Ep 177 - The Hustle Behind PPCRV

Myla Villanueva, one of the most successful tech entrepreneurs in the Philippines with 4 exits under her belt joins us in this episode to share her illustrious career. Myla will share her humble beginnings and how she started creating her first tech companies in the early 90s and how she overcame odds despite the Philippines not being ready infrastructure-wise. She will also share how she was able to disrupt tech giants and get 4 successful tech exits which a vast majority of Filipinos still get to use today. Myla also shares how she is funneling that same passion now with the PPCRV to make sure that the 2022 elections are clean and fair using technology.

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Soonicorns Sessions 1 - Steve Sy of Great Deals

For our very first Soonicorn Sessions episode, Steve Sy of Great Deals E-Commerce Corp tells us how they became a Soonicorn after raising Series B last year. Steve shares their key milestones and the metrics that they had to hit in the middle of the pandemic. He will also share the hardest things he needed to overcome and the most difficult decisions that he had to do before they raised Series B. Steve also shares great tips on raising, scaling teams and how he pays it forward by investing in other Filipino startups in this episode.

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 164 - The Hustle Behind LBC SoShop

Mikee Liwag and Javier Mantecon of (tag) LBC SoShop! joins us in this episode to share how the country's market leader utilized its pickup service for online sellers who can't go out to the nearest LBC branch due to quarantine restrictions. In this episode, our #TeamPogi guests discussed how LBC's rewards program allows online entrepreneurs to deliver products in far-flung areas as LBC SoShop! aims to enable, educate and unlock business potential of online entrepreneurs in the country. Mikee and Javier also differentiated the branding of SoShop from the original LBC image that we all know.

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Ep 163 - The Hustle Behind Chink Positive

Mister Chink Positive, Chinkee Tan, joins us in this episode to share his journey to financial expertise and how he is paying it forward to thousands of entrepreneurs using his content. Chinkee will share his humble beginnings growing up and how he got into sales that led him to lots of opportunities like going in showbiz and more. He will also share how he was able to become and expert financially and how he turned his expertise to a content-driven empire that is able to reach millions through multiple channels. Chinkee will also give solid financial advice for entrepreneurs that can help in managing cashflow.

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Ep 162 - The Hustle Behind ABS-CBN Digital

Jamie Lopez of ABS-CBN Digital joins us in this episode to share how ABS-CBN evolved and migrated digitally. Jamie will also share his upbringing and growing up years on how he had to hustle to get the tech background he has now. He also talks about his daily grind and the challenges he had to go through and how he climbed up the ranks in the Lopez group of companies before he headed ABS-CBN Digital. Jamie will also share how ABS-CBN pivoted to digital after their challenge last year and how they are coping with times this year with their digital strategy.

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Ep 161 - The Hustle Behind Gobi Core PH Fund

In time for Philippine Startup Week 2021, Carlo Delantar of Gobi Core joins us in this episode to shed light on how exciting 2021 has been for the #StartupPH Ecosystem. Carlo will share his humble beginnings and how he ended up being a VC and how Core Capital forged a partnership with Gobi Partners to create Gobi Core PH Fund. He will also share the amazing stats that the #StartupPH milestones achieved this year like unprecedented funding rounds, check sizes and deal counts. Carlo will also share what is triggering this growth and what are the hot and upcoming sectors in the PH Startup ecosystem soon.

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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

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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