VietNamNet Bridge - On a nice day in 2013, Lam Quoc Vu, full of hope, met investors to raise funds for QA Symphony, his two-year-old business. But investors in Silicon Valley took the wind out of his sail.


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Mr Lam Quoc Vu



Vu had only two minutes to talk about his project and had to leave after two questions. However, four years later, QA Symphony got $40 million from Insight Ventures Partners.

Vu is one of the persons deserving credit for training first-generation software engineers in Vietnam. He came to Vietnam as a US investor and established Paragon Solutions Vietnam in 1995, which was later sold to FCG and then to CSC Vietnam. 

His new period began when he left the company he founded and, together with three other partners, set up KMS Technology in 2009.

At that moment, the world’s economy entered a recession and software outsourcing companies suffered. However, luckily, he obtained an order from a client. The number of KMS engineers went from 40 to 100 after one year.

Vu had two options for the next development period, either continue doing outsourcing or try to develop “made in Vietnam” software of its own.

It is difficult to become a product development or an outsourcing company. The former has to spend big money on product design, market openings, marketing and sales. However, the latter cannot create big value.

It is difficult to become a product development or an outsourcing company. The former has to spend big money on product design, market openings, marketing and sales. However, the latter cannot create big value.

Vietnam’s name in the world’s software market is a dream cherished by Lam since the very first day of KMS.

KMS recently opened its fourth office in Vietnam in HCM City. It covers an area of 3,000 square meters, large enough for 650 workers. The company plans to employ 200 more workers to raise the total number of workers to 1,200.

The company needs more workers to develop a series of products, including Kobiton, the solution to testing mobile app on cloud and Katalon, the automatic software testing solution.

Vu said there are two noteworthy tendencies – AI (artificial intelligence) and Blockchain.  

When starting up, Vu did not choose India, where he could easily find software engineers, but chose Vietnam because he has confidence in Vietnamese skills and knowledge.

In the past, Vu hoped that Vietnam would have more talented software engineers. Now, he is cherishing a new dream – an entrepreneur economy with many startups that develop products instead of doing outsourcing.


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Mai Chi