🇻🇳 🚀 Founder of The Week: Phuc - Full-time Indie Hacker

Hey folks, this is your boy, Hong and this is micro digest. The daily newsletter where I try my best to bring the best of SEA tech news to you every morning.

Why?

Because I just got back from the chiropractor and he said the chip on my shoulder is permanent.

Here’s what we got for you:

• 🚀 Founder of the week - Phuc - Full-time Indie Hacker

• ⛵ SEAppets - Vingroup chair launches EV taxi and rental services

• 💰 SEA Deals

• 🖼️ AI Image of the day

• 🐣 Tweet of the day

Markets 📈

Founder of The Week 🚀

This week’s founder of the week is Phuc!

🐣 What's your origin story?

I studied programming when I was in middle school to change a few games I was playing as well as fixing my computer (because I have no money to hire someone to do it 😅). Ever since I love building software. Eventually, I became a remote software engineer for different software companies across the world, from the US to Singapore, while still keeping trying to build my startups. I probably failed 4-5 times. In April 2022, I quit my job again to start bootstrapping to launch 6 software products in a year & travelling to learn from like-minded folks. I successfully launched 6 products in 7 months, 4 out of them made money, & sold 1 of the products. Now I'm focusing on a few products to really build a stable business. I'm still figuring it out 😅

🌍 Where are you from and where are you currently based?

I'm from Vietnam. I keep travelling to new cities every few months so can't exactly say where I'm based. But if I'm not travelling, I'll probably be in Saigon, Vietnam.

🚀 What's your startup/side project?

I currently have a few products live, check them out at https://phuc.blog

💻 Tech Stack 

I use TypeScript, Next.js, AWS, & other serverless tech

📣 Marketing Stack

Twitter is my main channel, other than that it's word of mouth & SEO.

💰 How much are you currently making from your startup/side project? What's your MRR or ARR?

Less than $1K a month

📦 What's one product or service you wish existed?

An AI that I can just tell it to program 80% of my app, 20% are the core that only my unique work, experience, & insights can tell

🌊 What's your thought on SEA?

It's the best place for bootstrapping your SaaS. The cost of living is low, and the quality of life is great. Great culture, lovely people, and a fast-growing startup ecosystem (both bootstrapped & funded).

💡With all of your current knowledge and experience, if you were able to go back to being 20 yo again, what would you build?

Social media marketing tools, email-sending tools, website builders

SEAppets ⛵

1. Pham Nhat Vuong, chair of VinFast parent firm Vingroup has created an entity called Green and Smart Mobility Joint Stock Company (GSM) that will use VinFast electric cars and scooters for taxi and rental services. GSM will operate in Hanoi and then expand throughout Vietnam. VinFast has delivered the first 45 VF 8 City Edition models to the US and is planning to set up a manufacturing facility and file for an IPO.

2. Endowus, a Singapore-based digital wealth platform has launched the Endowus Empower initiative to provide resources to underrepresented and underserved groups to reach their wealth and life goals. They will be partnering with organizations such as the National Volunteer And Philanthropy Centre, Access Singapore, Financial Women’s Association of Singapore, United Women Singapore and more. Endowus will also be providing content tailored for females, and collaborating with gig economy players to create a financial literacy series for gig workers. Finally, they will be hosting financial literacy workshops for tertiary students.

3. Southeast Asia-based Grab Holdings Ltd prepaid USD $600 million in debt last week, reducing its balance to USD $517 million. This was part of Grab's plan to reduce its cost of capital and return to profit by 2024-2025. S&P Global Ratings and Maybank Research have both commented that Grab has sufficient liquidity to drive operations.

SEA Deals 💰

1. Growfin, a SaaS fintech startup has raised USD $7.5 million to provide real-time visibility and predictability in cash flow for modern CFOs. Founded in 2021 by Aravind Gopalan and Raja Jayaram, it has helped businesses collect USD $1 billion in account receivables. 78% of CEOs and CFOs of tech companies have invested in automation and cash flow visibility to build their CFO tech stack and Growfin is helping to solve these issues.

2. EMERGE Group, a Singapore-based commercialisation partner for brands and content creators has raised USD $2.2 million in a seed funding round. The funds will be used to develop new commercialisation options and expand in Southeast Asia. Established in 2020, EMERGE Group has over 580 million audiences through its network of thousands of content creators and players from renowned e-sports teams. It has achieved over USD $2 million in revenue and is backed by Farquhar Venture Capital, Arcane Group, Blockcrafter Capital, Victor Lai, Yuen Wong, LABS Group, GEMS Esports and Bitmart managing partner.

AI Images of The Day 🖼️

Rock through the ages

Tweet of The Day 🐣

Over the years, I’ve come to realize - it’s not who you know, it’s what you can bring to the table.

That’s a wrap for today. See you all tomorrow! 👋

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