Building our Innovation Ecosystem: Lessons from Area 55

@Padme001

What We Do: Early-stage Investments

Fund digital startups in the PhilippinesSeed to Series “A”. Equity or convertible notes.

Train / MentorDiverse and active mentor pool

Market accessAyala Corporation affiliates

SingTel: 501 million subscribers in Asia

What we’ve done: portfolio management

$2,400,000 funds made available.

18 portfolio companies.

49 founders.

337 jobs.

576,334 users.

40 new third-party investors.

$8,511,363 subsequent funding raised.

As of end-July 2014

…helping create an innovation ecosystem.

Community networking & thought leadership

Startup Weekend Manila / Cebu / Davao

Kickstart Startup Mixer #raidthefridge

#Area55 #Area55 Conversations

Corporate relationships

Kickstart Deal Day

Investor development

#Manila Angels

What have we learnt along the way?

Plenty.

For starters –

It is harder than we thought.

It takes longer to get many things done.

It takes diverse teams to make stuff happen.

And there are things that we can do to make work better for everyone.

Decide quickly and clearly.

“I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee.”

Execute with conviction.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

Embrace diversity. Open doors. Listen.

“Why you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy- looking nerf herder!”

Scale. Succeed. Take responsibility.

“Yeah, I’m responsible now. The price you pay for being successful.”

Observe and measure honestly.

“Many truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view.”

Break rules and dream.

“Never tell me the odds!”

Trust and be trusted.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

If you call yourself an investor, invest.

“Your Jedi mind tricks don’t work on me. Only money.”

The images are obviously not ours.

But if you want to learn more about what we do, or our awesome startups, please contact us for more information.

www.kickstart.ph

kickstartPH

angel.co/kickstart-ventures