nothing from the ashes. After each failure, we must distill what assets or values remain to build something new,” he said during the livestream.

Appearing on Season 3 of Shark Tank Vietnam, Shark Binh became famous also for his impressive statements. 

"Thinking about myself 15-20 years ago, I was just clueless."

In fact, he once wished that someone had slapped him in the face back then, and it might have saved him from many of the failures he experienced.

In Episode 6 of Shark Tank Vietnam Season 3, Binh made his debut appearance. Right from the start, he criticized a startup for being “immature,” “green,” and “delusional about valuation.”

Explaining his harsh comments toward the startup on his personal page, Binh cited the saying, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” As someone who has been part of the startup world for nearly 20 years, he said he deeply cares about startups and doesn’t want to see them fail. 

He added that in the military, there’s a saying: “Sweat more on the training ground, bleed less on the battlefield,” reminding soldiers to fear death enough to train harder, so they will lose less, or not their lives, in real combat.

On his personal page, Binh wrote:

“My first impression was that the founder was asking for a huge amount of funding for a product that wasn’t unique, lacked intellectual depth, and could easily be copied. VND1,000 billion for such a startup is, in my opinion, unrealistic. I feel Trinh came to Shark Tank (Le Nguyen Khanh Trinh, founder seeking funding in episode 6 - reporter) for product promotion than serious funding."

"Thinking about myself 15-20 years ago, I was just as naive. I even wished back then if someone had slapped my face once, today I would have avoided so many past failures. Now, matured, looking at young people, I want to help them improve, be more realistic, avoid my past naivete. I believe only fierce, frank critique, even a cold water splash to snap out of delusion, works. From my heart, I want the best for startups," Binh said.

Binh said having been a lucky successful startup, NextTech wants to contribute experience and resources to build a Vietnamese startup ecosystem competitive regionally. “We empathize with the loneliness and scarcity in early stages, positioning ourselves as a 'soulmate' friend to Vietnamese startups, aiming to accompany founders through challenges to success with optimal time and cost,” he said.

Du Lam