The first subject of our series, “Internet People” is Thao Dom — one of the few women in Vietnam’s internet industry. However, even at 24, she has achieved more than most of her male counterparts. She is the mastermind behind Sannhac, I-Pro, and the recently launched Baprang. She is also famous for her blog, attracting a lot of readers with her unique style.

(Đọc bản tiếng Việt ở đây)

Ngo Phuong Thao Born in 1985 Graphic Designer of Nhacso.net (FPT) Art Director of Mobileone.com (FPT) Product Manager of Sannhac (VC Corp) Product Manager of I-pro (VC Corp) Product Manager of Baprang (Galaxy Cinema) Hot blogger Marital Status: Single

1. Hi Thao, could you please tell us a little bit about your expriences with the Internet industry?

I’ve been working in the Internet industry since 2004, started with Nhacso. At that time I was so dull-witted, just a Chaiwala in this industry, but I learned a lot. The most important thing I learned was: the Internet is a strong but open media, if you can control it, you can control the world

2. What do you think are your strongest points? And how have they helped you at work? (I guess they are design and community management, right?)

No I don’t think they are design and community management, but ideas and the teamwork skills. Ideas are the initial stage for everything and teamwork skills are to turn these ideas into life. No one can do all things, but if everyone does his/her part well, the product will be perfect. Designs and building community are things what I do well on my own part.

3. How different is the market and working environment today from the past when you first worked with Nhacso?

It’s obvious that when I started with Nhacso, everyone thought that the Internet was a student’s thing and that it couldn’t make money. But now, we have Internet companies with their own particular way of thinking…thinking 2.0.

4. Do you think not being technical is a disvantage for a Project Manager?

I’ve never worked as a Project Manager, only Product Manager or Designer. The term “manager” is actually a mutual term for all specialities, to encourage people to bring into play their best capabilities, to set long-term and short-term goals. Except those tasks (of a manager), I concentrate on my major tasks, which are design, developing ideas, `and connecting with communities.

5. A lot of people were shocked when you and the whole Sannhac team left VCCorp and abandoned your own product in June 2008. Looking back on it, how did you feel? Have you ever regretted your decision? And in your opinion, how different is it between Sannhac today and your Sannhac in the past?

Yeah, a lot of people were shocked and our team was also shocked ourselves. In the past, Sannhac was a good product with its own particular characteristics of ideas, the design, the spirit and even the core team. However, it was a company’s product, it had to follow the long-term orientation of the company & board of directors, and in a specific period of time, this orientation conflicted with the team’s ideas and exertion. Therefore, shocks were unavoidable. But since the day we started, I had told my team that this product would consume a lot of time and money, and we couldn’t do that; we were willing to do it for the community, but the product was the company’s. Everyone in our team understood this, which gradually penetrated us.

Sannhac nowaday: the interface is uglier, the community is big, but unable to classify, the market segment is tangled and diluted. It’s possible to make money out of Sannhac now, but the company still doesn’t have any business model for it. Quality of beats is downgraded. Activities of the community are just purely entertainment without any social benefit, which are boring and commonplace. In conclusion, I really want to come back at this time to rearrange things a little bit.

6. Okay, now we are going to talk about your newest product, Baprang. What is the strongest point of Baprang? How about the current competitors?

Baprang won’t have a big community like Sannhac does, because Baprang targets a smaller market segment of movie lovers. A big community is not always more powerful than a small but active one. Our goal first is to make Baprang an IMDB 2.0 in Vietnamese where people can talk about any film they want, even Vietnamese, Japanese, American or other exotic films. Second, we want to create a relaxing environment for movie lovers so that they can socialize everything related to movies, such as: brainstorming a film’s title, translating a film, inserting subtitles and sound for films, and watching movies together, etc. The movies of our country are already so lamentable, so we need contribution of such a community.

I think that Baprang hasn’t had a commercial target yet, so it hasn’t had any rivals. If you mean rivals that try to scramble for users, it’s kinda unnecessary, because users are absolutely voluntary, not something you scramble for.

7. As I observe, users can now download films from Baprang.com. Do you have to worry about copyright issues?

A famous musician once told me that nowaday no one earns a living by selling copyrighted disks. It’s obvious that new generations of communication and multimedia can generate money much more than the little sum of money disks can bring, not to mention that if illicit disks are too popular, you may earn nothing.

We live in a poor developing country, and always thirst for culture. Like beggars, we have to give them something edible for free before we get them to pay for something. Hmmm, maybe it’s a bit pessimistic, but that’s what’s happening in a developing country like Vietnam. It’s okay, as long as we don’t imitate the US or India (smile).

8. What’s next after Baprang? Do you want to stick with the Internet industry for a long time while its future in Vietnam is still unclear?

Unfortunately, after Baprang, I still want to stick with the Internet. I have lots of plans that haven’t been carried out yet, because I haven’t had enough money (laughs).

9. Well, then comes a personal question: as you work in the Internet industry, hang out with lots of geeky tech guys, what do you think about them? Is it possible that in the future, you will fall for one of them?

Why not. Guys in this Internet industry are normally very smart. However, as they are online too much, sometimes they are not practical enough. Anyway, they are lovely and tasty, and if they have business minds, they can be very wealthy in the future.

10. Okay, the last question, who do you want to be the next interviewee of our series?

Err, Vuong Vu Thang. Yes, exactly him

*** Pictures provided by Thaodom

*** Thanks Rick Rodgers and Patrick Kennedy for helping with the English version.

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About the “Internet People” series:

I will interview a person working in the Internet Industry (in Vietnam) every other week, published on Sunday. Please give me feedback about the series and suggest who you want to be the next interviewee. Thanks