"One thing that people from outside of Southeast Asia really don't understand is that even though this is a cluster of countries that are geographically close together, the cultures and the levels of development are vastly different. You really have to look at it market by market. There are cultural similarities, and they translate to the workplace to a certain degree. There's a much stronger sense of community than being individualistic, therefore people want to see each other a bit more than in other markets. You see extreme differences where Singapore is mostly hybrid and within a very competitive job market, so it's extremely difficult to tell people they have to come back to the office five days a week, whereas, in a market like Vietnam, that's completely the opposite. 83% of companies are back to the office full time. They just went back to business as usual." - Daan van Rossum
"Hospitality was a big thing that we focused on in the beginning. We also added this sense of experience. Going back to the hotel analogy, the best hotels aren’t just about the physical building, it’s also about a signature style, scent, and events or activities. We thought the same way about co-working. How can you create an environment that people want to be a part of even the first time they walk in there? It was our mission to build something with all those elements together." - Daan van Rossum
"After two years of speaking to people who are running companies, there really isn't one solution that fits for everyone. It's dependent on so many factors in terms of what the right mode of working is and today, even though companies have over two years of experience in experimenting with different models, most of them still haven't figured out the final answer because it's still developing in front of our eyes. For a couple of employees in small startups that are just figuring out what to build, they probably want to sit together five or six days a week and constantly collaborate and iterate together, and have the ability to sit around the table and do the work. A later-stage startup doesn't really need that because they have extremely well-defined roles and KPIs, and you don't need to sit in an office to hit your KPI as a salesperson or as an engineer." - Daan van Rossum
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on navigating career shifts, the Vietnam work culture landscape, and entrepreneurial persistence and trade-offs.
Keywords: Navigating Career Shifts, Vietnam Work Culture Landscape, Entrepreneurial Persistence, Trade-Offs, Vietnam, Founder Story
