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The Philippine startup scene: Asia’s best kept secret?

53 points by wyclif 14y ago

sivers 14y ago
Yes! Love it. I'm actually producing a book about the Entrepreneur's Guide to the Philippines : http://woodegg.com/ph http://woodegg.com/ph If anyone's interested, or wants to contribute, or has a business they want profiled in the book, please contact me at derek@sivers.org
- davidw 14y ago
  Looks interesting. I see a part of it as being useful to anyone, the world over, interested in outsourcing to the Philippines, but it looks like there's then a bunch of other material that's perhaps less useful from that point of view, and likely has a smaller audience: those interested in actually operating in the Philippines.
- Hates_ 14y ago
  Site needs a mailing list so I can be informed when it's released! :)
  - ra 14y ago
    Agreed. And please add me to the list!
- herbig 14y ago
  Wikipedia has all of this information, with more definite articles.
- makmanalp 14y ago
  Hey, this looks awesome, but you might need to work on your copy / landing page a bit: "What is Philippines’s relationship with Hong Kong? Cooperative or competitive? Similarities or differences? What is the main trade between the two?" x20 for each neighboring country is a bit excessive :) Also, there are a lot of interesting tidbits that get lost in the following 20+ pages that you probably could have as highlights on the top of the page.
wyclif 14y ago
It's very true that you can't expect to build a startup in the Philippines solving first world problems. The Filipino entrepreneurs I respect tell me that if you want to target the largest group of consumers today, your best bet is SMS. That's where the action is. AFAICT the RP is the texting capital of the world.
- antonioevans 14y ago
  Mobile is the main web connection for a lot of people in Philippines. Makes sense they will try and tackle that first.
  - john2x 14y ago
    "Free" texts, to be exact. 3G/4G networks in the Philippines aren't very good or reliable. And they are expensive, so only a very small minority use them.
chewxy 14y ago
Betteridge's Law of Headlines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_Law_of_Headlines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_Law_of_Headlines So, I'm guessing: No. As an aside, in this podcast [1], Johnny Arbitrage is mentioned as a model of entrepreneur. Essentially someone who takes advantage of the difference between the money in their own country and a cheaper country, and moves there to try to make things happen. Could work for many people with the Phillipines I guess. [1] - http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/seven-types-of-entrepreneur/ http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/seven-types-of-entre...
wyclif 14y ago
Are there any reliable numbers on how many Filipinos are using Android?
rubyrescue 14y ago
I've tried to hire in the Philippines for 24/7 operations and have had a hard time... there just doesn't seem to be a big community, or as the article says, everyone leaves.
- jister 14y ago
  There's a lot of factors why people leave but the top two reasons are salary and management.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  If you need someone in that part of the world, it seems like you're best off going to Singapore. Better English, more educated, more business friendly...the list goes on and on. The good Filipinos will have gone there, as you said.
- lv0 14y ago
  Turnover is a big challenge. Pinoys aren't always motivated purely by cash. I lived there from 2008-2010 and filipinos are very receptive and intelligent people.
- hyung 14y ago
  I think it also depends on the type of operations you're looking to hire. I've found that people with stronger skill sets (for example, engineers), are very difficult to hire for swing or overnight shifts, even if salaries are double or triple the daytime shift. (I run 24/7 operations in Vietnam, I'd love to talk shop.)
- pajop 14y ago
  LobangClub from Singapore has relocated to the Philippines. When I asked them why, it's because they're convinced they could hire Python talent cheaper than if they did it in their own country.
  - echoz 14y ago
    That is not the only reason. There is also the issue of quantity. 1% of Singapore is very very different from 1% of the Philippines.
whalesalad 14y ago
My best friend (the kinda guy who will probably be the best man at my wedding) is Filipino. His family owns a brand new condo in Manila that's unoccupied for the next few years until his little sister is off to college. I can't tell you how many times I've thought about going down there with him and starting a company. From what he tells me, it's ridiculously cheap to live there.
jister 14y ago
"One cause of this problem is an outdated curriculum that doesn’t correspond to the needs of the industry. The academic sector has not been agile enough to meet the human resource needs of tech startups" ...or the top developers were already pirated by big corporations in Singapore and other countries. For example, there's a shortage of senior .Net developers in the Philippines because most of them are working abroad.
likarish 14y ago
Neal Stephenson? Is that you?
chaostheory 14y ago
I think the Philippines has a lot of good entrepreneurs (both expats and native) and for a country as a whole I can't think of anywhere else in Asia where English is a near universal language where even the poor can speak well enough (Singapore doesn't really count since it's more of a city state or micro country). Unfortunately (someone can correct me but) there a few problems with PI's startup scene (which the article mostly mentions): 1) Most PI entrepreneurs concentrate on traditional industries (mostly in the food sector). I rarely see companies in riskier and more innovative sectors. 2) A lot of entrepreneurs inherit their businesses. 3) Historically PI's greatest export is its English speaking workforce. To my knowledge, it hasn't changed much. Good engineers leave for western countries or elsewhere in Asia where both the pay and conditions are better. The engineers that stay on a whole are sub-par. From experience, PI has a great (manual - not automated inclined) QA workforce; programmers not so much.

53 points by wyclif 14y ago

Yes! Love it. I'm actually producing a book about the Entrepreneur's Guide to the Philippines : http://woodegg.com/ph http://woodegg.com/ph If anyone's interested, or wants to contribute, or has a business they want profiled in the book, please contact me at derek@sivers.org

davidw 14y ago
Looks interesting. I see a part of it as being useful to anyone, the world over, interested in outsourcing to the Philippines, but it looks like there's then a bunch of other material that's perhaps less useful from that point of view, and likely has a smaller audience: those interested in actually operating in the Philippines.
Hates_ 14y ago
Site needs a mailing list so I can be informed when it's released! :)
- ra 14y ago
  Agreed. And please add me to the list!
herbig 14y ago
Wikipedia has all of this information, with more definite articles.
makmanalp 14y ago
Hey, this looks awesome, but you might need to work on your copy / landing page a bit: "What is Philippines’s relationship with Hong Kong? Cooperative or competitive? Similarities or differences? What is the main trade between the two?" x20 for each neighboring country is a bit excessive :) Also, there are a lot of interesting tidbits that get lost in the following 20+ pages that you probably could have as highlights on the top of the page.

wyclif 14y ago

It's very true that you can't expect to build a startup in the Philippines solving first world problems. The Filipino entrepreneurs I respect tell me that if you want to target the largest group of consumers today, your best bet is SMS. That's where the action is. AFAICT the RP is the texting capital of the world.

antonioevans 14y ago
Mobile is the main web connection for a lot of people in Philippines. Makes sense they will try and tackle that first.
- john2x 14y ago
  "Free" texts, to be exact. 3G/4G networks in the Philippines aren't very good or reliable. And they are expensive, so only a very small minority use them.

chewxy 14y ago

Betteridge's Law of Headlines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_Law_of_Headlines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_Law_of_Headlines So, I'm guessing: No. As an aside, in this podcast [1], Johnny Arbitrage is mentioned as a model of entrepreneur. Essentially someone who takes advantage of the difference between the money in their own country and a cheaper country, and moves there to try to make things happen. Could work for many people with the Phillipines I guess. [1] - http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/seven-types-of-entrepreneur/ http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/seven-types-of-entre...

wyclif 14y ago

Are there any reliable numbers on how many Filipinos are using Android?

rubyrescue 14y ago

I've tried to hire in the Philippines for 24/7 operations and have had a hard time... there just doesn't seem to be a big community, or as the article says, everyone leaves.

jister 14y ago
There's a lot of factors why people leave but the top two reasons are salary and management.
w1ntermute 14y ago
If you need someone in that part of the world, it seems like you're best off going to Singapore. Better English, more educated, more business friendly...the list goes on and on. The good Filipinos will have gone there, as you said.
lv0 14y ago
Turnover is a big challenge. Pinoys aren't always motivated purely by cash. I lived there from 2008-2010 and filipinos are very receptive and intelligent people.
hyung 14y ago
I think it also depends on the type of operations you're looking to hire. I've found that people with stronger skill sets (for example, engineers), are very difficult to hire for swing or overnight shifts, even if salaries are double or triple the daytime shift. (I run 24/7 operations in Vietnam, I'd love to talk shop.)
pajop 14y ago
LobangClub from Singapore has relocated to the Philippines. When I asked them why, it's because they're convinced they could hire Python talent cheaper than if they did it in their own country.
- echoz 14y ago
  That is not the only reason. There is also the issue of quantity. 1% of Singapore is very very different from 1% of the Philippines.

whalesalad 14y ago

My best friend (the kinda guy who will probably be the best man at my wedding) is Filipino. His family owns a brand new condo in Manila that's unoccupied for the next few years until his little sister is off to college. I can't tell you how many times I've thought about going down there with him and starting a company. From what he tells me, it's ridiculously cheap to live there.

jister 14y ago

"One cause of this problem is an outdated curriculum that doesn’t correspond to the needs of the industry. The academic sector has not been agile enough to meet the human resource needs of tech startups" ...or the top developers were already pirated by big corporations in Singapore and other countries. For example, there's a shortage of senior .Net developers in the Philippines because most of them are working abroad.

likarish 14y ago

Neal Stephenson? Is that you?

chaostheory 14y ago

I think the Philippines has a lot of good entrepreneurs (both expats and native) and for a country as a whole I can't think of anywhere else in Asia where English is a near universal language where even the poor can speak well enough (Singapore doesn't really count since it's more of a city state or micro country). Unfortunately (someone can correct me but) there a few problems with PI's startup scene (which the article mostly mentions): 1) Most PI entrepreneurs concentrate on traditional industries (mostly in the food sector). I rarely see companies in riskier and more innovative sectors. 2) A lot of entrepreneurs inherit their businesses. 3) Historically PI's greatest export is its English speaking workforce. To my knowledge, it hasn't changed much. Good engineers leave for western countries or elsewhere in Asia where both the pay and conditions are better. The engineers that stay on a whole are sub-par. From experience, PI has a great (manual - not automated inclined) QA workforce; programmers not so much.