Ep 175 - The Hustle Behind Aiah

February 20, 2022 Hustleshare Podcast

EPISODE INTRODUCTION

Gian dela Rama of Aiah joins us in this episode to share how Aiah was able to scale and be the leading company in conversational commerce in the Philippines. Gian will share his early hustles that included stints in FMCG and hardware companies that he co-founded before he decided to create a software development company - Innovantage. He will also share how he became part of the #StartupPH community and how the community have grown exponentially over the years. Gian will also share how they evolved in Innovantage into multiple products and iterations before creating Aiah, and eventually scaled his company to a 100+ man team over the years.

GUEST LINKS

Follow Gian dela Rama on LinkedIn.

Find more about Aiah on their official website, Facebook page, and LinkedIn.

EPISODE TOPICS

[0:54] Introducing Gian dela Rama

[2:30] What’s Your Hustle

[5:08] Hustle Share Time Machine

[6:35] Gian’s Early Hustle in High School

[9:05] Gian’s First Venture as an Entrepreneur

[10:15] Gian Attending Startup Weekend 2011

[11:25] How Gian Developed Soft and Hard Skills

[20:15] Gian’s First Startup (Hardware)

[24:16] Gian’s Second Startup (Software)

[25:10] How InnoVantage Started

[27:22] The Startup Eco-System in the Philippines

[31:00] Gian Pitching at Startup Weekend

[34:20] Startup PH Facebook Group

[37:31] Building the InnoVantage Team

[43:01] How To Find the Right People for the Team

[46:57] Hiring People in Leadership Roles

[49:20] The Products of InnoVantage

[52:08] Sinop by InnoVantage

[54:40] Ron’s Failed Startup & The Start of Chatbot PH

[57:25] Gian’s ChatBot Business: Aiah

[1:02:10] What Sets Aiah Apart

[1:06:25] Ron’s Story of Chatbot PH

[1:10:35] Chatbot PH vs Aiah

[1:19:19] The Growth of Aiah

[1:23:11] Aiah’s New AI Product: Athena

[1:25:41] How Gian Scaled His Team

[1:32:01] Gian’s Main Tenets in Business

[1:33:24] What’s Next for Aiah

QUOTES FROM THE EPISODE

“Don't fall in love with your product, fall in love with your customers.”
“You make money in business, but if you don’t help people, at the end of the day, your business will die.”
“When scaling a team, focus on what you can control. Focus on building a small team of 5 then let them do the rest.”
“Allow people to make mistakes and grow.”
“Help your employees first, so they can help you customers.”
“Understand and accept diversity.”
“Put engineering foundations before the delivery of the product.”

RESOURCES MENTIONED

JARGON USED

AI - Artificial Intelligence
Bootstrapping - A term used for when an entrepreneur starts a company with little capital, relying on personal finances or revenue from initial sales to operate. These businesses do not rely on traditional financing methods, such as investors, crowdfunding or bank loans.
Merger - Happens when two companies of similar size combine to form a new single entity. (source: corporatefinanceinstitute.com)
Acquisition - Happens when a larger company acquires a smaller company, thereby absorbing the business of the smaller company. (source: corporatefinanceinstitute.com)
B2B - Business to business
B2C - Business to consumer