Founders — Notes from the founders
What we have learned building IKI: AI-run operations, data discipline, regulatory guardrails and community. Written for investors, partners and fellow builders.
Nguyễn Văn Hưng
Founder, Chairman & CEO — HOPE CORP
Founder-operator who built HOPE CORP into an AI-operated D2C HealthTech company: a 12-person team, a three-layer AI system, 60%+ of work automated; member of Anthropic's Claude Startups. B.Sc. in Information Science, Sojo University (Kumamoto); 12+ years inside Japanese companies (FPT Software Japan, Scuti Japan), from BrSE to business manager; currently pursuing a Master's in Economic Law.
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Phạm Ngọc Thanh Tâm
Co-founder & CMO — HOPE CORP
Co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer and macrobiotic nutrition specialist. Leads a community built around Eastern wellbeing traditions and is responsible for content, community and partnerships across the IKI ecosystem.
The Operating Brain: how a D2C HealthTech founder builds a company that runs on AI
A free ebook of about 18,000 words by Nguyen Van Hung: order book, customer care, content, regulatory guardrails and fundraising, with a 90-day roadmap and ready-to-use prompts.
Download the free ebook (PDF)NGUYỄN VĂN HƯNG
What the capital is for: equity for brand and people, debt for goods
Why HOPE spends equity on brand, new products and sales capability, while working capital for inventory comes from borrowing and the company's own cash flow.
13/10/2026 · 5 min readFrom Peeling Onions in Kumamoto to Building HOPE: What I Carried With Me
From a short-weighed shift in Kumamoto to HOPE CORP's AI agents: a founder's real story, and what he looks for in investors and partners.
13/10/2026 · 7 min readHolding the Whole and Doing the Detail: Three Layers of AI in a Small Team
A question about weekly AI quotas led to how HOPE is organised: a coordinating agent, department agents, detail agents, cross-cover, and where people sit.
13/10/2026 · 5 min readThe Six Pieces of an Organization: Miss One, Get That Symptom
Vision, strategy, capability, reward, resources, urgency: how I diagnose HOPE with six pieces, each with a real example, plus merit and a do-measure-learn loop.
13/10/2026 · 6 min readLegal and ethical guardrails are part of the product
Why competing on medical claims is losing consumer trust, and how HOPE turned legal and brand risk into mechanisms that actually run inside its code.
13/10/2026 · 5 min readA Yearly Target Only Means Something When It Becomes Today's Customer Count
How I turn a full-year revenue target into daily orders, customers and conversations, so a distant goal becomes something we can measure this very morning.
13/10/2026 · 6 min readReturning customers are the real measure of growth
Why HOPE measures growth by customers who come back, not by ad spend, how to read our numbers with care, and why unit economics must be healthy before we scale.
13/10/2026 · 5 min readA small remark from a customer, a fix within days: why we regard feedback as the plan
The IKI app is reshaped by small details customers mention; personalisation measures, not promises, and selling means accompanying, with a 1-minute median reply.
13/10/2026 · 5 min readJapanese as Japanese, Vietnamese as Vietnamese: Localization Without Shortcuts
Why a small Vietnamese company built its site and blog in three native-quality languages early: translation moves atmosphere, not words, and AI needs review.
13/10/2026 · 4 min readDisclose Only Reconciled Numbers: Why HOPE Does Not Publish 2023 to 2025 Figures
Why HOPE discloses revenue only from 2026, once the ledger is reconciled across three sources, and why every fundraising file carries one set of numbers.
13/10/2026 · 5 min readI Am No Longer the One Pressing the Buttons: The CEO as Supervisor
The CEO's role shifts from doer to supervisor of a propose, approve, execute, report loop, and why the rules must already sit inside every work order.
13/10/2026 · 6 min readAI Should Serve a Business With Orders, Cash and Customers
A zero written over a real figure taught me how to use AI: serve a business with orders and cash, learn on your own numbers, then turn what works into a frame.
13/10/2026 · 6 min readRead broadly, write narrowly: how a team of 12 runs a company with AI under control
A team of about 12 uses AI across its operations, but write access is locked tight: human approval, no payments, a hard spend cap, and weekly eval scores.
13/10/2026 · 6 min readPHẠM NGỌC THANH TÂM
Articles are being edited and will be published soon.
This content shares business operating experience. IKI products are dietary supplements; they are not medicines and do not replace medical treatment.