Filipino startups, How BAD do you want it? A reflection from an outsider…
NOTE: When I say local founders, I mean founders that has spent the majority of their lives in the Philippines, is a product of Philippine education, and culturally, Filipino. When I say foreign founders, I mean founders that may or may not be Filipino but has spent their lives abroad. Are educated and have been immersed from other cultures.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure to have one of my really good friends and colleague from Vancouver visit Cebu. I have been talking about startups and some of the great things we have been doing the last 4 years. This was his chance to see what exactly I was talking about.
It was a coincidence that his 3 days in Cebu is on the same days as the CITExpo that was happening at Waterfront Hotel and Casino. We had a booth set up there and we were also doing a game development workshop as part of the expo. So apart from running around checking up on the booth, the workshop, the office and attending client meetings, he was able to pretty much “shadow” me the whole time, including joining in on some of my Startup meetups that I frequently attend in our growing startup community in Cebu.
There, at the meetups, a realization hits and he finally understood what I have been talking about in my past writings…
So, filipino startups, how bad do you really want it?
That meetup was a talk by one of my startup colleagues and veteran in the Cebu startup scene, JP of LoanSolutions.com. He talked about “Getting your first 100 customers”. And this was being held at the Tide, a Coworking space in Cebu. The talk also was sponsored so free pizza and beer. What more can you ask for right? An opportunity to learn and get free food and beer. The talk began and Cynl leans over to me and whispers “now I understand exactly what you are talking about”…
What Cynl noticed is that this FREE event with FREE food and beer, the majority of people that participated were foreigners. The Filipinos that were present were not locals. The above pictures shows part of the night’s discussion. What is not clear is that there are several Filipinos in the background, all the way to the far end, and what they are doing. I can tell you what they were doing…Facebook, video games, more Facebook.
Cynl then continues to say “This is disappointing. The people that want to make a difference in the world and in the Philippines are not even from the Philippines. The local Filipinos just doesn't care. Look at them. It’s already free with free food and beer and still no one cares to take this learning opportunity.”
You take this and apply it to the local startup scene. And it is clear as day why the successful startups in the Philippines are founded by foreign founders. One arguable reason is competency but I think the one main reason is DRIVE. Just imagine, there is an opportunity to learn from startup veterans, network with these veterans, and get FREE pizza and beer and still they choose to not participate. Oh and yes, they were told to feel free and join in…
What I have seen with a lot of local startups are the founders are not at all driven. This is the ultimate question for all Philippine startup founders, especially local Filipino founders, how BAD do you really want it? Everyone I have talked to always say they want to be successful but not everyone is willing to do the work to achieve it.
Startups is hard. It is nowhere close to easy. The failure rate of startups in the Philippines is 96% . Startups are extremely hard and it is supposed to be hard. Don’t be fooled with the media portrayals of how startups just magically are successful and there are people throwing money left and right. The reality is that startups is a life changing journey. It would be like getting enlisted and sent to war then coming back to normal society. Your views will change, your thinking will change, you will change. I hope for the good. But definitely change is a constant.
So what can you do to find success in a place where almost everyone fails? The numbers are a complete coincidence but a quote from Jim Rohn is perfect here.
“Walk away from the 97% crowd. Don’t use their excuses. Take charge of your own life.” — Jim Rohn
You need to stop being like the rest. You have to grind and be motivated enough to stay on the path even-though success is not coming fast enough. You need to improve yourself. And trust me, with the current competency level here, everyone needs to do some self improvement. Read a book, attend seminars, watch webinars, join meetups….do something. Don’t drown yourself in distractions. In the Philippines, when the weekend or payday comes everyone is out and it is party time. The “barkada” (close friends) awaits. A culture where they care about the lives of fictional characters on TV rather than caring about their own lives. Should the latest love team really affect my future? I mean c’mon.
My advice, stop with the distractions. Focus on what you need to do. How bad you want it? Only you can answer that. The emphasis is YOU. It is your startup, your dream, your goal,…your responsibility. What becomes of your startup is because of you. Own it.
Until next time, Keep grindin’.
