Stephen Turban shares why Vietnam became one of the most meaningful chapters of his life – and why he chose Saigon as the base to build Lumiere, an 8-figure global education company.
We talk about the advantages he found in Vietnam, what he learned building globally from Asia, the talent he discovered here and the identity shift that comes from committing to a place far from home.
Stephen Turban is the co-founder of Lumiere, a global education platform that helps thousands of students conduct research with PhDs. He studied at Harvard, worked at McKinsey, learned Vietnamese, performs stand-up comedy in Saigon and has spent years building and living in Vietnam.
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We discuss:
04:45 Failing 40 interviews and “no one cares about you” 09:30 Harvard, McKinsey and entering the working world 14:15 First time in Vietnam and the Fulbright chapter 19:00 How Saigon “ruined” his PhD (in a good way) 23:45 Choosing Vietnam over the traditional academic path 28:30 Starting Lumiere and building globally from Asia 33:15 Bootstrapping Lumiere toward low 8-figure revenue 38:00 Hiring and building teams from Vietnam, India, China 42:45 Side-door careers and avoiding front-door competition 47:30 Experiments, learning, reading and truth-seeking 52:15 Learning Vietnamese and doing stand-up comedy in Saigon 57:00 Identity, belonging and becoming “half OV” 1:01:45 Why Vietnam is underrated for builders 1:06:30 Advice for people thinking about building from Vietnam 1:11:15 Closing thoughts and where to find Stephen & Lumiere
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