I’m not saying my friends still use typewriters or that they ask me “how to enroll on Twitter” – it’s just that they don’t have the same level of interest in it as some of my startup/tech enthusiast (virtual) friends do.
By that I mean, if Jeff Bezos announced tomorrow that he’s leaving Amazon or that the Smart or even Globe LTE launch isn’t actually happening, none of them would bat an eyelash.
It’s like me finding out about Snooki’s pregnancy. Who’s Snooki? Bahaha.
But yes, I bring this up because this topic seems to have been following me around for a couple of days now.
Last Thursday, I met up with Paul Rivera of Kalibrr (will do a separate post on his team soon) and we were talking about how difficult it is for Filipinos to embrace startups.
Here, you either become a lawyer or a doctor. Okay, so you may have had more options (accountant, engineer) but you know what I mean.
Starting your own business isn’t usually encouraged (unless you come from an entrepreneurial Filipino-Chinese family).
“It’s not stable.”
“How long will that business last?”
“What about your future?”
Then yesterday, I attended Peter Cauton’s Juan Great Leap event and they were basically saying the same thing but this time added things like lack of investors, the startup community being small, the government not being supportive, etc.
This may be obvious to some but seriously, there are times when it becomes so easy to get trapped in this bubble I will call the “TechCrunch bubble” (maybe I read that somewhere, don’t accuse me of plagiarizing!).
It’s when you think everyone and her grandma is using Path or is upset that Twitter is being such a bully because it’s all the tech sites talk about (and your favorite Twitter client is in danger).
At work, we talk about it. On Twitter, we tweet about it. We read it on blogs and tech news sites.
For those who are also in this bubble, it’s easy to forget that the rest of the Philippines doesn’t care what will happen on September 12, much less care about the crazy people working for or on a tech startup.
