Most student projects end as slides in a presentation. Pham Van Thanh’s became a company with paying clients.

Thanh is a third-year Information Technology student at the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology in Vietnam and the CEO and co-founder of IELTS Smart, an AI-powered platform that helps students practice and prepare for the IELTS examination across all four skills. The platform has already signed three corporate contracts worth nearly $10,000 in total order value, and has caught the attention of international investors looking to bring it to the Singapore market.

The problem Thanh set out to solve was one many language learners face. Preparing for IELTS, especially the Speaking and Writing sections,  is expensive, inconsistent, and time-consuming. Professional feedback is hard to access and even harder to afford. IELTS Smart addresses that by providing automatic grading, detailed feedback, and a full classroom management system for language centers. This helps educational organizations cut costs and scale without sacrificing teaching quality.

Thanh’s Years of Research 

Thanh did not rush into building. Before starting IELTS Smart, he spent two years conducting research at PTIT’s AI and Blockchain Lab, working on AI products for predicting exam scores and entrance tests. That foundation mattered. His development team ran over 2,000 verification tests comparing the platform’s AI against professional IELTS teachers, achieving 97% accuracy in Writing and 92% in Speaking, while cutting grading time by approximately 70%.

That level of precision is what made corporate clients take notice. In June 2026, IELTS Smart signed its first B2B contract worth 200 million VND. Thanh regards that as a significant milestone not just for the money, but for what it represented. A paying client meant real trust, and real trust meant the product was solving a genuine problem.

Managing Studies, Research, and a Startup at the Same Time

Balancing three demanding commitments: academics, research, and a growing startup, could easily pull anyone apart. Thanh handles it by managing priorities rather than trying to split his time equally. During the day, he focuses on studying and research. Evenings and weekends go to IELTS Smart. During exam periods, academics come first. When a business deadline approaches, the startup takes priority.

What makes the balance work, he says, is that the three areas feed each other. AI knowledge from school directly improves the product, while real-world startup challenges deepen his understanding of what he is learning in class.

From a University Lab to International Investors

At Vietnam Startup Community Day 2026, IELTS Smart presented its product, market validation results, and fundraising plan to international investors and partners. The response was strong as several international investors expressed interest in exploring collaboration and the possibility of distributing the product in Singapore.

The team is now planning to raise 1 billion VND for 10% equity, with a target of 20 corporate clients and monthly revenue of approximately $11,400.

For Thanh, PTIT was more than a place to study. It gave him a self-learning mindset, a problem-solving culture, and a community of young people with shared ambitions. That environment, he says, is what gave IELTS Smart its launching pad.