TechYouth National Startup Day: Behind the scene

“Starting from zero, I believe that the human factor is the key success secret for this event. We possess a strong can-do mindset and the willingness to learn and strive for the best. More importantly, members complement each other with their own strengths and weaknesses, making a perfect team.”

On May 28, 2021, TechYouth National Startup Day was successfully organized by UpYouth (founded by VinUniversity students and co-managed by students from other prestigious universities including Cornell and Brown University) and VinUniversity’s Entrepreneurship Lab (E-lab). 400 student participants who showed passion and curiosity for startups had the chance to listen to sharings from top experts in the field and network with managers from 20 invited companies.

Following the success of TechYouth Startup Day, we talked to Nguyen Thu Ha Anh – Head of Marketing at UpYouth, as she walked us through behind-the-scene preparation of this important event.

1. Can you tell us more about what the guest speakers had shared at the StartUp day and why did your team decide to choose these topics?

On TechYouth National Startup Day, we invited 4 distinguished C-level guest speakers who have had ample experience in founding and managing companies. To put it short, guest speakers shared meaningful stories on their start-up journey and their drawn lessons. Participants had the chance to listen to sharings on topics such as how Vietnam’s tech start-ups thrive beyond the national boundary to reach global markets as well as challenges that young people normally face in founding their own businesses, from which advice is offered.

By choosing these discussion topics, we fulfilled our two goals. First, we aimed to inspire and motivate. Through different success stories of Vietnamese startups, we kindle in listeners the fire and courage upon realizing that Vietnam can do and achieve big just like other countries. Second, UpYouth instilled a sense of entrepreneurship spirit with which participants can better realize their inner potential and passion, to abandon a “can’t-do” mindset in pursuit of greater willingness to learn, try and never give up.

2. What do you most attribute the success of this event to?

UpYouth is a young organization and we had never organized any student-led event of such magnitude before.  Starting from zero, I believe that human factor is the key success secret for this event. All members in the team possess a strong can-do mindset and the unbeatable willingness to learn and strive for the best. More importantly, members complement each other with their own strengths and weaknesses, making a perfect team. We were all open to receive feedback and criticism from others, understanding their goodwill as everyone was striving towards a common collective goal.

3. Upon reflection, what is your biggest lesson learnt from being an organizer of TechYouth National Startup Day?

Being an organizer of TechYouth National Startup Day and witnessing the event become reality with my beloved teammates were definitely a rewarding experience. Upon reflection, I want to share 2 main lessons I learnt.

First, better risk management. Organizing such a large event means we must take into account many different scenarios, including both good and bad ones. Being able to pinpoint the risks, developing back-up solutions and looking at the bigger pictures are crucially important to make sure the event turns out smoothly.

Second, be daring. Dare to think and dare to do. When first coming up with ideas for this event, all of us were clueless. We knew nothing about organizing such a big event, how to network or how to attract a large number of students. But we learnt that the dare to think is the first step towards a successful event, or even towards a successful startup. And then, with our team, our strength and determination, we figure out the next steps. In the end, there must be some sort of results or lessons, from which we grow.

Sincerely,
VinUnians