How Talent JDI Helped Fulfilled Build Their Vietnam Tech Team
Headquarters
Singapore
Industry
Health, Wellness & Fitness
Company Size
2-10
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Found in 2013, Fulfilled is an all-in-one solution for boutique gyms and independent coaches to run their business effectively. Fulfilled brings innovation to the fitness industry, by digitizing a coach's existing program into a mobile application that seamlessly manages clients, schedules classes, and empowers trainers to provide an unparalleled customer experience.
Since then, Fulfilled has enabled the traditional coaching business to transform to the next level, where helping 1,000 clients achieve their health and fitness is no longer out of reach.
The Challenge: A Product-First Startup That Needed a Dev Team — Fast and Affordably
Engineering Is the Product
Fulfilled's entire service depends on mobile app performance — expanding the dev team wasn't a nice-to-have, it was directly tied to product quality and growth.
Singapore Costs Would Cap Growth
As a 2–10 person startup, hiring senior developers in Singapore at local rates would have severely limited how fast Fulfilled could scale its engineering team.
No Vietnam Presence or Knowledge
Fulfilled had no understanding of local hiring, no legal setup, and no experience working with Vietnamese developers — they needed a partner who did.
Startup-Speed Execution Required
A small founding team couldn't afford slow hiring cycles, months of legal setup, or operational distractions — speed and simplicity were essential.
After analysing different approaches, Fulfilled concluded that building their own offshore tech team in Vietnam was the optimal path — a stable business environment, affordable quality IT talent, and the ability to keep full ownership of their engineering culture.
One-Stop Service From Talent JDI
Office Space
Incubated Fulfilled's dev team in Talent JDI's HCMC office.
Recruitment Processes
End-to-end sourcing, screening, and hiring of Vietnam developers.
Human Resource Management
Ongoing HR operations, legal compliance, and people management.
Administrative Tasks
Day-to-day operational admin so the founding team could focus on product.
In 2018, Fulfilled partnered with Talent JDI to build their development team in Vietnam — incubating the team in JDI's Ho Chi Minh City office while Talent JDI handled the cultural onboarding, legal requirements, and operational setup from day one.
Beyond the operational setup, Talent JDI helped Fulfilled understand the local culture and the intricacies of working with Vietnamese developers — giving the Singapore founding team the context to manage the team effectively from day one.
Fulfilled also engaged Talent JDI's Creative Director on a long-term basis to support their UI/UX strategy and development— extending the partnership beyond recruitment into product design.
"We wanted to build an effective internal team, and we chose Vietnam as our offshoring location. Talent JDI helped us set up the initial team, and managed our HR operations."
Zhen Hoe
Co-founder of Fulfilled
Build your Vietnam dev team: incubated, managed, and ready to scale
The partnership with Talent JDI was a clear financial win: Fulfilled saved up to S$200,000 per year in recruitment and operational costs compared to scaling their engineering team in Singapore — a difference that, for a startup of their size, directly funded product development and growth.
But beyond the cost savings, the newly built offshore team strengthened Fulfilled's tech capabilities substantially — laying the foundation for future product expansion. The use of shared creative talent from Talent JDI also opened up UI/UX improvements with a direct impact on customer experience.
"I would recommend them to anyone who is looking to set up their business in Vietnam."
Zhen Hoe
Co-founder of Fulfilled
Vietnam IT Staff Recruitment Services
Why Choose Talent JDI For Hiring Developers In Vietnam?
Talent JDI is a specialist Vietnam IT recruitment agency with 10+ years on the ground in Ho Chi Minh City.
Our curated 30,000+ network of pre-vetted developers means you receive your first shortlist within 48 hours — not six weeks. And because we are MoLSW-licensed, every hire is fully compliant with Vietnamese labour law from day one.
Whether you need one senior engineer or a full offshore team, our Vietnam tech recruitment process handles sourcing, vetting, offer negotiation, contracts, and onboarding — so you can focus on building your product.
We're a small startup — is the ODC model realistic for a team of our size?
Yes. In fact, startups benefit most from the ODC model precisely because it removes the overhead that small founding teams can't afford.
Fulfilled was a small team when they built their Vietnam dev team in 2018. The ODC model meant they didn't have to set up a Vietnamese entity, hire a local HR manager, or navigate employment law from scratch.
Talent JDI handled all of that, and incubated the team in our HCMC office while the founders stayed focused on the product. The model scales up as you grow — it doesn't require a minimum team size to make financial sense.
Q
How much can a startup realistically save by hiring developers in Vietnam instead of Singapore?
The cost difference is substantial. A mid-level software engineer in Ho Chi Minh City typically costs 60–70% less than an equivalent hire in Singapore — factoring in salary, CPF/statutory contributions, and office costs. For Fulfilled, that translated to S$200,000 in annual savings.
The exact figure depends on team size, seniority mix, and whether you use a co-working space or your own office — but for a startup scaling from 3 to 8 developers, the annual saving is almost always six figures.
Q
What does "incubating" a team in Talent JDI's office actually mean?
It means your Vietnam developers work from Talent JDI's co-working space in HCMC rather than a standalone office, which eliminates the cost and complexity of setting up your own office from day one.
Your team has a professional working environment, reliable infrastructure, and on-the-ground operational support. Talent JDI handles the facility, the admin, and the day-to-day office management. For a startup like Fulfilled, it meant the Vietnam team was operational and productive from their first week, without the founders spending a single day on office logistics.
Q
How do you help a Singapore team understand how to work effectively with Vietnamese developers?
Working across cultures has real friction points if you don't know what to expect — communication styles, feedback preferences, decision-making dynamics, and what "yes" actually means in a Vietnamese professional context are all meaningfully different from Singapore norms.
Talent JDI provides cultural onboarding for both sides: helping Singapore leadership understand how to structure tasks, give feedback, and build trust with their Vietnam team, and helping the Vietnam team understand what the client expects. Fulfilled credited this cultural context as a key part of why their Vietnam team integration went smoothly.
Q
Can Talent JDI support UI/UX or creative roles, not just engineers?
Yes. Fulfilled is a direct example; beyond building their development team, they engaged Talent JDI's Creative Director on a long-term basis to support their UI/UX strategy and product design.
Vietnam has a growing pool of strong UI/UX designers, product managers, and creative professionals alongside a deeper engineering talent pool. Talent JDI can provide role-specific market data and sourcing for any function you're evaluating.
Q
How do you ensure the offshore team stays aligned with the product vision when founders are in Singapore?
Alignment is a cultural and structural question, not just a communication one. Companies that treat offshore teams as executors — sending specs and waiting for output — struggle with alignment. Fulfilled's approach was to build a team that shared their engineering culture and product ambition, which is reflected in Zhen Hoe's quote: the Vietnam team wasn't just building features; they were dreaming about the ultimate fitness solution together.
Practically, this means involving the Vietnam team in product discussions early, investing in regular visits between Singapore and HCMC, and giving developers genuine ownership over outcomes rather than just tasks.
“I would recommend them to anyone who is looking to set up their business in Vietnam.”
