Posts in startups
Ep 176 - The Hustle Behind Iterative
Ep 176 - The Hustle Behind Iterative

On our 3rd anniversary episode, Hsu Ken Ooi of Iterative joins us to share how they are building the YC of Southeast Asia. Hsu Ken will share his origin story being raised America and going back home to Malaysia every summer along with how he hustled while he was in school. He also shares how he struggled creating multiple startups with Brian Ma until they finally cracked the code with Decide that got acquired by eBay. Hsu Ken also shares why they decided to create an accelerator inspired by YC that is focused on Southeast Asia along with the types of founders and startups they like to support.

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Ep 175 - The Hustle Behind Aiah
Ep 175 - The Hustle Behind Aiah

Gian dela Rama of Aiah joins us in this episode to share how Aiah was able to scale and be the leading company in conversational commerce in the Philippines. Gian will share his early hustles that included stints in FMCG and hardware companies that he co-founded before he decided to create a software development company - Innovantage. He will also share how he became part of the #StartupPH community and how the community have grown exponentially over the years. Gian will also share how they evolved in Innovantage into multiple products and iterations before creating Aiah, and eventually scaled his company to a 100+ man team over the years.

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Ep 174 - The Hustle Behind Peddlr
Ep 174 - The Hustle Behind Peddlr

Coming off a $4.3 Million seed funding, Nel Laygo of Peddlr joins us in this episode to share their journey of teaching financial literacy to Filipino MSMEs. Nel will share his grassroots story of growing up in Catbalogan, Samar and how he hustled to have a great career in finance and tech that led him to be assigned overseas. He will also share how he bootstrapped his first startup HiBes while working and how it scaled along with what he learned when it failed. Nel will also share how he started Peddlr using the lessons he learned from his previous startup and how they were able to gain tremendous traction that eventually led them to raise $4.3 Million in seed funding.

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Ep 173 - The Hustle Behind Mind You
Ep 173 - The Hustle Behind Mind You

Yuri Marshall, CEO of Mind You, joins us in this episode to share how they were able to revolutionize the mental health services sector of the Philippines. Yuri will share his early hustles growing up in Papua New Guinea and how he did side hustles while studying in Australia that established his business acumen. He will also share his first few businesses that had varying degrees of success which also caused him to have mental health struggles along the way. Yuri also shares how he came up with Mind You to solve the underserved mental health sector in the Philippines and how they were able to gain traction and scale fast.

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Ep 172 - The Hustle Behind BreederDAO
Ep 172 - The Hustle Behind BreederDAO

After successfully raising $10m from a16z, Renz Chong of Breeder DAO joins us in this episode to share how they want to boost the supply of Play-To-Earn games in the Metaverse. Renz will share his early hustles working for their family business and working as a consultant before joining Angkas. He will also share how he got into crypto and how he built Breeder DAO to support the lack of quality NFTs in the supply side of Play-To-Earn games. Renz will also share how they got tremendous traction in a short period of time and how they raised funding from the likes of a16z and more to fuel what they want to support in the Metaverse.

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Ep 171 - The Hustle Behind Up Next
Ep 171 - The Hustle Behind Up Next

Javi Lorenzana of Up Next joins us in this episode to share how they want to up-skill Southeast Asian professionals for the digital age. Javi will share how early he got into the startup ecosystem by being a dev and interning early in startups amassing 7 years of experience at a young age of 21. He will also share how he decided to create Up Next to help prepare professionals with new skills that they need to be productive in the digital age. He will also share how they got into Iterative and how they got early traction from bootstrapping and how they got formidable instructors to teach in their startups as they scaled.

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Ep 170 - The Hustle Behind WeClean
Ep 170 - The Hustle Behind WeClean

After recently raising $900,000 to become the biggest laundromat service in Manila, Ignacio Phelan of WeClean joins us in this episode to share the story of how WeClean scaled fast. Ignacio will share how he started his hustle by being an events producer for nightclubs that forged his skills that came in handy with WeClean. He will also share why he decided to go to the Philippines and create a laundromat business that was able to scale very fast by creating innovations on things typical laundromat operators overlook. Ignacio will also share how they were able to get $900,000 in funding by hitting the metrics they needed and what their immediate plans are in scaling WeClean.

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Ep 169 - The Hustle Behind KodeGo
Ep 169 - The Hustle Behind KodeGo

The Head of Ideation and Incubation of 917 Ventures, Francis Simisim, joins us in this episode to talk about KodeGo. Francis will also share his startup journey starting with co-founding When In Manila and Blogapalooza and founding Salt & Light Ventures that he led through an acquisition. He will also share how he joined 917 Ventures and his involvement in helping founders create their startups under the 917V umbrella. Francis will also share how KodeGo helps aspiring developers accelerate their learning under their program and how they help them land jobs after the program.

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Ep 168 - The Hustle Behind AcadArena
Ep 168 - The Hustle Behind AcadArena

Fresh off raising $3.5 Million for their seed round; Ariane Lim, Justin Banusing, and Kevin Hoang of AcadArena to share their incredible journey to power the next generation of gamers in the Philippines. Ariane, Justin and Kevin will share their origin stories on how they supported collegiate gamers from the Philippines and the US and how they decided to team up and join forces to scale up their mission. They will also share how they got into Iterative VC and how they hustled to get traction despite having a slow start and a few setbacks. They will also share how they were able to secure funding and their plans to scale in the next coming months.

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Ep 167 - The Hustle Behind RCBC Digital
Ep 167 - The Hustle Behind RCBC Digital

For our season finale, we will be having the Chief Innovation Officer of RCBC Digital, Lito Villanueva aka Mr. Fintech. Lito will share his career spanning 20 years with stints in banking, telco, payments and many more across multiple countries. He will also share how he brought that experience to RCBC and began the rapid digital transformation of the bank that eventually led them to become AsiaMoney's Best Digital Bank in the Philippines. Lito will also share great advice on leadership and how to bring forth innovation to a company.

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Ep 166 - The Hustle Behind Epson Sales PH
Ep 166 - The Hustle Behind Epson Sales PH

Cristopher Sanchez, Head of Sales of Epson Philippines joins us in this episode to share the journey that Epson Philippines had to take to become the market leader of printing in the Philippines. Cris will also share his illustrious career and how he got to eventually Epson for years to become their head of sales. He will also share in depth the development that Epson did throughout the years especially during the pandemic. Cris will also share great advice for leaders that can help manage and scale their teams.

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Ep 165 - The Hustle Behind Nexplay Esports
Ep 165 - The Hustle Behind Nexplay Esports

Gabriel Benito of Nexplay Esports joins us in this episode to share how Esports and gaming have evolved in the Philippines. Gabriel will share how he developed his love for gaming that translated when he started his career in advertising. He will also share how he took the leap into entrepreneurship to start Nexplay and how he was able to convince top Esports players to work with him. Gabriel will also share how he was able to scale Nexplay over the pandemic and what’s next for the Esports and gaming in the metaverse.

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Ep 160 - The Hustle Behind When In Manila
Ep 160 - The Hustle Behind When In Manila

Vince Golangco, CEO of When In Manila, joins us in this episode to share how When In Manila stays on top of their game for 12 years. Vince will share his humble beginnings like dropping out of high school, joining the Navy and going back to the Philippines to start anew. He will also share how he founded When In Manila and how he grew the team and weathered challenges during their 12 years of existence. Vince will also share tips on how he invests in other income streams and how he reignites his passion for his company.

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Ep 159 - The Hustle Behind BlockchainSpace
Ep 159 - The Hustle Behind BlockchainSpace

Peter Ing of BlockchainSpace joins us in this episode to share how they are powering communities in the Metaverse and the Play-To-Earn community. Peter will share his history of growing up in London and how he was able to use his background in French with his ad sales job that took him around the world. He will also share how he took the jump on entrepreneurship when we went to the Philippines and how he struggled running his first startup. Peter will also share how he was able to bounce back by finding his passion for Blockchain and how he developed a discord bot that is now being used by thousands of servers around the world and how they are able to scale fast implementing lessons from previous hustles he did.

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Ep 158 - The Hustle Behind Komunidad
Ep 158 - The Hustle Behind Komunidad

After recently raising $1M for his environmental intelligence startup, Felix Ayque of Komunidad joins us in this episode to share how they are helping businesses respond more quickly to the threats of climate change. Felix will also share how he started hustling at a young age until he got into the IT industry that prepared him to acquire the skills he needed to launch Komunidad. He will also share how Komunidad is making a product using climate data that allows the government and businesses that are relevant to them to make better decisions around climate change. Felix will also share the struggles and mistakes he had trying to bootstrap Komunidad and how they eventually turned the corner and made a global clientele that led them to raise $1M.

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Ep 157 - The Hustle Behind MadEats
Ep 157 - The Hustle Behind MadEats

Fresh off her Y Combinator stint, Mikee Villareal of MadEats joins us in this episode to share how MadEats got into YC and how they got in despite not having any tech background. Mikee will also share her early hustles in the F&B industry that prepared her for launching her own food startup. She will also share how she and her team struggled to create MadEats and how they hustled to get to YC despite being rejected in their first try. Mikee will also detail their whole YC experience and how they hustled to grow MadEats that a lot of founders can learn from especially if they want to get into YC.

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Ep 149 - The Hustle Behind Yield Guild Games
Ep 149 - The Hustle Behind Yield Guild Games

After raising $12.5 Million in 30 seconds and becoming the first Filipino startup that a16z invested in, Beryl Chavez Li and Gabby Dizon of Yield Guild Games joins us in this episode to share with us the incredibly bright future of Play-To-Earn. Beryl and Gabby will share both of their startup journeys that revolved around investment, building games and building startups. They will also share why they decided to join forces in YGG to accelerate the NFT Play-To-Earn model in the Philippines that are helping transform thousands of lives. Beryl and Gabby will also share how they were able to raise that propelled them to get a Unicorn valuation upon their token sale and what is in store for the metaverse in the near future.

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Ep 148 - The Hustle Behind NextPay
Ep 148 - The Hustle Behind NextPay

Fresh from their stint in Y Combinator and after successfully raising $1.6M, Don Pansacola and Aldrich Tan of NextPay joins us in this episode. Don and Aldrich will be sharing their humble beginnings being born in the Philippines and how they spent their teenage and early adult lives in Canada that shaped their careers in tech and design. They will also share what led them to come back and build a startup in the Philippines along with the pivot they did to during the pandemic. Don and Aldrich will also share how they got to Y Combinator and what the experience and learnings have been that lots of startups can learn from in this episode.

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Ep 147 - The Hustle Behind Growsari
Ep 147 - The Hustle Behind Growsari

After successfully raising a grand total of $30 Million, ER Rollan joins us in this episode to share the hustle it took to build Growsari to where it is now. ER will also share how he built a successful career in FMCG that equipped him with the skills and experience needed for him to take the jump to entrepreneurship. He will also share how he struggled to keep Growsari afloat when he decided to do it full-time and how they eventually turned the corner and to get traction. ER will also share how they were able to raise $30 Million over their multiple funding rounds and share valuable advice that founders can learn from.

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Ep 146 - The Hustle Behind StackTrek
Ep 146 - The Hustle Behind StackTrek

Serial entrepreneur Bill Yuen of StackTrek joins us in this episode to discuss how they're revolutionizing how tech talent get hired. Bill will also share his entrepreneurial journey and how he founded 7 startups prior to StackTrek with 4 failures and 3 exits. He will also share why they built Stackleague, the Philippines' first year-round programming league that helps Filipino devs fast-track their development.

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