Job Opportunity: Trade the classroom for a tech startup
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- 440 newbie - handle with care
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- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:26 am
Job Opportunity: Trade the classroom for a tech startup
If you are intelligent, motivated, tech savvy and are looking for a career in Cambodia outside of the classroom then please read on.
I run a fast growing tech startup based here in Phnom Penh that produces a web based software system that is used by business clients around the world (SaaS B2B). We are in the process of transitioning from the startup phase of the business, which is 75% about product development and into the growth phase of the business which is 75% about marketing and sales.
We would like to hire here in Cambodia an experienced growth hacker (Google it or read this - http://www.quora.com/What-is-growth-hacking) who has a good working knowledge of the very specific business vertical that we operate in. Obviously that isn't going to happen, so the plan is to hire a sharp cookie and help them grow into that position. Growth hacking isn't taught in schools, however it's an extremely relevant and marketable skill and is much sort after in just about every country that has tech startups, so it's definitely something worth mastering.
I'm pitching this at teachers because I used to be one here in Phnom Penh many moons ago and know there are some exceptional individuals working that job who are committed to Cambodia but would love to be doing something else that offers more challenges and personal growth opportunities given the chance. The other reason is that because this is a learn on the job type position, the salary that we could offer initially would be similar to that of an English teacher.
I'm not really looking for any specific qualifications or work experience, it's about finding the right person with the right attitude rather than ticking boxes. Really I'm looking for someone with the following characteristics:
- Extremely fast learner
- Agility (this job is all about: build -> measure -> learn -> repeat)
- An extrovert and solid communicator
- An active interest in technology
- Knows how to self learn
- A good writer
- Gets things done
- Not overly sensitive to feedback or criticism
- Native level English skills (written and spoken)
- A long term commitment to Cambodia (we don't want to invest in someone who won't be here next year)
Here are some other things that will score bonus points:
- Maintaining an active blog
- A social media presence (especially Twitter and LinkedIn)
- Corporate experience (just enough to be able to speak their language and know how they think)
- Graphic design skills
- An interest photography or video
- Experience with analytical programs such as Google Analytics
About the Job
In the beginning there will be a very steep learning curve and you will be expected to get up to speed with our product, the industry and the basics concepts of growth hacking ASAP. In the beginning I will instruct you what to do on a day to day basis, but as you gain experience and proficiency you will be expected to formulate and test your own growth experiments.
The starting salary will be $1200 nett and there will be scope for ongoing salary growth once you are past the coaching stage and taking ownership of the role. You will work office hours Monday to Friday and will be paid for the public holidays that we observe as well as 15 days of paid annual leave.
If you are interested, send me a PM and tell me a little about yourself.
I run a fast growing tech startup based here in Phnom Penh that produces a web based software system that is used by business clients around the world (SaaS B2B). We are in the process of transitioning from the startup phase of the business, which is 75% about product development and into the growth phase of the business which is 75% about marketing and sales.
We would like to hire here in Cambodia an experienced growth hacker (Google it or read this - http://www.quora.com/What-is-growth-hacking) who has a good working knowledge of the very specific business vertical that we operate in. Obviously that isn't going to happen, so the plan is to hire a sharp cookie and help them grow into that position. Growth hacking isn't taught in schools, however it's an extremely relevant and marketable skill and is much sort after in just about every country that has tech startups, so it's definitely something worth mastering.
I'm pitching this at teachers because I used to be one here in Phnom Penh many moons ago and know there are some exceptional individuals working that job who are committed to Cambodia but would love to be doing something else that offers more challenges and personal growth opportunities given the chance. The other reason is that because this is a learn on the job type position, the salary that we could offer initially would be similar to that of an English teacher.
I'm not really looking for any specific qualifications or work experience, it's about finding the right person with the right attitude rather than ticking boxes. Really I'm looking for someone with the following characteristics:
- Extremely fast learner
- Agility (this job is all about: build -> measure -> learn -> repeat)
- An extrovert and solid communicator
- An active interest in technology
- Knows how to self learn
- A good writer
- Gets things done
- Not overly sensitive to feedback or criticism
- Native level English skills (written and spoken)
- A long term commitment to Cambodia (we don't want to invest in someone who won't be here next year)
Here are some other things that will score bonus points:
- Maintaining an active blog
- A social media presence (especially Twitter and LinkedIn)
- Corporate experience (just enough to be able to speak their language and know how they think)
- Graphic design skills
- An interest photography or video
- Experience with analytical programs such as Google Analytics
About the Job
In the beginning there will be a very steep learning curve and you will be expected to get up to speed with our product, the industry and the basics concepts of growth hacking ASAP. In the beginning I will instruct you what to do on a day to day basis, but as you gain experience and proficiency you will be expected to formulate and test your own growth experiments.
The starting salary will be $1200 nett and there will be scope for ongoing salary growth once you are past the coaching stage and taking ownership of the role. You will work office hours Monday to Friday and will be paid for the public holidays that we observe as well as 15 days of paid annual leave.
If you are interested, send me a PM and tell me a little about yourself.
An increasingly important set of questions for job seekers in Phnom Penh:
1. Is the company properly registered with the MoC and set up to pay taxes properly?
2. Do you have authorization to hire foreign employees and provide a work permit?
1. Is the company properly registered with the MoC and set up to pay taxes properly?
2. Do you have authorization to hire foreign employees and provide a work permit?
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- 440 newbie - handle with care
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Well done on writing a job proposal that actually sounds legit (one of the first I've seen in Cambodia related forums).
Out of curiosity, why have a Phnom Penh based team? Just seems to me that the negatives aren't worth it. With a remote team you have a much larger potential recruit pool, avoid potential legal hassles with the unstable labor laws of Cambodia, and personally I believe remote teams are usually more productive, at least in the case of software companies. There are certainly advantages to a local team, just curious why you're going that route when most startups (especially based around SEA) are remote these days.
Out of curiosity, why have a Phnom Penh based team? Just seems to me that the negatives aren't worth it. With a remote team you have a much larger potential recruit pool, avoid potential legal hassles with the unstable labor laws of Cambodia, and personally I believe remote teams are usually more productive, at least in the case of software companies. There are certainly advantages to a local team, just curious why you're going that route when most startups (especially based around SEA) are remote these days.
Not a bad idea at all though. He knows there's a wide pool of reasonably smart folks in-country used to a certain salary range. They don't have the experience but, goes the reasoning, they have the mental capacity to get into it over a few months. That'll need some handholding/coaching/grooming so gotta be face-to-face not remote. And then ideally they have capable "growth hackers" at their disposal at teachers' salaries or perhaps a little over for 40 hours a week. All in all pretty win-win. They save some cash runway if they're self-funded/customer-funded (startups are risky, tech is ever-changing, customers are fickle and new competitors operating from some basement can spring up at any time) while teacher types get (at the same or slightly better salary level) a possibly less-stressful, mentally (perhaps!) more engaging job or simply new challenge without the "stupid politics" of schools that would get them up to speed on various tech skills which would open more opportunies in the future.. I guess
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- 440 newbie - handle with care
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Voogren: Legally we're a UK company and we didn't choose Cambodia as the ideal country to launch this startup from, we were already here. That said the only real drawback is the timezone, most of our customers are in the U.S. and Europe which makes communication tricky especially for the States, but as we are a self service web product it's not a biggy. On the plus side overheads are a fraction of what they would be in the UK or US, so therefore it's much easier to get started without venture capital.
Metaleap: The strategy I'm using here is the same I used with the engineering team in the beginning. I hired young and very smart local guys without much experience and trained them, they are now highly skilled developers. They earn high salaries for Cambodia, have shares in the company, own their homes and and drive to work in cars, so it worked out well for them. This new role involves content creation in English, so hiring a Cambodian isn't really going to work.
Metaleap: The strategy I'm using here is the same I used with the engineering team in the beginning. I hired young and very smart local guys without much experience and trained them, they are now highly skilled developers. They earn high salaries for Cambodia, have shares in the company, own their homes and and drive to work in cars, so it worked out well for them. This new role involves content creation in English, so hiring a Cambodian isn't really going to work.
Shame, sounds like something I'd like but too much of a pay cut.
Yeah, I think the key is that they're not looking for someone with a specialized skill set, and their general requirements are reasonable. I'd also wager they'll get higher quality candidates here for $1200/m than they would for that amount in the west.metaleap wrote:Not a bad idea at all though. He knows there's a wide pool of reasonably smart folks in-country used to a certain salary range. They don't have the experience but, goes the reasoning, they have the mental capacity to get into it over a few months. That'll need some handholding/coaching/grooming so gotta be face-to-face not remote. And then ideally they have capable "growth hackers" at their disposal at teachers' salaries or perhaps a little over for 40 hours a week. All in all pretty win-win. They save some cash runway if they're self-funded/customer-funded (startups are risky, tech is ever-changing, customers are fickle and new competitors operating from some basement can spring up at any time) while teacher types get (at the same or slightly better salary level) a possibly less-stressful, mentally (perhaps!) more engaging job or simply new challenge without the "stupid politics" of schools that would get them up to speed on various tech skills which would open more opportunies in the future.. I guess
Interesting opportunity. I pretty much fit the requirements except that I'm an introvert.
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- 440 newbie - handle with care
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Epidemiks, that could still work, especially if you are good at writing. I need someone to lift some of the load off of me, so we could also arrange it so everyone does what they're best suited to, please get in touch and share some details about yourself if you're interested.
Also it just dawned upon me that some people might not want to apply using their 440 handle, as sometimes our online forum alter ego isn't anything like our professional personality. So any one who would like to express interest can get me on:
[email protected]
Also it just dawned upon me that some people might not want to apply using their 440 handle, as sometimes our online forum alter ego isn't anything like our professional personality. So any one who would like to express interest can get me on:
[email protected]
Why would job seekers be interested if the company is registered with the MoC or even pays taxes? The job seeker will simply be doing his job and getting paid his weekly or monthly wages. In the end, that's all that counts for an employee. The relationship between the company and the government is ultimately the problem of the company and not of the job seeker. It would not even make the company more attractive to the job seeker. Rather something like a higher salary would.Buscador wrote:An increasingly important set of questions for job seekers in Phnom Penh:
1. Is the company properly registered with the MoC and set up to pay taxes properly?
As long as the company would pay any fines -- that is usually how the government sees it too -- this issue would be again of no importance to the job seeker.Buscador wrote:2. Do you have authorization to hire foreign employees and provide a work permit?
There are possibly exceptions, that I am even investigating, but I also think that Cambodia is not necessarily the best location to incorporate a technology startup.startup_cambodia wrote:Voogren: Legally we're a UK company and we didn't choose Cambodia as the ideal country to launch this startup from, we were already here.
Concerning hiring foreign staff in Cambodia, you can always offer a self-employment contract with your UK entity. From there, all administrative formalities and payments in Cambodia will be the responsibility of the staff themselves.
That is also how elance.com, upwork.com, peopleperhour.com or other technology labour marketplaces operate: All paperwork and payments in your own country, are your own problem. I think that this only reasonable. These platforms are not supposed to entertain relationships with the 220+ different jurisdictions on the planet. Nobody intends to miss the opportunity to work with a global client base, just because local regulations are not adapted to these changing times.
For staff located in the US or in the UK, it is even recommended to go through that kind of marketplaces. All you need to do as an employer is to press ok on the credit card button. For the surcharge of a paltry 5% or so, their legal departments will automatically mail any legal paperwork to where it belongs, and keep the local government off your back. That small surcharge seriously protects you from issues with labour law.
You see, regulations will indeed trump economics by using force in order to enforce other rules, but technology will always trump regulations, if only because technology is ultimately vested in the immutable laws of nature, while regulations are just the fantasy of politicians who are never even remotely as smart as they think they are.
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- MerkinMaker
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Cambodia has some significant upsides and downsides if using it as a base for a tech startup.
Upsides:
Tech multinationals will never put their Asean HQ in Phnom Penh. This means you will never have to compete with them for staff (big problem in Bangkok and Saigon).
Cambodians are naturally entrepreneurial, so will almost always take equity over a pay bump.
Providing staff are taken care of, the retention rate is extremely high. This means as a company you can invest in training and take a long term approach.
Although the cost of highly skilled local tech staff has caught up with its neighbours in recent years, it's still well under half the rate of the West.
The cost of everything is less, this means a lower burn rate and a much longer runway.
If you are not doing business in Cambodia then the authorities stay out of your way.
Downsides:
Banking - you can't get merchant bank accounts and access to credit card payment gateways as a Cambodian company. You will need to be registered elsewhere. Remote banking is a pain.
Timezone - we are 12 hours in front of the U.S and 6 hours ahead of Europe. This makes customer support and sales challenging, especially if fast turn arounds are expected.
Hiring rockstars - if you come into money and want to hire the best of the best. They aren't here.
The bottom line is that if you are purely bootstrapping then Cambodia has a lot going for it. If you are planning to bootstrap until you can demonstrate some early traction and then seek funding, then forget it.
Upsides:
Tech multinationals will never put their Asean HQ in Phnom Penh. This means you will never have to compete with them for staff (big problem in Bangkok and Saigon).
Cambodians are naturally entrepreneurial, so will almost always take equity over a pay bump.
Providing staff are taken care of, the retention rate is extremely high. This means as a company you can invest in training and take a long term approach.
Although the cost of highly skilled local tech staff has caught up with its neighbours in recent years, it's still well under half the rate of the West.
The cost of everything is less, this means a lower burn rate and a much longer runway.
If you are not doing business in Cambodia then the authorities stay out of your way.
Downsides:
Banking - you can't get merchant bank accounts and access to credit card payment gateways as a Cambodian company. You will need to be registered elsewhere. Remote banking is a pain.
Timezone - we are 12 hours in front of the U.S and 6 hours ahead of Europe. This makes customer support and sales challenging, especially if fast turn arounds are expected.
Hiring rockstars - if you come into money and want to hire the best of the best. They aren't here.
The bottom line is that if you are purely bootstrapping then Cambodia has a lot going for it. If you are planning to bootstrap until you can demonstrate some early traction and then seek funding, then forget it.
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