Ep 382 - The Hustle Behind KMC Solutions
EPISODE INTRODUCTION
This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Michael McCullough, Chairman of KMC Solutions, to unpack how a lemonade stand kid from Oregon built one of the largest flexible office and offshoring platforms in the Philippines, powering 800+ companies and 20,000 desks nationwide. From coding MVPs and battling 2.5 Mbps internet to betting big on Filipino talent, Michael reveals the grit, culture-building, and calculated risk-taking it took to turn labor arbitrage into a long-term empire.
Ep Timeline:
00:01:46 – The making of the Philippines' biggest flexible workspace empire
00:04:22– 800 logos, 27 buildings, 20,000 desks: the scale of KMC today
00:08:39 – First side hustles: pet sitting, rentals, and learning real estate young
00:12:21 – Silicon Valley in the early Facebook era: absorbing startup culture
00:15:15 – Self-taught coding, MVP building, and balancing art vs science in dev
00:19:31 – Moving to the Philippines in 2007 to build a dev team from scratch
00:24:23 – Discipline in billing, time tracking, and building operational rigor
00:29:30 – Losing it all and being the last man standing in Manila
00:38:39 – The accidental discovery: subleasing desks and spotting the opportunity
00:41:05 – KMC’s origin story: Kittleson, McCullough, Carpo
00:47:25 – Down to the last peso: taking risks and doubling down on leases
00:49:19 – Surviving on cash flow: invoicing hacks and making it easy to get paid
00:50:46 – Landing eBay and building credibility through global brands
00:54:08 – Hiring interns, dominating SEO, and winning long-tail keywords
00:58:43 – Growth milestone: 52% CAGR and ₱8.6B in revenue
01:00:13 – Founder vs CEO: reinventing yourself as the company scales
“There's developers that want to do it perfectly and they want a full week or three weeks to do it perfectly. And there's some that will understand that you're looking for a quick shortcut because there's no money in the project unless someone's about to sign and pay for the project. And having it done perfectly doesn't mean that we're going to have cash coming in so I can pay you. And they don't understand. The developers don't always understand the commercial aspect of what we're trying to solve for. And that money just doesn't appear out of thin air.” – Michael McCullough
Connect with Michael:
Michael McCullough (Linkedin): https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmccullough/
KMC Solutions (Website): https://kmc.solutions/
Links/Sponsors:
OneCFO: https://www.onecfoph.co/
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