Hello! Who are you, and what business did you start?

Hi, we’re Thắm (Sylvia) Nguyễn and Tuan, co-founders of MindPal, a platform built to revolutionize how businesses leverage AI. With MindPal, companies can build their own AI agents and automate complex tasks, from sales and marketing to content creation and employee training. Our platform focuses on full customization, easy integration, and connecting multiple agents to work together seamlessly.

We founded MindPal just 10 months ago, and we’ve already hit some exciting milestones—nearly 100 paid customers and $20,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). We're super excited about our growth and even more thrilled about what's next!

What's your backstory, and how did you come up with the idea?

MindPal wasn’t our first startup—before this, we launched SpeakLab, a tool that helped students improve their English-speaking skills using AI. Unfortunately, it didn’t take off as we had hoped. Looking back, we made several mistakes, like not listening closely enough to our customers or overthinking sales strategies. We were also guilty of working in isolation, trying to build the “perfect” product rather than iterating based on user feedback.

After some soul-searching, we decided to shut down SpeakLab. But those failures turned into valuable lessons, and that experience was key to the success of MindPal. We realized we needed to focus on delivering real value, building quickly, and staying in close contact with our customers.

In late 2022, we stumbled upon the explosion of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Tuan had actually been researching AI long before it became a trend, and we saw an opportunity to create a more flexible, user-friendly AI platform. Thus, MindPal was born!

Take us through the process of building MindPal.

Incredibly, we built the first version of MindPal in just two days. We launched a basic, one-page app with a simple payment gateway and put it out there to see what would happen. To our surprise, the response was amazing—it went semi-viral, and we acquired our first 100 paid customers within weeks of launching.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Being bootstrapped, we had to be extremely resourceful. It was just the two of us handling everything—coding, selling, customer support, and everything in between. Recently, we started expanding our team with a full-time employee, two interns, and a freelancer. That decision alone has been a game-changer, freeing up our mental bandwidth to focus on what matters most: building and selling.

What makes MindPal different from other AI platforms?

At its core, MindPal is designed for flexibility and ease of use. While tools like ChatGPT are great for individual tasks, MindPal allows businesses to build multi-agent workflows where different agents can handle different parts of a complex task. For example, if you're creating educational content, one agent could handle research, another could draft the curriculum, and yet another could generate the lessons—all working together smoothly.

What’s more, users don’t need to be experts in AI or programming to use MindPal. We’ve simplified the process so that anyone can set up custom AI workflows without needing a technical background. It’s like having an entire team of AI-powered assistants that you can deploy in just a couple of clicks.

How are you doing today, and what does the future look like?

We’re doing well! MindPal is generating around $20,000 in monthly recurring revenue, and we’ve recently closed our first B2B deal. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in such a short time, but we’re not stopping here. Our goal is to expand into the U.S. market, and we’re planning a trip to America soon to meet with potential investors.

We’ve been bootstrapping so far, but we see an exciting opportunity to scale even faster by partnering with global VCs. We’re constantly setting higher standards for ourselves, and we believe MindPal has the potential to become a leader in the AI automation space.

What have been some key lessons along the way?

The biggest lesson? Just get started. We often hear from other founders who hesitate because they’re waiting for the “right moment” or a perfect product. But honestly, the right time is now. When we launched MindPal, we didn’t have everything figured out, but we put it out there, learned from our users, and iterated quickly. The feedback and momentum we gained from doing that have been invaluable.

Another critical lesson is to avoid quitting. We had every reason to give up after SpeakLab didn’t work out, but we kept going. Building a successful startup isn’t about getting everything right from the start—it’s about learning from failures and staying in the game.

Finally, leverage your resources wisely. We operate in Vietnam, where the cost of living and hiring talent is significantly lower than in places like San Francisco. We’ve been able to hire skilled engineers at a fraction of the cost, which has allowed us to grow MindPal without burning through tons of cash.

What advice would you give to other founders, especially those who wish to Leverage Asia?

For founders in Asia, or anywhere really, our advice is simple: get started, don’t quit, and do hard things. Building something from scratch is tough—whether you’re trying to break into a global market or just launch your first MVP. But if you keep showing up every day, those small efforts will compound over time, often in ways you didn’t expect.

Also, don’t underestimate the advantages of operating from Asia. The cost savings here are real, and there’s a growing pool of talented engineers and developers. That said, selling to global markets is entirely possible from this side of the world. Don’t let geography limit your ambition.

In short, get started, keep going, and don’t be afraid to aim high.

How can people get in touch with MindPal?

You can check out MindPal at MindPal.io and follow our journey. We’re excited to keep building, growing, and making AI more accessible to businesses everywhere.