The startup community in Baguio City just got a huge boost when the city’s very first co-working and collaborative space, Calle Uno, opened its doors to the public on September 18, Sunday. Launching with the event “StartUp Start Now,” Calle Uno brought together speakers and resource persons known within the Philippine startup community to share valuable insights and tips to those who are planning their own startups. Over 400 participants attended the whole-day event, coming from different schools and universities in the city, as well as interested individuals and groups.
The State of Startups in the Philippines
Speaker: Anna Hizon, Head of Sales, Horsepower.ph
Startups and wanna-be startups had a lot of takeaways from the event. Speaking on what the current startup environment looked like in the Philippines, Anna Hizon gave participants a quick and concise look at where the country is right now. She also gave her recommendations on building a startup ecosystem in Baguio: building a technology hub must be able to bring together the right people – the rich people and the nerds. She also cited that Baguio is a good location to attract the right people provided it has the right infrastructure as well.
Funding Your Startup
Speaker: Maggie Po, CFO, Offshore Concept Consulting
Maggie Po, formerly Chief Financial Officer of Havas Media and now founder and CFO of Offshore Concept Consulting, talked about one of the most important components of any new business which is funding and financing. Her talk focused on the different stages of fundraising a startup goes through, from friendly investments from family and friends, seed funding from strangers, and then on to more active fundraising series, which can bring in angel investors or venture capitalists. Ideally, a successful startup should end with a good exit, which can either be selling to another company or doing an initial public offering.
One key takeaway from her talk was when raising money, a startup must show potential investors that the money they will invest will be used to fuel the company’s growth and not simply so that company can “survive.”
Marketing Your Ideas and Products
Speaker: Dexter Paglinawan, Author, “Awesome ASS Marketing”
Baguio-based marketing guru, Dexter Paglinawan, then addressed the participants with his talk on good marketing. Dexter, who is the author of the book “Awesome ASS Marketing,” mentioned that in order for one to market properly, one needs to break three walls: the first wall has to do with people’s knack not to listen, the second one deals with people not believing what they are told and the last wall is people generally do not act. He also cited that an effective marketing strategy takes into account only one message, one market and one outcome.
Startup Stories
Speaker: Jay Fajardo, Founder of LAUNCHGARAGE, CTO of MEDIFI and CEO of PROUDCLOUD
Veteran technology entrepreneur Jay Fajardo shared a very valuable story during his days as founder of Airborne Access. The company was considered one of the few tech startups at a time when the concept of a startup was non-existent. His story focused on a golden opportunity that was presented to his company when they were still at it. This opportunity was handed to him during a third round or so of beers with a co-founder, at a bar in Makati. According to him, acting on the piece of information they got that night spelled their success in the field. Partnering with PLDT, they took steps to counter a big launch event of competitor, Globe. Among the insights he shared included: 1. Beer can give you courage; 2. You must bring yourself closer to luck; 3. You must act fast; and 4. You must learn not to play by the rules and be irreverent and aggressive.
According to Calle Uno’s Managing Director, Ace Estrada II, startups are welcome to drop by the place, where they can get access to mentors and other forms of assistance in order for them to start their dream startup. Calle Uno boasts of super-fast internet at 300MBps, areas for small and big meetings and events, as well as co-working places for the millennial technopreneur. Calle Uno is located at 3 Josefa Escoda Street (formerly First Road), Quezon Hill, Baguio City.