Entrepreneur Nguyen Tuan Duong: Successfully starting a business from the moment of being "pushed to the wall"

After 6 years of founding and running Dr.Ruot, businessman Nguyen Tuan Duong talked with reporters of the People's Representative Newspaper about his entrepreneurial journey, the difficulties, failures and lessons learned that led to today's success.

Rise from 6 failures

The idea of ​​establishing Vietnam Intestinal Health Care Joint Stock Company (Dr. Ruot) by CEO Nguyen Tuan Duong ( Hanoi ) did not come by chance. Before that, he had gone through 3 failed companies and 6 projects, facing the pressure of heavy debt.

Nguyen Tuan Duong - CEO of Vietnam Intestinal Health Care Joint Stock Company

Before starting his business, Mr. Tuan Duong had a stable job as Assistant General Director at Lienvietpostbank Commercial Bank.

A big challenge came when his son had serious digestive problems and had to stay in the hospital most of the time. Not having enough time to take care of his son, Mr. Duong decided to leave the bank and try his hand at new projects. However, many projects failed consecutively, once he had to dump a container of goods at night because the warehouse's storage machine was broken, causing a loss of hundreds of millions of dong.

The savings from his banking career were constantly “gone and never returned”. The family’s total assets at that time were about 12 billion VND, and Mr. Duong was allowed to use 4 billion VND to start a business. But this amount of money was quickly exhausted by unsuccessful projects.

For six long years, the couple took their child to many hospitals for check-ups and worked hard to pay off the debt. But the journey was almost hopeless, the solutions only helped to control the situation but did not solve the root of the problem.

Seeing his child sick and burdened, Mr. Duong felt like he was "pushed to the wall". In desperation, his belief in himself urged him to try one more time. In 2019, Mr. Duong founded Intestinal Health Care Joint Stock Company (Dr. Ruot), a pioneer in developing products from resistant starch, solving digestive problems for Vietnamese people.

The initial period of starting a business was extremely difficult. The biggest challenge was that the concept of resistant starch, although widely used in world medicine, was still very new and not known to many people in Vietnam.

To gain a deep understanding of the product, the young CEO spent a lot of time reading documents from developed countries and studying reports from international organizations. He "made his way" to Australia - a country that values ​​health care - to observe the working environment and learn how businesses create products and approach users.

Returning to Vietnam, in addition to applying modern solutions, he learned and realized the great value of folk remedies and farmers' experiences. These are all traditional secrets that have been tested and verified over time.

What worries Mr. Duong is that the rate of patients with digestive disorders, especially constipation and colon-related problems, has not decreased over the years. On the contrary, according to international statistics, the number of new cases is still increasing steadily by 15-18% each year.

Digging deeper, Mr. Duong understood that this was a large-scale “social problem”. In Vietnam alone, it is estimated that about 40 million people have intestinal problems at various levels.

“I understand that if I enter this market, I need to solve a big and urgent problem. Because behind it is not just a business story, but the quality of life of tens of millions of Vietnamese people,” Mr. Duong shared.

Covering the whole market after the fundraising show on SharkTank

During the first three years of starting the business (2019–2021), young CEO Dr. Ruot focused on selling products to customers with expertise and high reputation in the community.

"It is very difficult to convince this customer base, but I understand that once I conquer them, it will be easier to reach the mass market. My strategy is to target business owners, so that the product can quickly spread to employees and partners," Mr. Duong shared.

After 3 years of fighting, Dr. Ruot has built a network of 479 quality customers, initially affirming the position of resistant starch in the Vietnamese market.

CEO Nguyen Tuan Duong successfully raised capital for resistant starch products on Shark Tank season 5

The turning point came in 2022, when CEO Nguyen Tuan Duong successfully raised capital for his product on Shark Tank, becoming the highest-ranked startup in season 5. In just 8 months after the broadcast, the number of customers increased dramatically to 22,000 people. Demand far exceeded supply, with many customers having to wait up to 4 months to receive the product.

From struggling to find individual customers, the business fell into a situation where “even at full speed, it still could not keep up with demand”. One day, the company headquarters had to temporarily close because the number of customers was beyond control. Revenue increased dozens of times compared to before, opening a new growth trajectory for the young CEO.

The highlight of Dr. Ruot's Resistant Starch is the use of technology to restructure starch from Vietnamese agricultural products. Therefore, maintaining the stability of raw material areas is the "vital" factor of the project.

To verify the quality and ability to maintain the growing area, CEO Tuan Duong went directly to the highlands to survey. At that time, the price of a kilogram of fresh raw materials only fluctuated between 1,300 and 1,800 VND. Low income led to a narrowing of the cultivated area, and farmers were at risk of abandoning traditional crops.

Realizing the precarious situation of agricultural products, Dr. Ruot pioneered a "rescue" by opening a new value chain: Purchasing raw materials at stable prices, applying deep processing technology and creating sustainable output for products. This model has supported thousands of farming households, contributing to raising the level of Vietnamese agricultural products in the nutritional market.

From a small business, Dr. Ruot has gradually affirmed its position, successfully building the Resistant Starch market with more than 80,000 customers trusting and using it.

With many contributions, the company was honored by the United Nations in the Top 10 Social Impact Enterprises (SIB Signature Vietnam) in 2024.

Start a business like a boxing match

The journey of bringing Dr. Ruot from a small business to gradually affirming its position in the intestinal health care market is full of hardships and challenges. To reap the "sweet fruit", it requires not only a smart strategy and implementation, but also perseverance in the face of difficulties.

"Starting a business is like a boxing match: Whoever can endure pain better will win. In business, the same goes for whoever can endure physical and mental pain, and especially capital, the higher the chance of success," CEO Nguyen Tuan Duong emphasized.

From an "unknown" concept, Dr. Ruot resistant starch has attracted more than 40,000 customers to trust and use the product.

In addition to running the business, CEO Nguyen Tuan Duong also actively supports young start-up projects. With experience gained from failure, Mr. Duong helps startups look at problems realistically, build appropriate strategies and inspire.

The first thing CEO Tuan Duong tells young entrepreneurs is: “Start from the real needs of life”. Starting a business is first and foremost a journey of self -discovery , finding passion and creating products that are useful to the community. Only when the product solves social needs, is practical and has different competitive values, will the business have a chance to succeed.

"The biggest weakness of young people is that they easily get carried away, creating expensive products that don't solve any problems. I've encountered many projects like that. Starting a business that is far from reality makes it difficult to go the long way," CEO Nguyen Tuan Duong emphasized.

Recalling the lesson "by heart" from coffee king Dang Le Nguyen Vu, Mr. Tuan Duong emphasized three factors that create the success of a start-up.

The first is the spirit of the farmer, industrious, hard-working, and persistent in working day after day, month after month. The second is the warrior spirit, not letting objective factors shake one's will.

Finally, a startup needs a core team and a big mindset. To create great value, there must be people with enough courage and the courage to think beyond the current limits.

Regarding future orientation, CEO Tuan Duong said that Dr. Ruot is entering the stage of completing key projects. One of the important projects is the 1,500 m² manufacturing factory, meeting ISO 22000 and Halal GCC standards. When put into operation, the factory will help Dr. Ruot improve production capacity, diversify products and get closer to the goal of expanding to the international market.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/doanh-nhan-nguyen-tuan-duong-khoi-nghiep-thanh-cong-tu-nhung-luc-bi-don-den-chan-tuong-10399593.html