manilenya

Hybridigm Holiday

As a reward for their terrific performance during last week's TechnoNegosyo event, the entire Hybridigm team was on holiday today.

We started off the day with a  career talk at the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology given by one of my associates, Karen Hipol. Karen taught for 5 years prior to joining the firm so as you can imagine her oral presentation skills are incredibly good.  I like watching career talks because it's  an indicator of how well you, as CEO, have communicated the vision of the firm. Plus , you show support for your team, which is always important.

Then we ate a terrific and  very leisurely lunch at Pagliacci (Podium) as always with some conversation with Chef Maurizio.  Pagliacci is THE place for authentic Italian cooking, and the team loved the tartufate and papardelle. Not to mention the scrumptious Gelato!

We had a staff meeting at my house and then we went off to see "John Tucker Must Die" which was the perfect light and fluffy movie to take the edge off what has been seemingly endless work for Technonegosyo.

Cash rewards aren't as effective as days like this when you're trying to motivate Filipinos.

Being part of the Solution

You might wonder why I haven't been blogging in a while.  Don't worry, I'm not in jail. I'm just practicing what I preach: being part of the solution instead of the problem, working instead of merely complaining.

My start-up has been doing well. It's now 2 and a half years old, and we've had successful biotech summits that promote entrepreneurship and investment in Philippine technology. We also have 12 clients on our roster who we are brokering equity investments for.

As part of our advocacy for technology and innovation based entrepreneurship, and in partnership with other local VCs and MIT MBA students and alums, the PESO business plan competition is entering its second year. PESO distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack by providing post-competition support for its winners. Our goal is new start-ups, not PR.

Today, I'm blogging from Technonegosyo, where I had the great joy of seeing my clients, scientists with great products, finally got the respect and even adulation that they deserved. It was one of the best days in my entrepreneurial career. Not because I made a remarkable amount of money, but because my clients succeeded.

Nothing can compare to the feeling that you've enabled another Filipino to succeed.