Known as “the father of Asian startups”, Aaron Everhart has devoted his energy to supporting young startups in Vietnam after arriving here in 2005. The American businessman is known as an enthusiastic sponsor of the startup movement in the country.

Aaron Everhart first came to Vietnam in 2005 to work on a brand development project at a community health non-governmental organization. While meeting and working with young Vietnamese, Aaron Everhart was impressed by their optimism and willingness to learn. He decided to choose Vietnam as his new home, setting up a communications company for brand building.

After nearly 15 years in Vietnam, a country recently emerging as a promising venue for startups, Aaron Everhart has financed 200 young startups. He has also helped train and provided consultancy on strategy for over 450 enterprises and more than 15,000 startups in Vietnam.

Aaron Everhart, founder of HATCH! Ventures. Photo: Viet Cuong Aaron Everhart represents HATCH! Ventures to give awards to young startups a Fintech Summit 2019. Photo: Files Aaron Everhart gives advice on brand building and busisness strategy at a startup training for deaf people. Photo: Viet Cuong  Aaron Everhart at the startup training for people with hearing loss in Hanoi in October 2019. Photo: Viet Cuong Discussing with international specialists at HATCH! FAIR, an international entrepreneurship conference and startup exhibition. Photo: Files Talking with Nguyen Thi Van, who has successfully opened a startup business in information technology, helping create jobs for people with disabilities. Photo: Files Aaron Everhart acts as a member of the jury board at a startup contest. Photo: Viet Cuong Healthy Farm in Da Lat is a business which receives support from by Aaron Everhart and Hatch! Ventures. Photo: Files Aaron Everhart  with a colleague at Healthy Farm in Da Lat. Photo: Files

With the support from Aaron Everhart and HATCH! Ventures, an entrepreneurship program founded by Aaron, many young startups have successfully built their brands in Vietnam. They include Finhay, a micro-investment platform that allows millennials to start investing with as little as 50,000 dong (over 2 US dollars) and Finbox, an online stock research platform designed for individual investors and asset managers.

Aaron Everhart and HATCH! Ventures have developed projects to support the startup ecosystem in Vietnam. Many university graduates from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and overseas have consulted with Aaron on how to launch their businesses.

Aaron Everhart aims to develop HATCH! Ventures into a transborder ecosystem, bringing more opportunities and strength to South East Asia as a cooperative and integrated ecosystem to compete with other ecosystems in the world such Pan-European.

HATCH! Ventures annually holds HATCH! FAIR, an international entrepreneurship conference and startup exhibition for Southeast Asia. This annual event has successfully raised funds from such investors as Lozi, Money Lover, Hamona, EzCloud, Jamja, bTaskee, eKid Studio, Smart Meal, Student Life Care and Cognito.

HATCH! Ventures has also represented Vietnam to be one of the seven founders of the ASEAN Angel Alliance, a collaborative platform for angel groups and other early stage ecosystem players operating within ASEAN countries to cooperate and work together for mutual benefit. Other founders are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines Singapore and Thailand.

Aaron Everhart graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA degree in creative writing. He also took a master’s degree in language arts at San Francisco State University and an MBA at La Trobe University in Australia.  Aaron Everhart worked for nearly ten years at Landor in San Francisco as director of information technology for the Americas Region and then verbal branding and naming specialist. He is the founder and CEO of ABLINK, a communication agency. He is also the founder and board member of HATCH! Ventures, which was set up in 2011 to support startups.

Story: Bich Van - Photos: Viet Cuong & Files