Ep 377 - The Hustle Behind Infi Group

EPISODE INTRODUCTION

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Julian Legazpi, founder and chief venture officer of Infi Group, to trace his journey from growing up Filipino-Canadian to becoming a global operator, angel investor, and venture builder across Southeast Asia. Julian shares hard-earned lessons on grit, diaspora identity, and what it really takes to build, fund, and scale companies in emerging markets—beyond the hype and into the real work.

Ep Timeline:

00:02:30 – Julian's hustle: venture building, investing, and scaling across Emerging Asia

00:04:17 – Origin story: Growing up Filipino-Canadian in Vancouver

00:06:56 – Mr. Worldwide era: Austria, Taiwan, Indonesia, and everywhere in between

00:08:48 – First influences: Rich Dad Poor Dad and Tito Ray's real estate seminar

00:14:05 – Skill stack: What traveling the world taught him about confidence

00:18:18 – Building confidence vs. competence: embracing failure as fuel

00:22:32 – The Philippine diaspora: Why most Phil-Ams see home as "back there"

00:29:20 – Jumping into entrepreneurship during COVID (worst timing ever)

00:32:47 – From angel investor to VC: putting money where your mouth is

00:37:09 – What Julian looks for in founders: "You're a cockroach, bro"

00:40:45 – Why Southeast Asia is always one cycle behind

00:44:48 – The vintage problem: Fund One exits and the recycling capital game

00:52:22 – Why most startups shouldn't take VC money (and what to do instead)

00:59:02 – The B2C trap: Why product businesses struggle with VC math

01:05:18 – The hybrid model: How InfiGroup blends VC, PE, and venture building

01:11:14 – InfiCommerce: Rolling up boring logistics businesses across the region

01:18:14 – Bridging the diaspora: Julian's mission to bring talent home

"I cannot stress enough that we all have to find our own superpower. And everyone is different. Everyone has something that is not categorized in math, science, social sciences, economics, like we learned in school, right? There are these gray area fringe type of personality skillsets that you only get by working and constantly analyzing yourself."

Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlegazpi

Website: https://infigroup.co/

Links/Sponsors:

OneCFO: https://www.onecfoph.co/

PLDT Enterprise: https://pldtenterprise.com

- MSME Fiberbiz - https://bit.ly/pldtenterprise-ROId-nbsi-fiberbiz 

- 5G SIM Only - https://bit.ly/pldtenterprise-ROId-nbsi-smart-postpaid

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