1. As Finance Manager, Phuong Dinh, you are often the architect of the financial frameworks and commercial guardrails that power our success. How would you describe the “AVOW magic” from a financial and operational perspective to someone curious about how we scale in the mobile OEM space?
From where I sit, I think it comes down to trust built into speed. In a market where deals and money move across dozens of countries, the hard part isn’t moving fast — it’s moving fast while still knowing whether a deal is actually profitable, often before all the invoices have even landed. On the ground, that just means quietly coordinating cash flow, paying invoices on time, and accruing costs before they’re due — nothing glamorous, but it holds up whether we’re working with five OEM partners or fifty. I’d like to think that steady, unglamorous groundwork is part of what lets the business say yes to a new OEM or market without hesitation
2. AVOW is a fast-moving, agile global adtech leader, but we are headquartered in Germany, a country legendary for its methodical financial structures, strict compliance, and thorough “Bürokratie” (bureaucracy). How do you bridge the gap between the rapid, “real-time” demands of the international mobile advertising market and the meticulous nature of German financial regulations?
For the part of the business I sit closest to — paying our OEM partners — I don’t feel that gap at all. Most of these partnerships go back years, so payments run on a rhythm we’ve long since worked out together, and they land on time, every time. Our internal process is built to be fast and simple, and staying compliant with tax and financial regulations isn’t bolted on as an extra check afterward — it’s designed into the process from the start. So rather than “bridging” two forces pulling in opposite directions, I’d say the real trick is not letting compliance become a bottleneck in the first place: build it in once, and speed follows naturally
3. You’re dealing with numbers coming in from all corners of the world. How does working with such a culturally diverse team change finance from a solo ‘heads-down’ job into a deeply collaborative, human experience for you?
What I love about this job is that it’s never just me and a screen. Closing the numbers each month means working closely with teams all across the business, not just finance — and what’s struck me most is how open and friendly people are, no matter where they’re based. A conversation about a number turns into a real conversation with a real person. That’s what’s changed for me: finance stops being a solo, heads-down job and becomes something built on relationships across cultures — genuinely collaborative, genuinely human
4. Every finance professional in Germany has a love-hate relationship with paper, physical stamps, or meticulous compliance audits. What is one German financial rule or bureaucratic quirk that you’ve actually grown to appreciate or one that you secretly wish you could automate out of existence overnight?
The German bureaucracy stereotype doesn’t really match my experience at AVOW — almost everything here has been automated. If there’s any paper or physical stamp left in my world, it’s oddly enough not from Germany at all; it’s the occasional client or country that still requires a stamped physical document for their own compliance. That’s the one piece I’d love to see disappear
5. If you weren’t a Finance Manager, what would be your “impossible” dream job?
Opening a small coffee shop that also serves Vietnamese-style breakfast — the kind of place where people start their day with a good cup of coffee, a bánh mì, and a newspaper in hand. It’s the kind of dream that has nothing to do with spreadsheets, and everything to do with the things I love most: good coffee, good food, and slow mornings
6. Home office zen or the buzz of the office? What does your ideal environment look like for crunching complex numbers versus collaborating with leadership?
For work that needs deep focus — I need the quiet of a home office, with zero interruptions. But for anything that involves discussion or cross-team alignment, I want to be in the room; those conversations move faster and land better in person.
The “Lightning Round” (Quick & Punchy – short answer)
Strict budget discipline or agile financial flexibility?
Strict budget discipline
Digital-first financial dashboards or a classic German Ordner (physical binder)?
Digital-first financial dashboards
Morning coffee or afternoon tea?
Morning coffee
A complex spreadsheet or a clean financial dashboard?
Clean financial dashboard
About the Author
