“Material Success is Not Enough for a Man’s Spirit”: Confessions of a Startup That Pitches for a Whopping $43 Million on Shark Tank

In episode 7 of Shark Tank Vietnam Season 7, Lagom Vietnam made a striking entrance with alarm sirens and provided each “shark” with an umbrella to shield against the “rain of trash.” They then presented their product: coat hangers made from 100% recycled paper milk cartons—an award-winning innovation from a startup competition in Germany.

Mr. Le Trung Thong, Founder & CEO of Lagom, is an electronic and automation engineer. After graduating from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, he co-founded a successful road and bridge construction company with Tran Van Hieu, a fellow engineer from a construction university. However, Mr. Thong yearned for something more fulfilling.

“To be honest, we didn’t enter the recycling industry for revenue and profits. Previously, we were doing well financially in the construction business, but it wasn’t enough for my spirit as a man and a father,” Mr. Thong shared.

“I have three sons, and I want them to have grand aspirations and ideals. If I don’t practice what I preach, they won’t believe in what I say. So, I am determined to walk the talk and deliver on my promises to the Sharks,” he added.

To become a better man, Mr. Thong engaged in charitable activities, including trash picking and collecting paper milk cartons upon requests on social media. However, he soon realized that these initiatives faced significant challenges in maintaining and operating such ventures. This prompted him to venture into the recycling industry.

After studying models in Indonesia, India, and Dubai, Mr. Thong observed that these countries possessed recycling technology but struggled to implement the model due to a lack of organized collection and sorting systems. Together with his team, they decided to focus on education, collection, and sorting of raw materials before embarking on production.

Lagom oriented itself towards producing goods from hard-to-recycle materials like paper, aluminum, and plastic. Their primary challenge was collecting sufficient volume without increasing costs. Thus, for the past five years, the startup has invested time in raising awareness and educating students and households. Today, Lagom collects raw materials from 2,000 schools.

In parallel, the startup also conducted R&D, creating recycled products for the outdoor, indoor, and fashion industries.

“We have a large-scale recycling project with an annual capacity of 2,000 tons. In the first year, we expect to generate $2 million in revenue and $500,000 in profits, with a projected annual growth rate of 30%. We plan to increase our capacity to 10,000 tons within four years,” shared Le Trung Thong.

Lagom approached Shark Tank seeking $1.8 million in investment for a 30% stake to fund the infrastructure for a large-scale factory. The startup also disclosed that they had a chartered capital of VND 6.6 billion, no profits yet, and an accumulated loss of nearly VND 5 billion.

The requested investment amount of $1.8 million startled the sharks, with Shark Pham Thanh Hung double-checking, “Did you mean VND 4.3 billion or VND 43 billion?”

Mr. Thong explained that if they couldn’t secure investment for a proper factory, they could wait for another two to three years to accumulate funds. However, he wanted to accelerate their progress by seeking investment opportunities through Shark Tank.

While Shark Hung declined the investment opportunity due to the large sum requested at an early stage, he was impressed by Mr. Thong’s promise to his children. He offered to assist the startup in developing a fundraising strategy and suggested focusing on and excelling in one process, such as collection.

Shark Le My Nga also declined to invest but offered to connect the startup, free of charge, with international NGO funds specializing in environmental protection and socially impactful projects.

The remaining three sharks withdrew from the deal but pledged their support as advisors. Mr. Thong expressed his gratitude, stating, “This is the most significant capital we could ask for.”