Product Development & Industrial Design Expert
Entrepreneur
Andy Nguyen has spent his career in the space between East and West—learning both sides well enough to know exactly how to bridge them. As Co-Founder and CEO of Rest and Co-Founder of MTC Global, he leads a team of 80 across 13 countries, building one of the most innovative sleep brands in North America from a home base in Hong Kong.Andy was born in Hong Kong and moved to Vancouver, Canada, as a child, landing in the multicultural neighborhood of Renfrew Heights—a community of second-generation immigrants from across the world. Growing up surrounded by different cultures wasn't just formative; it became the foundation of how he thinks about consumers. Empathy isn't a business strategy for Andy—it's second nature. He's spent his career trying to understand people who aren't like him, catching his own biases, and staying genuinely curious about the other angle.After earning a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia with a focus on marketing, logistics, and accounting, Andy took a brief corporate detour—a stint at PwC that confirmed, quickly, that auditing wasn't his calling. Being part of a layoff during the 2008 financial crisis, he recognized, was one of the best things that ever happened to him. It freed him to pursue what he'd always wanted: building things.He and longtime friend Rick Louie launched a Halloween business together, importing products from China to stock pop-up stores across Vancouver. The business worked, but it taught Andy a lesson he carried forward: Failing to capture the digital market first was a critical mistake. When he made the decision to move to China in 2014, he took that lesson with him.For six years in Shanghai, Andy worked in digital marketing at agencies serving major international brands—LEGO, Costa Coffee, HK Disneyland, Nike. He also helped Chinese brands like Ecovacs in Western markets, learning firsthand what it takes to make a product resonate with an audience that doesn't share its cultural origin. The biggest insight from those years: The best brands—Disney, Nike—have cult-level clarity about their purpose, and that clarity runs through every touchpoint. Even a small company, Andy decided, should behave like it's big. So why not start now?The idea for Rest came through a connection he'd made in Shanghai—Mr. Zhou, a well-networked business mind who shared Andy's instinct for identifying market white space. Together with Rick, they saw two gaps converging: Manufacturers in Asia striving to build brands for Western markets, and Western brands struggling to innovate due to separation from the supply chain. Rest was their answer. Founded in 2021, it was built entirely on Zoom calls—a necessity that became a philosophy. Rest has been a remote-first, globally distributed company from day one.As CEO, Andy's north star metrics are straightforward: year-over-year revenue growth, customer review sentiment, increasing brand awareness, and—perhaps most importantly—the culture of the business. He knows that great ideas don't succeed without the right people behind them. His leadership style is rooted in something he learned on the rugby pitch in high school: You don't have to be the biggest or the fastest. You have to know your role, do it well, and help the team win. That's the job.Andy lives in Hong Kong with his family. Outside of work, he enjoys being a dad to two young daughters, as well as runs, cooks, and stays current on the political economy and his favorite North American sports teams. He also appreciates a good DIY project—and a great comic.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyxnguyen/
