THE FACES OF CHANGE

Before September ended, I got an email from Earl Valencia of Ideaspace that made me all euphoric! Here's a clip of how his email started:

Before I left for the US, we were able to shoot The Faces of Change video. The interview is worth sharing. It made me recall how I started as a technopreneur as well as the experiences I had in growing the company.

Getting ready for the interview/shoot with Nick Bautista Wilwayco of Ideaspace. 

Nick: Share with us your experience/challenges when you were starting the business.

I can say it was tough; I left graduate school to pursue what my professor rejected as a thesis. I was a scholar then and I was so obsessed with developing something for the mobile platform. Indeed, it was all I could think of. I had no fund, no experience, my kids were so young and still too dependent on me. I had ventured into a male-dominated industry. I experienced power-tripping and being bullied. Some doubted my capability. When I started the business, servers, hosting and bandwidth were expensive and not as readily accessible. There was hardly any framework on hand to rapidly develop my app and I didn't know of a technology community like what we have now that supports and encourages technopreneurs. It was truly TOUGH that way.

Nick: What were the things you hoped you had when you started your business?

At the onset, I was only armed with my passion to develop web and mobile apps. But my desire to pursue that dream was so strong that I did not hope for what I didn't have at the moment. I took advantage of my lack of resources. It drove me to be more creative and learn the different aspects of running a business. I considered that time when I was starting as a preparation for something bigger. 

Nick: What is your advice for new start-ups?

Do that which you love. Don't wait for a better time or better circumstances. Act on your dream now. Be resourceful, resilient and dynamic. Learn the different aspects of the business. Share, socialize and learn from the successes of others. 


Nick: What is the best advice you can give to someone who wants to start a business?

Take advantage of what you have, learn as you go, talk to mentors but have the vision to filter the numerous advice because ultimately, you know your product best.  Not everyone will think you will succeed but it's worth taking the risk.

And we did this clip for fun... but it's my best advice :)

There's a lot more to be done. I still consider myself as a start-up but now I'm wiser, tougher and more capable.

My most recent venture is Youphoric Labs. We envision it to be a framework for anything that you are passionate about and you want to share. We extracted it from Shoephoric. This same framework helped us build Picture Perfect which is Manila Bulletin's social network for photo enthusiasts. We're building other sites in an agile manner. We're excited to experiment and share our results.

At work, we all share the same passion - love for shoes, technology, innovation and social media. It's what brought us together and what keeps us excited to play everyday.

Nick: What’s your aspiration for the Philippine technology community?

I would want for us to be recognized as a vibrant and dynamic technology community. I dream to see an active and connected tech community from up north to down south; with the whole country being a tech hub.

I am proud to be a Pinoy Technopreneur and honored to be one of The Faces of Change. Thank you Ideaspace for supporting and inspiring more technopreneurs in the country.

P.S... we had a photoshoot too! :)

Not modelling the Tab but the Shoephoric sticker! :)

Making the Shoephoric logo with my Christian Louboutin Lady Geek. The perfect heels for a Shoephoric Geek like me!

MEGA WOMAN FOR MEGA MAGAZINE

Last month, I got featured in MEGA MAGAZINE's Big Fashion Issue as The MEGA WOMAN. I also had a great time working with the very creative and professional team of Mega composed of Yselle Reyes, Therese San Diego and Louie Parinas. Thank you for this feature and for highlighting my thoughts as a mother and my dream as a Technopreneur.

AND JUST BEFORE September ended - I got an email that made me ECSTATIC and again EUPHORIC! Can't wait to blog about it soon!

EUPHORIC IN DAVAO

I was so excited when I got invited by Ideaspace and Smart anew to join them in Davao for the first technopreneur bootcamp outside Manila. My excitement was welcomed by a very enthusiastic group of students and start-ups from Davao. I couldn't be more inspired to share my technopreneur adventure.

Taking the stage, ready to inspire the participants with my technopreneur adventure. . .

Sharing how I followed my heart's desire. . .

Loving the clips as interpreted by Ray Piedra. I want them in canvas :) 

Logos galore... must be a sign of big things to come :) Thanks to Paul Pajo, my mentor/photographer at the event :)

My talk basically started by relating how I followed my heart's desire. I may be a woman in a male-dominated field but this does not stop me from pursuing what I want to do; as much as I did with other things that I love like Art. I may not have an artist's hand but I try to surround myself with art and things of beauty. I love music even when I'm vocally challenged, I try to express my love for it through dance. 

My message was best captured by GMA News Online:

“I decided to be a technopreneur because I know it's where I'm going to succeed and fulfill my passion. I encourage students to just go for it. Your success isn’t determined just by your idea. You have to launch it and let it gain traction.”

I get more inspired to continue working on our projects and ventures everytime I meet and speak to technopreneurs. I know there is so much more to do because technology has provided us with a MYRIAD OF WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITIES. YOU JUST GOT TO WORK, FOCUS AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO.

Fun Bootcamp in Davao with @taCOIyaki @kwittiegirl!
A view of the participants from the panel

Technopreneur Talk with Ideaspace: Mapua, Ateneo, La Salle

I was so thrilled to be invited by Smart Communications and IdeaSpace Foundation to join them in their technopreneurship school roadshow. This is in line with their advocacy to promote the spirit of technology entrepreneurship among the youth. To be able to share my journey as a technopreneur to these students was simply euphoric!

Here's my journey in few clips:

I have always been in love with technology. That being said, I thought it is best that I share with you, my adventures and experiences as I chose to be an entrepreneur, using technology as my platform.

Growing up, the toys I played with included resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits, multi-testers laying about in my dad's shop. You can see the influence by my dad who was and actually still IS into electronics. I graduated from college as ECE and went on to pursue my Masters in IT.

It was that time when Nokia introduced the first Symbian phone when I did my thesis proposal on mobile platform but my professor back then rejected it. For me, it was all I wanted to do. It's all I could think of; I was obsessed. So I quit school and developed some apps. Smart was the first one to launch our apps and get us as one of their content providers. I eventually needed to incorporate.

From 2003 to present, I founded other IT companies which provided mobile apps and web services not just here in the Philippines but in Singapore and Japan as well.

You can see that I have a great love for technology. I also have a great  love for. . . . . . . .SHOES! I created my personal shoe database. So instead of rummaging through my closet every day I simply browse my shoe albums in my computer. It was the perfect solution! It was to my delight that after my magazine feature, I started receiving messages/emails from friends and other readers requesting for their own shoe organizer solution. Instead of creating databases for each one of them, I decided to organize a team to build a portal to enable ALL shoe lovers to easily organize their collections online and even share it with everyone.

Shoephoric is steadily growing organically; gaining more members, followers and getting the interest of brands and investors. Smart has always been there to support our endeavors. Last February, we went with Smart to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to showcase our Android app. In the backend, Shoephoric has enabled us to expand our capabilities - as we constantly improve our platform in order to provide a better product and better user experience.

Are we only about shoes, then? I say, why stop at just shoes? The platform, I'm referring to the application of course; not my shoes, once completed, can serve to be used for other types of collections. It's actually appropriate for anything that makes you euphoric. With that in mind, Youphoric Labs is waiting to be incorporated this year. Our collection platform will be used by the biggest local broadsheet for all it’s new niche websites that is targeted for specific hobbies, interests and lifestyle.

Over the years, despite the difficulties of being an entrepreneur and the challenges of technology, I have always been driven to create something hoping that I can contribute to technology that makes lives better.  It's highly possible that I might not have pushed as far as I did had my passion not been there. How far you decide to take it, is all up to you. You may be disappointed; you may be hurt; or you may cry  but don’t give up because in the end it’s all worth it to be your own boss.

JCI MANILA - MAPUA TECHNOPRENEURSHIP BOOT CAMP

TECHNOPRENEURS BOOTCAMP IN ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY

TECHNOPRENEURS BOOTCAMP IN DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY

Special thanks to Ricky Gerard Gay for the photos and JP Arceo for the customized clips :)

THE ANDROID HALL OF COOLNESS

The Android Hall showcased top performing Android developers as well as Google's new products that run on Android's latest release - Ice Cream Sandwich. I was so excited to be able to try the apps and different handsets first hand.

The Android Hall in the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona

Other than that, people hang out here for some of these cool reasons:

Android Claw Crane controlled using Android Tab's  Accelerometer. The toys are so cute too!

Posing at the Android Picture Wall with the Android Buddy

Collecting Android Pins. There are 86  in all to be OC about!

Android ID Lace  to stuff with your pin collection :)

This Android Robot studs Swarovski crystals onto the back  of Galaxy Nexus with  Android precision :) Makes me want to own a Nexus!

The Robot at work with a troop of multicolored Droids! So cute!

The Android Slide! :)

Taking proof that you did it! Yes I did it 2x! Once because of  my companion's  prodding. I went around  the Android Hall with Marco Pajo. He's the best buddy not just in MWC but in the whole of Barcelona! The second time was to get an ID lace for his brother and my mentor Paul Pajo who is equally cool as Marco! Thanks so much guys!

Here's Marco - the best buddy in the whole of Barcelona :)

Android - The Gangstah at Android's Music Central

Playing with panels of Android Design

They serve smoothie too in different yummy flavors

Of course - ICE CREAM SANDWICH! It's yummy too!

It would be a dream to be one of the featured developers here! But who would have thought we will be featured in App Planet too! That's dream in itself. A dream come true!

WELCOME TO BARCELONA

I'm finally here! And here's my welcome lunch - Seafood Overdose! Everything was so good!

BEFORE

AND AFTER HAHA :) Everything is so fresh, it's so good!

10 POUND LOBSTER. Heavier than a newborn!

LOBSTER ON A BED OF LOBSTER!

SUPER FRESH OYSTERS!

EEEEEEEWWWW!!!! After all those yummy treat... here's one that looks really really gross and scary. It's called ANGULAS or baby eel but its scientific name "Leptocephalus" scares the hell out of me. I was pressured to try it out of courtesy. With eyes closed, I did and it was indeed good! Food Adventure!

After lunch, we headed off to Fira Montjuic, to collect our Exhibitor Badges! Woohoo! I'm in the Mobile World Congress as exhibitor! How cool is that! :)

I better rest early for tomorrow. CAN'T WAIT! SO SHOEPHORIC! :)