Ep 378 - The Hustle Behind Kazam

EPISODE INTRODUCTION

This week on Hustle Share, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Cris Azaña, co-founder and CEO of Kazam, to trace her journey from growing up in a household shaped by kasambahays to building a tech platform that connects homeowners and domestic workers in a safer, smarter way. Cris shares hard-earned lessons on grit, family expectations, and founder conviction—revealing what it really takes to solve meaningful problems, push through doubt, and create opportunities for overlooked communities.

Ep Timeline:

00:02:36 – Introducing Cris Azaña and Kazam: solving the kasambahay problem

00:04:59 – What Kazam does: matching homeowners and kasambahays through tech

00:07:15 – Ron’s personal struggles finding reliable household help

00:10:35 – Personality matching, DOST grants, and building Kazam’s algorithm

00:12:30 – Transparency vs agency scams: why Kazam removes the middleman

00:15:25 – Using AI to detect scammers and protect both sides of the platform

00:18:16 – Growing up as the eldest of six: “Ate syndrome” and early leadership

00:21:11 – Why kasambahays are the real heroes behind family success

00:23:31 – Family business roots and being groomed to take over

00:28:41 – The Asian financial crisis and helping rebuild the family business

00:30:09 – Running a wholesale store while finishing her MBA

00:32:33 – Choosing to finally become a founder

00:38:02 – Kazam’s origin: a college capstone idea revived 20+ years later

00:41:23 – Why job creation became Cris’ life mission

00:44:25 – Choosing tech: scaling impact without heavy inventory or capital

00:46:39 – Near shutdown moments, grants, and founder survival mode

00:49:20 – Ron on running startups in “hard mode”

00:50:46 – Building a two-sided marketplace from scratch

00:52:10 – Early traction: Facebook outreach and making Kazam free to grow supply

“What would fulfill me is providing jobs. And Kazam always attracted me because it’s going to be meaningful—because I know it’s going to create jobs to a group of people that have been neglected, that is overlooked, and that is close to my heart.”

Resources:

LinkedIn (Cris Azaña): https://www.linkedin.com/in/cris-aza%C3%B1a-ba55812b4/
Website: Kazam
Facebook (Kazam): https://www.facebook.com/kazamph/
LinkedIn (Kazam): https://www.linkedin.com/company/kazamph/

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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