A westerner working on a startup in Thailand

[jimster]

On 5/11/2018 at 8:35 AM, theguyfromanotherforum said:

It's your own fault for opening a startup in a third world country. What did you expect?

 

Lessons learned? Obviously not, since you insist on doing business in a third world country. 

 

However, I really do appreciate your honest post. This will be a lesson to many smart people reading in the future. I learned a lot of things before from Thai Visa before moving to Thailand by reading about other people getting burned, so fortunately I did not. 

 

 

You're ignoring the fact that most western countries have mass immigration of workers from "third world" countries. These people will bring with them their culture and working styles when they move to the west. It's a myth that immigrants assimilate to western culture and leave their cultures behind. Particularly if you're living in a big western city, such as Sydney, Los Angeles or London, chances are a majority of your workforce could be from non-western countries, which in a sense makes them more difficult to manage than Thai workers, which, as long as you know what their culture is like is easier because all of them are the same. Whereas in the west, there'll be Ahmed from Iraq, Janet from England, Morris from Brazil, Julio from Peru and Chang from China. The one thing that you can rely upon in the west however, no matter the demographics is the law. It will be on your side.

[blackcab]

34 minutes ago, jimster said:

You can also use LINE to punch in/punch out. The time the message was sent being the times the worker arrives/leaves work. 4 years ago I was working for a Thai employer who used that system.

 

Yes, I can see that will work in some situations.

 

The problem, of course, being that a. the employee could send a message when they were at home in bed, and b. anyone could send the message.

 

With the fingerprint machine, the employee has to be present, on time. I don't think there are any realistic ways round that.

[My Thai Life]

On 5/11/2018 at 8:35 AM, theguyfromanotherforum said:

It's your own fault for opening a startup in a third world country. What did you expect?

 

Lessons learned? Obviously not, since you insist on doing business in a third world country. 

 

However, I really do appreciate your honest post. This will be a lesson to many smart people reading in the future. I learned a lot of things before from Thai Visa before moving to Thailand by reading about other people getting burned, so fortunately I did not.

So you got your education from Thai Visa, the mind boggles!

[My Thai Life]

On 5/4/2018 at 7:11 PM, SbuxPlease said:

But I guess we're not in Kansas anymore!

One of the best comments I've ever seen here. There's so much unhappiness on this from people who expect Thailand to be like home, and who are too inflexible to change.

 

My Thai partner is truly exceptional by any standards. This is the key, especially in a culture you don't know.

 

I started in hi-tech project management many years ago. Thailand would not be my first choice for a hi-tech startup, but that doesn't mean it's unworkable.

 

I'm certain there are many successful foreign entrepreneurs here in Thailand (well, a few anyway), but don't expect to see much of them on the forum.

 

Look before you leap. Good luck.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

2 hours ago, My Thai Life said:

So you got your education from Thai Visa, the mind boggles!

 

At least I didn't get an education from a bargirl.

 

They seem to be experts in schooling Westerners with fees higher than Harvard.