Hustleshare

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong welcomes Stephanie Kubota, president and CEO of Rush Technologies—one of 917Ventures’ most successful portfolio companies. Steph shares her journey from being a Subway sandwich artist in Boston to becoming one of the youngest CEOs in the Globe ecosystem, navigating imposter syndrome, building social capital, and making the hardest call any founder faces:...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Ernest Cu, President and CEO of Globe Telecom, to trace the journey from helping in a family business and studying in the U.S. to building a career in tech and returning home to make his mark. They dive into Ernest’s first entrepreneurial leap, his role in shaping the Philippines’ BPO boom, and the leadership mindset that helped transform...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with tech pioneer Dado Banatao, alongside Maria Banatao of the Phildev Foundation, to trace the journey that earned him the title “Bill Gates of the Philippines”—from a rural barrio to engineering school, Boeing, and Silicon Valley. They also dive into Dado’s semiconductor breakthroughs, early entrepreneurial setbacks, and the VC framework he n...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Nina Ellaine Dizon, the founder of Colourette Cosmetics, as she shares her journey from selling items in school to accidentally entering the beauty space through soap—and scaling the brand exponentially through online growth. Nina also opens up about her decision to raise venture capital and how it reshaped Colourette’s trajectory from a s...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Kim Lato, founder and CEO of KimStore, the Philippines' longest-running and largest electronics e-tailer. Kim shares her incredible 19-year journey from selling cameras on Multiply as an 18-year-old college student to building an e-commerce empire that survived platform shutdowns, customs controversies, family tragedy, and a global pandemi...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Smile API co-founder Jan Pabellon to uncover how he bounced back from a failed first startup, taught himself tech, built his own dev shop, and discovered the massive credit data gap holding millions of Filipinos back. Jan also reveals what pushed him to become a founder again and how Smile API is now taking on one of the biggest challenges...

This week on Hustleshare, Ron Baetiong sits down with Pam Belen, Founder and CEO of Umpisa, to unpack how a CPA-turned-tech-founder is on a mission to make the Philippines recognized globally as a tech hub. Pam shares her journey from accountancy to winning a startup weekend in San Francisco, the fundamentals that keep Umpisa profitable and sustainable, and why Filipino founders need to stop putti...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Raphael Rey Bacolod, director of the Austrian Business Agency (ABA), who’s leading Austria’s push to recruit top Filipino talent in IT, engineering, and healthcare. Rafael shares how Filipinos can land jobs in Austria with no placement fees, bring their families, and enjoy world-class quality of life—just like his grandmother did when she...

This week on Hustleshare, Ron Baetiong sits down with Vince Yamat, CEO and Managing Director of 917Ventures, to unpack how the country’s top venture builder is reshaping Philippine innovation through people-first leadership, relentless experimentation, and a powerful ecosystem advantage. Vince shares the wins, failures, and bold new direction behind Velocity—917V’s program giving startups unpreced...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Cristina “Indo” Ibanez, president of Scale NCR and head of Miriam College’s Innovation Center. From growing up in a family of entrepreneurs to championing collaboration among university-based incubators, Indo shares how she’s turning classrooms into launchpads for the next wave of Filipino founders. Resources: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedi...

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Dave Del Rosario, Program Manager of DLSU Animo Labs and one of the unsung heroes behind Philippine Startup Week. From his early days as an intern at IdeaSpace to empowering innovators across Mindanao, Dave shares how his grassroots experience continues to shape the next generation of founders and drive inclusive growth within the Philippi...

Kevin Brockland, Founder of Indelible Ventures, reveals the hard-earned lessons from the 2008 financial crisis that now fuel his venture capital success backing B2B tech startups across Southeast Asia. From small-town Missouri to Malaysia's dynamic startup scene, he unpacks the reality of impact investing, what makes companies truly investor-ready, and the keys to building resilient, scalable tech...

In this episode, we sit down with Dennis Velasco, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prosperna, an online marketing and e-commerce platform designed to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and real estate professionals in the Philippines. Dennis shares his journey from growing up as an Asian-American in Texas to discovering entrepreneurship through his family’s businesses. He recalls hi...

In this episode of Hustleshare , we chat with Phil Renner, co-founder and CEO of Dr. Shiba, to share how a German-born McKinsey consultant turned his love for pets into one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing pet care brands. Phil breaks down how his multicultural upbringing shaped his hustle, why he bet on the Philippines’ booming e-commerce scene, and how Dr. Shiba became a go-to brand for pet p...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we chat with Mansueto "Joel" Callao, Chairman and CEO of NYXSYS, to travel through his journey from a PUP graduate breaking into multinational sales to leading one of the Philippines’ biggest players in digital out-of-home advertising. Joel shares how persistence helped him land major clients, why a ₱26M billboard deal with no location became his first big break, an...

In this episode of Hustleshare , we chat with Mel Nava, founder and CEO of 1Export, to talk about her journey from hustling as a bazaarista and working in export sales to building a tech startup that empowers Filipino SMEs to expand globally. Mel opens up about the struggles of bootstrapping a company, losing her co-founders, and battling depression, and why she chose resilience over giving up. Sh...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we chat with Vincent Mendoza, founder and CEO of Farmvocacy, to talk about his journey from selling security systems door-to-door and launching beverages at URC to building a climate fintech startup that empowers Filipino farmers. Vincent opens up about the failures that forced him to start over, why he chose purpose over a stable corporate career, and how Farmvocac...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we chat with Lester Cruz, CEO of Singlife Philippines, to talk about the journey that took him from his early sales grind and 15 years at Citi to pioneering digital banking at CIMB and Uno before leading one of the country’s most innovative digital insurers. Lester gets real about the rejections that built his grit, the leadership lessons he learned climbing the cor...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we chat with Nel Laygo, Founder and CEO of Peddlr, to unpack the wild journey that took him from hustling as a kid in Catbalogan, Samar to building one of the Philippines’ fastest-growing fintech startups for micro and small businesses. Nel gets real about how early side hustles shaped his entrepreneurial grit, why breaking through barriers in Region 8 gave him a ch...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we explore the story of Carl Orale, a repeat founder and CEO of Ticket Nation Philippines—an innovative platform helping venues and event producers deliver seamless ticketing experiences. Carl takes us through his rollercoaster journey: from running his first internet café as a college student, to building a 50-person BPO, to enduring three bankruptcies—including a...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we sit down with Clive Aranha, General Manager of Hotel Casiana, to talk about how he went from running bars on cruise ships to leading one of the top hotels in Tagaytay. Clive shares how growing up in the hustle of Mumbai sparked his love for hospitality, how he built and sold his own restaurant in Australia, and what brought him back to the Philippines. He also ta...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we chat with Stephanie Sy, founder and CEO of Thinking Machines, to unpack her journey from Stanford and Silicon Valley to building one of the Philippines’ leading AI and data science companies. Stephanie shares how her early startup attempts and time at Google shaped her hustle, why she made the leap back home to start from scratch, and what it took to grow Thinkin...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we sit down with Jake Go, Founder and CEO of Springboard Philippines, to trace his path from coasting through a dead-end dev job to running one of the country’s most resilient niche staffing firms. He shares how lessons from his grandma’s tiny Recto canteen stuck with him, the career-shaping mentorship he got at Kalibrr, and the leap into entrepreneurship that saw h...

In this episode of Hustleshare, we sit down with Bimbo Adewoyin, founder and CTO of Doublesquare Networks Inc., to talk about how he went from installing DIY wireless setups in college to leading a nationwide tech company. Bimbo shares how growing up in Nigeria shaped his work ethic, how he adjusted to life in Bicol, and how he hustled his way into city-wide projects—all while figuring things out...

Jessica Ouano of Kinabuhi and Nikki Sevilla of EcoNest Philippines sit down for a real, no-frills conversation on building businesses that put people and the planet first. From crafting handwoven fashion with artisan weavers to producing cassava-based bioplastics for everyday packaging, they share how personal values—and frustrations—turned into sustainable ventures. With support from Villgro Phil...