Vietnam Is Awesome

What Vietnam Is Awesome does

Vietnam Is Awesome (VIA) is a private, culture-focused community platform founded in 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, that serves foreigners, Việt kiều (overseas Vietnamese) returnees, and travelers building lives in the country. Its core product is a 220,000+ member Facebook group that functions as the primary acquisition channel, augmented by a private community hosted on Circle (community.vietnamisawesome.com) for member-only discussions, events, and curated guides. The company also operates the "Why Vietnam" podcast, the Vietnam Playbook (a content library of guides on visas, housing, healthcare, banking, and business setup), and curated tours and experiences across Vietnam (cocktail, photography, and culinary tours in Saigon and Hoi An). A first physical Community Hub is scheduled to open at Global City in HCMC in May 2026.

The business operates a hybrid revenue model combining recurring membership subscriptions with a $19/month founding-member tier capped at 50 spots and locked for life, alongside transactional revenue from tour bookings. Distribution is almost entirely organic and community-led: Facebook group, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube (podcast), an ambassador network, and weekly office hours. The company is founder-led by DK Long (Founder & CEO), has 11-50 employees, and shows no disclosed institutional funding, suggesting a bootstrapped operation. The go-to-market motion is community-led growth, with the Facebook group as the funnel front door and the private Circle community as the retention and upsell surface.

Name

Vietnam Is Awesome

Legal name

Vietnam Is Awesome

Website

https://vietnamisawesome.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Vietnam Is Awesome is a Ho Chi Minh City-based community platform serving 220,000+ expats, Việt kiều, and travelers building lives in Vietnam through a Facebook group, private Circle community, guides, tours, and an upcoming physical hub.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Ho Chi Minh City

HQ country

Vietnam

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Monthly subscription membership with founding member tier at $19/month locked for life. Free membership tier also available with basic access.
2. Tour Bookings: Commission or direct sales from curated tours and experiences in Vietnam, including cocktail tours, photography tours, food tours, and community events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Vietnam Is Awesome operates a community-first lifestyle platform for people building lives in Vietnam, anchored by a 220,000+ member Facebook group and a private membership community. Its sellable offerings include paid membership subscriptions, curated Vietnam Playbook guides, the Why Vietnam podcast, ambassador-led community meetups, and curated tours and experiences (e.g., Secret Cocktail Experience, Street Photography, Modern Culinary tours).

Product overview

Vietnam Is Awesome (VIA) is a culture-first lifestyle community platform centered around a 220,000+ member Facebook group and a private community hosted on Circle. Its portfolio spans a digital private community with curated guides (the Vietnam Playbook), a podcast (Why Vietnam), a physical Community Hub opening in 2026, regular meetups and free ambassador-led community tours, paid tours and activities across Vietnam, and a founding membership tier. The core offering is the community itself—connecting locals, Viet Kieu, and global friends—supplemented by content, events, and experiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Vietnam Playbook: A living library of guides on visas, housing, healthcare, banking, business setup, and everyday questions of life in Vietnam, written by people who have lived the answers.
• Why Vietnam Podcast
• Community Hub

Products and services

• Vietnam Is Awesome Private Community
• Vietnam Playbook
• Why Vietnam Podcast
• Meetups & Events
• Tours & Activities

Quantifiable outcome

• 220,000+ members across channels
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• VinaCapital Foundation (VCF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 August 2022Partnership with VinaCapital Foundation to raise awareness and funds for disadvantaged children and women in Vietnam. VIA provides a platform for travelers to donate when booking tours, with 100% of donations going to VCF's Grassroots Medical Program including Heartbeat Vietnam, Rural Outreach Clinics, and Care to Rise.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Couchsurfing: Couchsurfing is a community-driven travel and cultural exchange platform with member-hosted events and experiences — sharing VIA's emphasis on community-led cultural connection rather than transactional tourism.
• Expatica: Expatica combines editorial guides on relocation (visas, housing, healthcare, banking) with community features, mirroring VIA's Vietnam Playbook plus community structure for the global expat market.
• Meetup: Meetup is a community-led platform organizing in-person events around shared interests — directly comparable to VIA's ambassador-led meetups, tours, and community events model.
• InterNations: InterNations is the largest global membership-based community for expatriates, offering local events, networking, and country guides — directly analogous to Vietnam Is Awesome's community-led expat model but operating across dozens of countries.
• Expat.com: Expat.com is a free online community and directory for expatriates worldwide, structurally similar to VIA's Facebook-group-plus-private-community architecture serving the expat/Viet Kieu audience.

Regional players

• Withlocals: Withlocals offers curated host-led tours and experiences across Southeast Asia, comparable to VIA's ambassador-vetted cocktail, food, and photography tours across Vietnam.
• Backstreet Academy: Backstreet Academy is an Asia-focused marketplace for community-led classes and experiences, comparable to VIA's curated community tours led by local ambassadors.

Broad incumbents

• GetYourGuide: GetYourGuide is a global experiences platform offering tours and activities, comparable to VIA's tour booking product but as a broad incumbent serving many destinations.
• Airbnb Experiences: Airbnb Experiences is a marketplace for host-led local experiences, directly paralleling VIA's ambassador-led tours within a much larger global platform.
• Klook: Klook is an Asia-Pacific experiences and tours marketplace, overlapping with VIA's tours and activities business but at far greater scale and broader geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/Vietnamisawesome
• Facebookfacebook.com/VietnamIsAwesomeOfficial
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vietnamisawesome
• Instagraminstagram.com/vietnam.isawesome

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vietnam Is Awesome