Quynh Pham is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Computer Science. Upon graduation, she worked as a software engineer at IBM and for several other finance and e-commerce companies. Quynh is now a serial entrepreneur, a hacker and a technologist who is constantly looking for challenges both professionally and personally. Quynh single-handedly took online classifieds to the next level and founded Reachoo, http://reachoo.com – a video classifieds website. It is a revolutionary, free, video classified website that connects the local community and assist sellers and buyers within the community to make transactions with ease. Do you think the education you’ve invested in helped you on the road to success?
Certainly! Going through the “boot camp” of a competitive Computer Science major helped me to master the fundamentals. I’ve learned to think logically. I have also obtained a solid foundation in engineering. On the other hand, I’ve also met the most talented engineers without any higher degrees.
What was the “big break” in your career?
Dealing with the politics at work, having a monotonous routine and working for somebody else has never really appealed to me. I’ve always aspired to be an entrepreneur. I was continuously brainstorming for radical ideas. What could be the next “big” thing, a break through? Eventually, Reachoo.com was born! As a result of that, I decided to quit a corporate America and become a full-time entrepreneur. I threw myself full-heartedly and full-time into this project.
Who or what are the main influences on your present success?
I get my inspiration from and try to follow in the footsteps of some of the successful start-up founders out there. These “rags to riches” stories inspire me to pursue my own entrepreneurial ideas. In particular, I’d like to point out Paul Graham, the Founder of YCombinator (http:/ycombinator.com). I’m very much inspired by his work, inventions, essays and what he’s done for the start-up community. He funded a lot of start-ups and turned them into successful companies.
What were some of the obstacles that you had to overcome to get to where you are now? How do you overcome failure?
Giving up the steady paycheck, thoughts of failure, an overwhelming amount of work, a lack of resources and finances, were some of the early obstacles. Typical for a start-up, things were very slow at the beginning. I was discouraged quite a few times and had thoughts such as “Is this going to work? Can I make it happen? Will my site ever become popular?” I had these questions stuck in my head for the longest time. There were, certainly, temptations to go back to the corporate world. However, deep inside, I believed in myself and persevered. I found consolation in the thought that if this is not going to work, it would still be a good learning experience, minus the invested time, money, emotions, and hard work.
Entrepreneurship is like a personal relationship. It is an emotional roller coaster full of ups and downs, love and hatred, excitement and discouragement. And just like a personal relationship, you could always start over if things don’t work out. All you should try to do is do your best. I choose to take risks. I thrive on the idea that I would hate wonder later on, when I am 50 or older, how my life would have been if I did not take that risk. I would hate to regret the things I did not take my chances on!
Can you tell us of any interesting story from your professional life, something embarrassing, humorous?
Once I got written up on the job for using profanity. So much for corporate rules!
As a young professional, what were some of the mistakes that you made? What did you learn from them?
Maybe, to a certain degree, I wasn’t enough “professional” at work. Maybe I did not follow enough rules; or was not tactical enough when dealing with certain people. Entrepreneurs are not necessarily born with some of those innate abilities to manage conflicts. However, I recognize that these traits do contribute to success.
How do you measure success?
Success is a great sense of accomplishment. It is a feeling that you’ve saved the world and helped millions of people. Success is being able to train yourself to be disciplined without any supervision and to be able to overcome obstacles. Success is about the goals and the path toward them. A successful entrepreneur should be full of ideas, open to changes, and possess the ability to continuously improve.
What is one advice that you can offer to your readers?
Believe in your ideas and carry them out! Do not wait! Time flies and never waits for you. Take risks and leap to every opportunity that arrives. Do not ever get scared of competition. Learn how to do deal with rejection and be open to constructive criticism.
What do you do for fun?
Reachoo.com consumes most of my fun! Whenever I do get a spare moment, I play tennis, travel as much as I can (one of the perks being an entrepreneur), and invest in stocks. I enjoy discovering new things and learn something new everyday.
What is your favorite gadget/software/website that makes your life easier?
Gadgets: Apple products, especially Macbook, my recently acquired Android phone.
Websites: Reddit, Slashdot, Yahoo! Finance and developer user groups.
Software & programming languages: iTunes, eclipse, netbeans, vim, debuggers, firefox, mysql, java, Ruby on Rails, Unix terminals, photoshops and chat softwares (Yahoo! Messenger or Skype).
Whom would you like to see featured here and why?
Alex Le , alexle@marrily.com from http://marrily.com – a brand new and already successful wedding management startup.
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