Stage discussion "Wake Up, Thai People": Thaimart, the first home for Thai entrepreneurs, officially launched the "Thaimart" Thai e-commerce platform.
Nop-Pongsathon Thanabodhipat, co-founder of Eddu Group and Refinn. He shared "Untold Business Lessons with Case Studies," noting that trade has long been part of Thai life, but importantly, business owners must align their mindset with changing business cycles.
He recounted personal experience starting a business at age 20, spending much time learning through trial and error without sufficient knowledge.
He observed that many Thais are merchants but few call themselves "entrepreneurs" because at some point, they fall into the "middle-class trap"—when income rises, they fail to see the bigger picture for business expansion or additional profit, leading many businesses to collapse as owners cannot continue.
1. Business = Marketing + Management + Finance.
Pongsathon stated that even Harvard professors admire Thais' selling skills, but business success relies on balancing three pillars: marketing, management, and finance.
For example, many businesses generate tens of millions in online sales and large profits, but lack stable backend systems, leading to incomplete deliveries, loss of credibility, and ultimately heavy losses. In less severe cases, sales are maintained but the business cannot scale further.
2. Stop the "Chief Everything Officer" behavior (doing everything yourself).
When business starts well, entrepreneurs first expand their team, which is right to boost production capacity. However, some expand like "guerrilla" groups focusing on headcount rather than work efficiency.
This causes the business cycle to revolve only around the owner; if the owner stops, revenue stops, resulting in 100% active income. True business vision requires owners to build structures and visions that can be passed on, increasing opportunities for growth.
3. Maintain balance among "resources-process-profit formula."
“One day your business sells very well, with 7,000 orders daily, marketing is thrilled, but your accounting team of 10 threatens to quit en masse if not paid overtime.”
What should the owner decide? Good sales don't always mean only positive outcomes.
This highlights the critical importance of management skills. Pongsathon revealed that business growth depends on three driving forces: resources, processes, and profit formulas.
In the example, increasing human resources causes imbalance in this triangle, destabilizing processes and profit formulas. The owner must restore balance to drive the business forward.
He cited using technology to replace humans in processes, such as customers filling Google Forms for tax invoices or scanning QR codes to generate receipts themselves.
4. Know that every market has a limit.
Businesses follow cycles: birth, existence, and decline, which everyone knows and handles differently.
For example, a bubble tea shop invests 1 million baht in the first branch and earns 10 million in sales. Adding a second branch may yield similar profits, but repeating for a third or fourth branch becomes unfeasible.
At some point, the market saturates, locations run out, and customers get bored. Persisting in opening more branches risks losses.
Thus, business should be viewed like a "large forest" with both big trees and saplings.
A successful bubble tea business is like a big tree, with a hero product and a goal to retain existing customers for stable growth.
Meanwhile, planting saplings creates new green areas—opportunities to generate revenue in new markets. Such vision enables endless new growth waves.
5. Brand equals trust.
Consumers may wonder on what basis a brand launches new products. Reasons vary, but all brands rely on "trust." A brand can launch new products when consumers have sufficient trust in it.
Pongsathon cited global brands like Starbucks or Dyson, whose strong brand images make consumers willing to pay regardless of new products.
He also mentioned Thai brand Yuedpao, known for "stretch but not sag" quality. When the T-shirt market saturated, they did not force more ads but shifted to pants for workers facing frequent tears, highlighting pants that stretch up to 10 meters. This strategy led to billion-baht sales, showing marketing and branding remain crucial for entrepreneurs.
Beyond business insights, Pongsathon added on people management: every organization wants talented individuals, but without stable systems and growth potential, talent won't come. Leaders must know what talents excel at and how their potential aligns with the organization's direction.
In closing, Pongsathon said Thailand has many talented entrepreneurs who can help grow the Thai market to match global levels, needing support in knowledge, opportunities, and trading space.
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