How Exactly the Corporation Kills Your Entrepreneurial Spirit

May 24, 2013 By 4 Comments
hopeless

Gary Sells Soap A few weeks ago I felt I was representing the startup world when I was trying to convince a high-caliber fresh graduate to try out the startup life. (Let's call him "Gary") Yes, while he had several tempting, lucrative offers from MNC's, any of which would've dwarfed whatever salary offer any startup could've given, he was also deeply intrigued by the startup life and was involved in several startup-related activities on campus. Moreover, he had enough of the "I-want-to-do-something-different" streak in him that I allowed myself to hope: "Hey we have a chance." Soon enough, I got a text message from him a few days after... "I decided to try out my luck in corporate … [Read more...]

Filed Under: STARTUP ADVICE, TAKE THAT LEAP! Tagged With:

Universities Represent!

May 15, 2013 By 5 Comments
student entrep conference

I had an absolute blast early today with 6 awesome student leaders (sorry Angeli, you don't count anymore) talk about ideas on how to propagate the startup movement in campuses. Basically, the group introduced themselves to one another, ate doughnuts, and then the awesome brainstorming happened. There is one big plan the group is concocting (to be revealed soon). The next step is to get more universities represented in the next meeting, when more concrete details, will be decided on. The next meeting will be next Thursday (May 23) at 3:00pm (venue still to be decided on). If you are an entrepreneurial student who wants to help out in spreading the startup movement in your school, do … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANNOUNCEMENTS, TAKE THAT LEAP!, Wunderkinds Tagged With:

How To Assemble Your Startup Entourage

May 14, 2013 By 4 Comments
entourage

(the following is a guest post by multi-awarded entrepreneur Maoi Arroyo) As a junkie of all things startup, I’ve always loved shows like Bloomberg’s TechStars. Whichever season you watch, these entrepreneurship-themed reality shows try to select the best teams as opposed to the best ideas. As Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, famously said:  “The view that good ideas are rarer and more valuable than good people is rooted in a misconception of creativity. If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they’ll screw it up. But if you give a mediocre idea to a great team, they’ll make it work.” If there’s one thing I learned in the nine years I’ve helped tech-based startups … [Read more...]

Filed Under: GETTING STARTED, STARTUP ADVICE, TAKE THAT LEAP!, TOOLS AND RESOURCES, Wunderkinds Tagged With: , ,

Juan Great Leap Calls on 5 More Student Leaders!

May 10, 2013 By 2 Comments
storm conference room

I'll be meeting around 5 student leaders next Wednesday, 4pm, at the STORM conference room, at Unit 602, Centerpoint Building, along Julia Vargas. The main agenda will be: 1) How to push entrepreneurship and the startup movement in universities 2) How to help student entrepreneurs   (Map here) Our conference room seats around 10 people, so there are 5 seats still free. I wanted to open it up to interested parties. Do you want to join this conversation? If you are an incoming undergraduate student, interested in entrepreneurship, and you're the type of person who gets things done, then you might want to join us. If you are interested, please do send me an email at … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANNOUNCEMENTS, GETTING STARTED, Small Steps, TAKE THAT LEAP!, Wunderkinds Tagged With:

May Open Coffee Is Now Brewing! Sign up now!

May 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
JGL OPEN COFFEE2

WHAT: MAY OPEN COFFEE WHEN: 930am-12:00 noon, Saturday, May 18, 2013 WHERE: 47 East Co-working Compound (47 Esteban Abada, Loyola Heights, QC) Inviting ALL entrepreneurial-minded people: young or old, newbie or veteran to join this month's edition of OPEN COFFEE. This event has been outdoing itself every month we have it, so I'm pretty excited to see what this month's version will  offer. Don't you miss it! Sign up here now! Here's how the last one went... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANNOUNCEMENTS, TAKE THAT LEAP! Tagged With: , ,

Just Start.

May 7, 2013 By 10 Comments
just start

I think sometimes we overestimate what it takes to "start" - especially for those of us who are first-time entreps and don't exactly know what were doing. (welcome thought: I suspect most first-time startup founders fall into this category - everyone starts out feeling stupid) Perhaps we're thinking: "Oh gosh, I need to raise a million bucks." or "I need a technical co-founder who has a 3.8 GPA in computer science." or "To do this I need to resign from my job and risk everything! Need to prepare." or "I need to win one of those startup contests!" You know, if we always think this way, we might never come to the point when we think we're ready to start. It will end up as just some … [Read more...]

Filed Under: GETTING STARTED, Small Steps, TAKE THAT LEAP! Tagged With:

The Software Guru: On Refuting Peter, Premature Startup Culture, and Change for the Next Generation (Part 2 of the Joey Gurango Series )

April 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The Software Guru, Joey Gurango of Gurango Software

In one of his blogposts, Peter, refers to the concept of the Argonaut from the book, Start-up Nation. What are your personal opinions on the contribution of the Argonaut to a Philippine Startup Nation?  Joey: I think the Philippine Startup scene is about 10 years away from being labeled as mature. A lot of my colleagues, maybe including Peter, might say that we’re on the cusp, about four years away from being a mature startup scene, I don’t think so. I actually don’t agree with some of the assumptions  [Peter] is making on the Philippines as a Startup Nation and the impact that you can make on it. For me, it’s almost like saying that the Philippines is a mature democracy, but … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mentors, TAKE THAT LEAP!, Wunderkinds Tagged With: , , , ,

How to Use Consulting as a Bridge Between Corporate and Startup

April 18, 2013 By 6 Comments
stepping stone

I had a great lunch meeting today with a very talented friend who's been working in corporate for nearly two decades already. During that span, he's built impressive credentials and has worked on different projects in his chosen corporate function. "I'm at that point Peter where I'm at a crossroads in my corporate career. If I leave my company now, I can apply for department head in another firm, but then what? I'll be looking at a future of just jumping as department head from one company to the other?" (I was at that same crossroads before, so I could really relate to what he was saying.) A common friend of ours who was managing her own lucrative consulting practice was asking him if … [Read more...]

Filed Under: GETTING STARTED, Life in a Startup, TAKE THAT LEAP! Tagged With: , ,

Forget Your Career And Pursue Your Vocation

March 31, 2013 By 7 Comments
discernment

My So-called Career Development For the most part of my adult life, I thought I knew what I had wanted to do. I wanted to pursue a career in HR. I wanted to make money. I wanted to make my resume as impressive as I could possible make it. And so I tried my very best to achieve these. I knew they would make me happy. At particular points, I would find myself dissatisfied with certain facets. So, I just decided on changing some things along the way. Not enough money? Join a better-paying firm. Resume not impressive enough? Get an advanced degree. Still not happy? Party and go out with friends. In my fourth company, Chikka, I became extremely confused. I was doing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: GOD@WORK, TAKE THAT LEAP!, Wunderkinds Tagged With: , ,

JOIN A STARTUP! – I’ve recently updated our jobs page

March 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Updated job openings! Please do find our updated list of job openings in our startup network! You can click on the link at the menu above or just click here.  You can contact either me (at peter@juangreatleap.com) or Angeli (angeli@stormrewards.ph) for queries or to send your resume. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ANNOUNCEMENTS, GETTING STARTED, TAKE THAT LEAP! Tagged With: , ,
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