An economist, a lawyer, an engineer and a doctor… they may or may not walk into a bar but 17 years later are the co-founders of a double unicorn, Go1. Having raised US$100m in their second major capital raise in the space of 12 months earlier this year, the Edutech company is now valued at over $2billion.

On Episode 17 of The Digital Village Show, Vu Tran shares the incredible 17-year entrepreneurial story he, Andrew Barnes, Chris Eigeland and Chris Hood have been on together. 

The path of a founder is often marred with struggle, sacrifice, doubt and usually loneliness, and Vu certainly isn’t reserved about how the camaraderie between himself and his co-founders was pivotal in coming this far.

In an inspirational episode for all founders, he discusses their journey from selling websites door to door to delivering education to one billion people across the globe.

Time Stamps

Intro 

6:15 - 8:03 : A 17 year, 7 year, overnight success story.

8:03 - 13:43 : Building the foundations of a 17 year partnership.

13:44 - 15:27 : What advice would (or wouldn’t) Vu give his 18-year old self.

15:28 - 21:15 : How to overcome adversity.

21:16 - 27:05 : Restarting from scratch to enter the learning space.

27:06 - 31:01 : The pursuit to impact 1 billion people.

31:02 - 33:06 : The benefits of Y Combinator.

33:07 - 36:25 : “Can you sell it?” and finding product market fit.

36:26 - : The importance of skills vs education