
From fleeing Vietnam in a refugee boat to becoming Uber’s CTO - williswee
https://www.techinasia.com/refugee-from-vietnam-to-uber-cto-thuan-pham
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lpsz
Stark contrast with New York Times pieces about struggling liberal arts majors
with $120K in debt and no hope.

Given what I feel like is a growing class war in modern America, I wish more
could embrace stories like this, and not the culture of putting down others'
hard work in the name of "equalization." Some accomplished people (such as
Asian immigrants or refugees, in this case) have worked really really hard to
get where they are.

~~~
akilism
Well the difference is these stories are really really rare where as stories
of struggling college graduates with mountains of debt are pretty commonplace.

Might as well tell people to gather inspiration from tales of lottery winners.

~~~
stephenitis
If you think being a refugee and having to flee your home country is winning
the lottery?

~~~
samfisher83
Most refugees don't get out so yes it is like winning a lottery.

~~~
stephenitis
Being a immigrant in my opinion is absolutely no like winning the lottery as
adapting to the new culture, schools, and language was a terrible experience
for many that are apart of the Vietnamese American story. Enduring the trauma
of racism, bullying, gangs, xenopobia was not be what I would analogize as
winning the "lottery".

I'd dare you to ask Thuan, with a straight face, if he feels like he won the
lottery. There was a element of luck but by no means you should think that
refugees are winning the golden ticket by merely escaping.

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violentvinyl
I have a particular interest in truly disruptive start-ups, especially ones
thats really flout the law like Uber does. I'm under the impression that
conventional entrepeneurial wisdom says "Go ahead and break the rules, by the
time they catch up with you or you've gained their attention, you'll have the
money or support needed to fight for real change". Of course, all you have to
do is look at Zenefits to see this isn't always going to be the case. It makes
you wonder what type of person it takes to run a company like that. I relize
Thuan isn't the CEO/founder, but when I think about a disruptive business, I
weight up the threat of serious fines/jail time against a relatively cushy
life with a stable 9 to 5. It's really eye-opening to see what type of person
it takes to drive a busines like Uber forward.

~~~
a_imho
>I have a particular interest in truly disruptive start-ups, especially ones
thats really flout the law like Uber does.

Sorry if I sound ignorant but I don't see how Uber (or 99% of startups) are
disruptive at all. I never used it because I prefer other modes of
transportation, but it is basically a cab service, right? They just changed
the packaging. To my knowledge here they charge exactly the same for a ride,
without paying the fees cab companies are due.

The hard problem is to convince (or scam - not talking about Uber here) people
to perceive your service as quality over competitors, regardless of what you
offer in reality. If you are successful, you can brag and call it disruption.

~~~
mcculley
I'm not a fan of Uber in general, but they did drastically improve cab service
in the markets I've used them. Being able to summon a cab from your phone, see
where it is when en route so you don't have to wonder when it will arrive, and
not having to mess around with a credit card or cash when finishing the trip
are all big improvements that every cab service should provide. Many of the
non-Uber cab services provide such conveniences now, but wouldn't have
bothered if it were not for Uber threatening their monopoly.

~~~
a_imho
Yes, that is what I'm arguing, they are selling perceived big improvements,
but I see low hanging fruits at max, certainly not disruption. Without
hindsight. The few times I used taxis, I called them from my phone/skype long
before Uber, and they arrived exactly when discussed. What is the fuss. And
you eventually have to pay up, I don't really care what is the method. Getting
from A to B on demand was solved long ago. All, without operating in the frame
your competitors have to is a bit fishy.

~~~
mcculley
Your experience with calling cabs from the phone is much better than mine.
Perhaps that is where you live. I'm in Central Florida and have had similar
poor experiences when traveling. Glancing at my phone and knowing how far away
the cab is is a lot more convenient than being told it will arrive in 20-45
minutes and watching for it and not being able to make good use of the waiting
time.

As for paying, it's a big deal to me. Being able to just exit the car at the
end of the ride is a lot nicer than waiting for the driver to scan my card,
sign the receipt, etc.

These two small things greatly reduce the friction and make me more likely to
use a cab over other options.

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stephenitis
As a Vietnamese American working in San Francisco this fills me with pride in
the strength of our Vietnamese people to persevere. My mother nearly died
trying to escape Vietnam and through a successive string of luck ended up
immigrating to America and opening a small business in our home state of
Virginia.

The article unfortunately skips from Vietnam -> Indonesia ->Maryland in a few
short paragraphs. There is likely some amazing depth to this story that is not
being surfaced here. I would love for a more in depth interview to be done al
la Kevin Rose style.

~~~
evmar
My college roommate for a few years was also Vietnamese, born in a refugee
camp. He went on to a top medical school and today is a specialist doctor.

I often think about how I slacked my way through college, and how hard my
friend worked. For me, I figured people were hiring programmers without
college degrees, and I could always fall back on my middle class parents; for
him and the sacrifices his family made, failure was not an option.

It's a real reminder of what privilege means.

~~~
stephenitis
It's easy to forget sometimes even as a child of a immigrant parent who gave
their sweat, tears, and all they ever knew for a better life.

The further away you get from a real struggle story the more important I think
it is to travel, give back, and volunteer. Walking the streets and living in
San Francisco can really distort reality sometimes making a reality checks
very much important.

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legulere
Ugh, another capitalist feel-good story about someone that worked hard and got
to the top from rock bottom. It totally ignores that most of the people at the
top were born into upper class and it ignores the billion of hardworking
people that are still extremely poor.

~~~
stephenitis
This is a terrible complaint, should we not celebrate the victories of those
who survived tragedy and made it through?

I mean it's terrible that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have this
model minority myth about it. There are still droves of Vietnamese American
immigrants and second generation people who struggle to make ends meet daily
but I don't think that should distract from this article.

~~~
akavi
Nothing wrong with celebrating it!

But "(I am|He is|She is|They are) made it out of poverty because of hard work
and a can-do attitude." is frequently used as an argument that, conversely,
those who fail to make it out of poverty somehow "deserve" their standing.

So in light of that, it's important to keep in mind how much of an outlier
such stories are.

~~~
yummyfajitas
What evidence, if any, would convince you that those who fail to make it out
of poverty do in fact "deserve" their standing?

Note that I'm interpreting "deserve" as meaning "could have escaped with high
probability had they engaged in different actions". Do you mean something
different?

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wimagguc
Many qualities required for someone to flee their home country in a refugee
boat seem to be pretty useful for a CXO too.

(I mean things like taking calculated risks, learning to navigate new cultures
-- and just the cold blood you need to face those pirate ships. Pretty
impressive.)

~~~
kelukelugames
I agree there is an immigrant "gene" or advantage, but Thuan was 10 at the
time. And people didn't need to be adventurous to see they needed to leave
Vietnam in the 70s. Especially if they were American allies.

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iwwr
How many world-changing individuals are being denied the opportunity to get
started because of the politics of barbed wire...

~~~
ptaipale
Many good ones - but of course, not all world-changing is for the good. And
sometimes the barbed wire doesn't stop anything, anyway.

2nd from the right:

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8487...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8487691/Osama-
bin-Laden-dead-life-and-family-in-pictures.html)

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_navaneethan
> Don’t take yourself too seriously and you will not hesitate to take bold
> risks in life. Have fun along the way.

Most of the people(engineers) are struggling to overcome this one

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rogersmith
Article reads like paid advertisement for Uber tbh...

