Just some of the participants of Geeks on a Plane (GOAP), an invite-only tour of startup founders, venture capitalists, and investors from Silicon Valley. The group is led by Dave McClure of 500 Startups (seated at the center in white 500 Startups shirt) and includes IdeaSpace Founder and President Earl Martin Valencia (standing, center) and Voyager Innovations FVP and Group Head Stephen Misa (standing, gray jacket). Handout photo
MANILA, Philippines — A group of Silicon Valley investors big enough to fill a classroom flew into the Philippines to scout for viable opportunities in the tech startup scene as part of a worldwide tour dubbed “Geeks on a Plane.”
“This is a big deal for the community. This is the first highest concentration of investors and entrepreneurs in the history of the Philippine startup ecosystem,” Earl Martin Valencia, president and co-founder of IdeaSpace Foundation, Inc., said during the press conference yesterday in Makati.
The group is led by prominent angel investor Dave McClure of the business incubator 500 Startups, which is currently raising $100 million (about P4.3 billion) for its third flagship fund to invest in startups around the world.
“Part of the reason why we are here is to learn more. We expect to visit here again,” McClure said. “The Philippines is a country full of smart and creative people — it’s a perfect place for entrepreneurship to flourish and grow. 500 Startups is psyched to be here in Manila and we aim to be a frequent visitor to the Philippines.”
McClure said that they are already interested in a number of startups in the country, though nothing has been finalized yet.
Lack of players
Jim Ayson, senior manager of Smart Developer Network (Smart DevNet), said much work need to be done to strengthen the local startup scene.
“What we actually still need to do here is build the ecosystem,” Ayson said. “What we need is more players, we need more media attention, we need more bloggers. There is a lack of tech bloggers in the local startup ecosystem that don’t write about gadgets. We need people who actually talk about businesses and companies. Hopefully this will drive more interest for more interest and more investors.”
Stephen Misa, vice president at Voyager Innovations, said that “we don’t have an organized scene for startups.”
“We need angel investing. We need exposure,” Misa said.
Lack of investors
A representative from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) observed that there is a lack of marketable ideas in the Philippines.
“There’s no shortage of good ideas in the Philippines, of good people, of anything,” said David Hall of the USAID Science, Technology, and Innovation for Development Program. “The difficulty is a lot of the good ideas are not need-driven enough. They are good ideas, but is there really a market for them?”
“So from a good idea and converting it into a business model that is worth funding — there’s something missing there. Not enough are people doing that, so there is a general lack of that ability,” Hall added.
McClure, on the other hand, opposed the idea and said that the problem lies with investors.
“Usually the entrepreneurial talent around the world is much a level playing field with Silicon Valley than the investor side. It’s the investor side that is not used to taking risks,” McClure said. “What really have to be emphasized is a change in the investor culture that is used to investing in real estate. The challenge is for the investor side of the equation.”
Before landing in Manila, the investor contingent went to Singapore, Bangkok, Thailand, Jakarta, and Indonesia. The more than 30 “geeks” will be in Manila from July 23 to 26 with Smart Communications, Inc. as host alongside IdeaSpace, Voyager, Smart DevNet, and Smart Bro.