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I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

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Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#51
post #45

Loved the article. I do not agree with the assessment that Silicon valley startups compete based on better products. In fact, it's quite the opposite. All the popular ones you have heard of have taken large amounts of money and subsidize their products a great amount. If you are a less funded startup, it is impossible to complete in such a scenario. In fact, you absolutely have to get lots of funding first, you have…

I think you're both correct (or wrong ^_^). Silicon valley startups compete based on better products, but against well founded competitors.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#52
post #20

I couldn't imagine doing something like this in the Philippines, which I'm guessing is much like Indonesia. Nobody has credit cards to buy anything online. Credit card alternatives haven't gained traction. People use cheap alternatives to Western Union to send money. Nobody surfs the web except at internet cafes. And at internet cafes it's either FB or homework. Nobody aimlessly browses when they are dishing out mone…

Just curious, what is consider a high-end monthly salary (in pesos or USD) in the Philippines?

Depends in which part of the country you live. Up in the north it's not as desperate. Down south, bro... I spent six months there fighting the secret war. Down there, it's the spittin' image of the third world.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#53
post #51
post #45

Loved the article. I do not agree with the assessment that Silicon valley startups compete based on better products. In fact, it's quite the opposite. All the popular ones you have heard of have taken large amounts of money and subsidize their products a great amount. If you are a less funded startup, it is impossible to complete in such a scenario. In fact, you absolutely have to get lots of funding first, you have…

I think you're both correct (or wrong ^_^). Silicon valley startups compete based on better products, but against well founded competitors.

well funded competitors you mean :-) ? To be clear, I don't think silicon valley products are any better/worse than other bootstrapped products out there (ie. I was just speaking relatively). It's just that given the massive amount of $$, lots of effort goes into giving things for free and great marketing.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#54
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Average monthly wage is around ~$200-$300 [2014]. http://www.dumblittleman.com/2014/05/what-is-the-average-sal...

I know about these "stats" online, but would love to hear what someone living in the actual country says.

My friend who lives in Manila says $1,000/month for call center manager, $2,000/month for programmer, $3,000/month for eng. manager. Any of those people can afford to buy an iPhone, car and house in a few years, and they use Uber and ecommerce like a digital native.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#55
post #45

Loved the article. I do not agree with the assessment that Silicon valley startups compete based on better products. In fact, it's quite the opposite. All the popular ones you have heard of have taken large amounts of money and subsidize their products a great amount. If you are a less funded startup, it is impossible to complete in such a scenario. In fact, you absolutely have to get lots of funding first, you have…

> I do not agree with the assessment that Silicon valley startups compete based on better products. In fact, it's quite the opposite. All the popular ones you have heard of have taken large amounts of money and subsidize their products a great amount.

You didn't support your position at all that SV startups do not compete based on better products. That's a very large claim to make without supporting it at all.

Taking on large amounts of venture capital has no inherent correlation such that the product must invert on quality to the amount being raised. If that were the case, Airbnb would be an entirely unusable product, as would Uber. So far those products have functioned extraordinarily well, such that a mass-audience of average users has easily adopted them at warp speed. Uber overtook the entire US taxi industry in three years, if their product wasn't good that would have been impossible.

> If you are a less funded startup, it is impossible to complete in such a scenario. In fact, you absolutely have to get lots of funding first, you have no choice.

You're criticizing Silicon Valley startups for supposedly relying on large amounts of money to compete, then proclaiming that you can't compete without getting tons of funding first. You're outright stating that you can't compete on quality of product alone, then you hold it against Silicon Valley in your theory that companies there refuse to set themselves up for failure by taking on a lot less venture capital.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#56
post #45

Loved the article. I do not agree with the assessment that Silicon valley startups compete based on better products. In fact, it's quite the opposite. All the popular ones you have heard of have taken large amounts of money and subsidize their products a great amount. If you are a less funded startup, it is impossible to complete in such a scenario. In fact, you absolutely have to get lots of funding first, you have…

It really depends on what type of startup you are trying to create. If you are trying to create a high risk, high reward startup with million dollar cashouts (a potential 'unicorn'), then yes, you need a lot of capital.

If your plan is to create a sustainable small business, with a small number of employees and a reasonable but consistent rate of return, then you don't need a ton of capital.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#57
post #38
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fascinating. Thanks for sharing. FB and Microsoft's excitement about chatbots makes a lot more sense now.

Taking this further. If you do own a smart phone, FB is the one connection you can get free over the mobile networks. When I walk into a bar here, I pay 45 pesos (approx $1 USD) and the waitress who hands me my beer might make 140 pesos for a 12 hour work day. She should make more in tips, but not always. Down the road, the major grocery store also pays its workers about the same. Minimum wage is supposed to be somet…

> The math is grim.

The math is grim for the poorest people in any country.

> That's it. That's the economy.

The economy of one of the biggest consumer markets in Asia is people earning $3/day and blowing $2 of it on transport, SMS and internet?

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely super hard, but not impossible. You should read [1] how Rocket Internet expands in developing countries: they hire their own couriers who go out, deliver and take cash at the door. This way they solve both the distribution and the payment problem. This is similar to how many of China's biggest ecommerce players operate, they all have their own distribution/payments systems. If the infrastructure doesn…

> they hire their own couriers who go out, deliver and take cash at the door Yeah, that's what people in the US did before everyone had credit cards. Cash on delivery. Growing up, I remember hearing ads on TV that said "no COD" when that service was being phased out. More and more people were using credit cards. You're right, many countries could use trusted couriers in order to spur local markets and economic growth…

   > You're right, many countries could use trusted 
   > couriers in order to spur local markets and 
   > economic growth.
Ok, so that seems like the next startup right? You don't really want couriers that are carrying boxes of cash back to headquarters but it sounds like reducing friction in payment would achieve good results. Where is the SMS payment system equivalent? Have the courier bring the item, send the SMS payment, and when that is received the courier hands over the item.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#59
post #20

I couldn't imagine doing something like this in the Philippines, which I'm guessing is much like Indonesia. Nobody has credit cards to buy anything online. Credit card alternatives haven't gained traction. People use cheap alternatives to Western Union to send money. Nobody surfs the web except at internet cafes. And at internet cafes it's either FB or homework. Nobody aimlessly browses when they are dishing out mone…

Just curious, what is consider a high-end monthly salary (in pesos or USD) in the Philippines?

In my region, call centers employ a lot of people and the pay is relatively decent. A good entry level call center job might pay USD $300 / month. A bit less for the fly-by-night types and a bit more for the best employer.

Otherwise, I don't know because I don't ask and I haven't been looking for a job.

Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup

#60
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking this further. If you do own a smart phone, FB is the one connection you can get free over the mobile networks. When I walk into a bar here, I pay 45 pesos (approx $1 USD) and the waitress who hands me my beer might make 140 pesos for a 12 hour work day. She should make more in tips, but not always. Down the road, the major grocery store also pays its workers about the same. Minimum wage is supposed to be somet…

> The math is grim. The math is grim for the poorest people in any country. > That's it. That's the economy. The economy of one of the biggest consumer markets in Asia is people earning $3/day and blowing $2 of it on transport, SMS and internet?

Not far off if you throw lunch in there as well. It's growing fast though. The area I'm living in went from relatively quiet with few cars on the road to serious traffic problems in probably 5 years (pulling from memory). Some of that might be increased shopping options in the city pulling in regional shoppers who previously didn't have as much of a need to be in the city. It's hard to say without real numbers though.

Maybe I'm just hanging with the wrong crowd, but pretty much everyone (locals) I know has bare bones possessions. The head of the household has a T.V. and a fridge as an addition to my list. That's friends, family and neighborhood.

There is a lot of money coming in through remittances. Getting money coming in as a basic income (not work) doesn't seem to do much for the work ethic from my experience. Often these remittances are covering a large family with basic living expenses.

I don't have much more than anecdotal evidence, but the profile of a typical person here is way different than that of where I came from (US).

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