The event drew the participation of nearly 200 programmers and young business owners.
A Q&A session took place between young Vietnamese entrepreneurs and the CEO of the largest search engine corporation in the world. Many questions focused on the vision and future direction of Vietnamese startups.
Speaking to about 200 people in a cafe in central Hanoi on Tuesday, Pichai said he did not see any reason why Vietnam would not be successful globally, given the size of the local market, high Internet usage and the strong entrepreneurial culture.
"I think it's just a matter of time, and I think many of you are already working on something like that,'' he said.
Pichai said Vietnamese startups can learn from the experiences of those in India that started locally, and "once they get the strength they can take it outside.''
He added Vietnamese startups may not reach a global scale at once, but they can team with entrepreneurs from other countries in the region and "can use that strength to launch something global.''
Pichai said Vietnam is growing into a big market and the people who serve it will gain the confidence to think bigger, which helps them achieve global success.
The meeting’s streaming YouTube channel also attracted nearly 2,500 viewers.
Nguyen Phuong Anh, Marketing Director, Google Vietnam said: Sundar’s visit to Vietnam is part of his business trip in Asia. He wants to meet the developer and startup community in Vietnam, with the hope that he can inspire them.
Although the meeting lasted less than an hour, it left a strong impression on Vietnamese startup owners.
Ha Ngọc Anh, CEO, Student Life Care said: Sundar Pichai’s speech was inspiring. It also confirmed that the path I chose for my startup was correct.
Government figures show 52 percent of Vietnam's 93 million people use the Internet and the country has 128 million mobile phone subscribers.
Earlier Pichai met with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the government said.
Dung told Pichai that as Vietnam deepens its international integration, the communist government creates favorable conditions for international technology and information corporations including Google to expand business in Vietnam, the government said on its website.
It quoted Pichai as saying Google will help train about 1,400 IT engineers in Vietnam to develop the industry and Vietnam's society and economy.
