Hiep Nguyen is the co‑founder and COO of AI Hay, Vietnam’s home‑grown AI knowledge‑discovery platform that fuses conversational search with a social feed. 

Launched in 2024,  AI Hay has surpassed 15Mdownloads and now powers the daily study, work, and creative flow of millions of Vietnamese students, creators, and professionals.

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👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

I work at a tech company. My job is to make sure our amazing tech and product folks can focus solely on building great tech and products.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

My wife and I (along with some amazing people) built and operate a Submission Grappling & BJJ Academy in Vietnam. 

We are home to 2 current Vietnam MMA champions as well as a number of medalists from grappling tournaments around SEA. 

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

The most memorable highlight so far has been presenting (alongside my co‑founder Dr. Chuong) our view and vision of for how LLMs can reshape learning, research, and teaching at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics. 

I’ve spoken on plenty of stages, but nothing matched the mix of pride and nerves I felt preparing for the session (0 hour of sleep the night before). 

The payoff was huge: students, faculty, and government officials peppered us with thoughtful questions and genuine curiosity, showing us just how much sovereign, Vietnam‑trained AI products could unlock, and that AI Hay was (and is) building something meaningful for the nation.

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

Consumer (digital and hardware) AI! 

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💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry? 

Move faster than what feels comfortable. 

In AI, fast is the entry ticket; blazing fast is how you stay in the game. 

Successful Western AI companies we admire pair brilliant tech prowess with relentless speed, and that pace sets the bar for the rest of us. 

So if you’re stepping in, be ready to learn quickly, ship quickly, and iterate even quicker. It's stressful, it's fun, and I do believe it's a game worth playing. 

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours? 

Anything related to grappling in general, from the professional BJJ circuit to U.S. collegiate wrestling to that one instructional Ryan Hall made that changed everyone's triangles. 

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show? 

Band of Brothers.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Whatever my wife happens to like at the time. 

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FYI. We've edited this interview for clarity.