Re: Pinoy Java Startup Path

Some of the largest companies companies in the world are Indian, and
many of them sprang up or enjoyed hypergrowth just in the last decade or
two.  Arcelor-Mittal, is the largest steel company in the world, and we
all know of InfoSys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services, and note that
Land Rover and Jaguar are now owned by company Tata Motors.  Also note
that many of the Global Fortune 500 companies are headed by Indians.

While there's a lot to admire about Filipino culture, and I'm proudly
Filipino, our culture has not produced many entrepreneurs of the scale
found in India.  Many of our most successful Filipino entrepreneurs are
those who enjoy the influences of other cultures, particularly Chinese
culture.  

There's a couple of things that are missing from Filipino culture that I
see in Indian and Chinese culture, which affects our inclination towards
entrepreneurship.

The first is the inclination towards calculated risk-taking.  Before I
started O&B, I was talking about starting a company with a lot of other
top-notch developers and professionals, who are friends of mine largely
through PinoyJUG and from the UP MBA.  Everyone showed a lot of fervor
in the conceptualization and planning stage of the business, but when it
really came to quitting our jobs, it came to just Butch and myself.  I
think Indians and Chinese look at starting a business more soberly, but
are more likely to commit to the risk.

The second is frugality.  Maybe this is why a lot of good companies are
sprouting out of Cebu.  Chinese and Indians have a culture that values
simplicity and frugality, and this is essential when starting a
business.  The number one killer of startup businesses is cashflow.  A
lot of failed businesses all over the world were actually very
successful market-wise, and had huge potential, but were not able to
keep enough money in the bank long enough to keep the company alive
while they waited to turn their investments around.  Frugality is
therefore essential in at least the first five years of any business.  
Entrepreneurs should be willing to limit their personal income to just
one-half or even one-quarter of what they used to make in the corporate
world for the first five years (sometimes even less).

Calen

Calen Legaspi <http://software.orangeandbronze.com>
<http://software.orangeandbronze.com>


Johnny R. Ruiz III wrote: