The female CEO of “the 4.0 jeweler chain” left empty-handed at Shark Tank season 5-Information Technology

“No one knows me, I force people to give money first for me to keep, and then I declare “I have a secret for me to be balanced, I have a backup…” is the comment of a shark about this startup.

At episode 1 of Shark Tank Vietnam season 5, Hana Ngo – founder and operator of HanaGold is the last name to appear to raise capital. Hana Ngo said, when she was a little girl of 5-6 years old, she saw the image of her grandmother, the mother who spends every little bit of money every month to buy accumulated gold at the end of the month. That made her intent on how to make it easier for Vietnamese people to accumulate gold. That’s why HanaGold was born.

Hana Ngo in the middle of the “shark tank”.

According to the introduction of the female founder, HanaGold is a jewelry store chain that applies 4.0 technology in management and business. There, customers can buy accumulated gold online (online) from only 100,000 VND and receive gold offline (directly) at HanaGold stores or franchised stores nationwide. In addition, HanaGold also built a 4.0 jewelry store model with an investment capital of 500 million VND. HanaGold currently has 100 copyrighted gold jewelry product samples, which is expected to increase to 1,000 samples.

Coming to Shark Tank Vietnam, Hana Ngo called for an investment of $200,000 for a 10% stake.

Explaining in more detail about her model, Hana Ngo said, this is a form of deposit to buy gold. HanaGold builds a website and application for customers to recharge and buy accumulated gold from only 100,000 VND. When you have enough gold, you will go to HanaGold’s gold shop to receive physical gold.

Hana Ngo – founder and CEO of HanaGold.

Responding to the question of Shark Hung and Shark Hung Anh about how when the price of gold fluctuates, Hana Ngo said that the gold price will be calculated at the time of purchase. The balance of cash flow when the gold price is different between the time of purchase and delivery of gold is the responsibility of Hana Gold.

This makes Shark Hung concerned about risks. “I bought gold from you at the moment, the price is nearly 70 million. I didn’t receive it until 7 months later, when I reached 100 million, I didn’t have money to buy physical gold to pay you.”Shark Hung expressed.

Answering shark Phu’s question about the business situation, the female founder said, HanaGold was established in 2020 and currently has 3 stores. The startup currently has more than 15,000 customers using the smartphone application, of which about 30% have made a purchase.

In response to questions from the sharks about ensuring the buyer’s liability in case of bankruptcy, Hana Ngo said that HanaGold has a mechanism for setting up a reserve fund like banks. The problem, she said, is “in trust”. This explanation is not accepted by the sharks.

“In the principle of investment, especially financial investment, the new mechanism is important. Of course there must be faith, but believing is believing in the mechanism, ie not cheating, not lying, not believing in a specific individual.”Shark Hung analyzed.

When the sharks thought the business model was too risky, Hana Ngo stated that, if the new model is risk-free, there will be no progress.

Seamless “sharks” in episode 1 of Shark Tank season 5.

Talking about the financial picture, Hana Ngo said that the charter capital of the enterprise is 10 billion from 3 shareholders. Hana Ngo holds 60% of the shares. The total cost since its establishment in 2020 until now has used up 7 billion. In terms of revenue, in 2020 and 2021 alone, the business is “frozen”. Revenue in the first quarter of 2022 ranges from VND 500 million to VND 1 billion.

The female founder said, HanaGold is not only a tool for management, but it is also a place for many people to participate and they can make profits and make money here. Talking about the jewelry store franchise model, Hana Ngo said that anyone who wants to invest can invest with a capital of only 500 million dong.

When shark Binh wondered about the number “500 million, how many pieces of gold can be displayed?”said Hana Ngo, that’s what HanaGold can do while other jewelers can’t.

As the first person to close the deal, Lien shark said that the startup’s business model is extremely risky. Therefore, she does not invest in startups. Agreeing with shark Lien, shark Hung Anh also refused to invest and advised the startup to review its model.

Shark Hung analyzed: The up and down gold price will affect the startup’s decision at the time of handing over gold to customers, because then there may be an imbalance with the collected cash flow. Moreover, gold shop franchises add another intermediary risk when the startup delivers the gold to the franchise store and then delivers it to the customer, while the money is collected by the startup. Therefore, Shark Hung also refused to invest in startups.

Shark Binh also said that the franchise model offered by the startup is not feasible. In addition, the tokenization of the purchase of gold is facing legal problems. He believes that 4.0 or technology is not a magic wand and there are still businesses that cannot be changed. Because he did not believe in the successful future of the business model, he decided not to invest in the startup.

Shark Phu analyzes a gold-selling startup that has been preparing for 2 years, deploying for 3 months with a revenue of only 1 billion is a problem. It shows that customers do not yet trust the business.

“No one knew about me, I forced people to give money first for me to keep, and then I declared “I have a secret to balance it out, I have a backup”… For example, the State Bank sets up a reserve, the bank Commercial banks must be kept by the State Bank in order to have a backup meaning. But I have a backup in the safe, if I pull out the safe tomorrow, it is not a backup,” said shark.

Assessing that the business model of the startup is difficult to succeed, shark Phu also decided not to invest.

According to Ngoc Pham (Vietnamese people)