Last week, we hosted our annual Foxmont Summit, an exclusive event that focuses on our Founders and their startups. The summit serves as a platform for founders to engage with industry experts through workshops, share insights and experiences in interactive breakout sessions, and connect with each other and some of our LPs during the closing mixer.
Each year, we refine our program and focus on curating sessions that address the unique needs of our founders, as well as key aspects of growing a business, such as compliance and sustainability.
This year, we began with a presentation from BCG on their recently published report, The Filipino Dream, which explores the evolving aspirations of the Filipino population, and worked with BCG to detail out what specifically that means for the sectors our portfolio companies are active in. After which we then continued with smaller, highly tailored breakout sessions to maximize the impact of each workshop. Explore some of our Summit highlights below:
The Filipino Dream
The top two shared dreams of Filipinos are financial security to absorb health shocks and starting a business. Filipinos remain generally optimistic about achieving these goals, with rural consumers showing even greater optimism than their urban counterparts.
As income levels rise towards the middle class, Filipinos show a growing appetite for premium products. While there is a premiumization trend for non-essentials, basic necessities like food and clothing are trending towards commoditization.
Health has emerged as the top priority post-COVID, with increased spending especially on medicine and supplements—highlighting opportunities for entrepreneurs in the health and wellness space.
Trust in financial products is growing, especially among those with higher perceived wealth, fueling a rise in credit card usage and investments.
Filipinos’ dual roles as consumers and entrepreneurs shape their purchasing behaviors, offering insights for tailoring marketing strategies.
Nuance is key when addressing the diverse motivations behind shared dreams, and personalized communication can differentiate a business in the eyes of its audience.
The full report by BCG can be accessed here.
Ready, Set, Impact: Prepping for Investor Expectations
The climate impact opportunities in SEA are not conventional “VC opportunities” because they involve financing hardware and infrastructure. In the case of EVs, there has to be willingness to spend CAPEX on building EV OEMs, charging infrastructure, etc. Only then will the “CAPEX-light” opportunity to optimize the supply and demand of charging sessions using software emerge.
ADB Ventures has a mandate to invest in technology-driven startups that have a direct impact on climate mitigation or adaptation. Climate mitigation pertains to the direct reduction of carbon emissions because of the startups’ product or service. Climate adaptation pertains to the startup’s contribution to optimizing society’s ability to function amidst a warmer climate and the increased risk of extreme weather events that occur because of it.
The Growth Playbook: How to Scale Your Business from 100 to 100,000
As a startup grows, it becomes crucial for founders to seamlessly transition between founder-mode and manager-mode as needed. The ability to adapt and shift roles is essential for driving success, making a founder who is flexible and versatile key to navigating the evolving challenges of a growing business.
Raising a funding round can serve as validation of a founder's business model, scalability, and potential. However, as founders move through subsequent rounds of funding, it's also crucial that they continue to challenge and refine their assumptions. Markets are constantly evolving, and staying adaptable is key to ensuring long-term success.
At each phase of growth, it's essential to reassess your organizational structure with an objective lens and realign your priorities accordingly. This may involve adjusting your team composition as your needs evolve, revisiting your financial framework, and re-evaluating market size and potential.
From Lead to Loyalty: Crafting an Effective B2B Customer Journey
Leverage relationships, but balance them with structure. The Philippines—and Asia more broadly—excel in the relationship side of B2B sales, which remains crucial. Get warm introductions and nurture those connections. However, what often lacks is a more strategic approach to sales. Setting measurable goals, KPIs, and following best practices is key.
Build trust before the pitch. In a relationship-oriented market, cold outreach isn’t enough. Before pitching, establish other touchpoints to build trust. This warms up the lead and paves the way for smoother conversations.
Play the long game. B2B sales, especially with high-value accounts, takes time. Even with dedicated salespeople, high-level executives often expect the founder to personally close deals and maintain a presence. Some early connections may eventually come back with opportunities years later. True relationship building isn’t just about immediate wins—it’s about planting seeds that can pay off in the future.
From Lead to Loyalty: Crafting an Effective B2C Customer Journey
It is extremely important to understand the needs of your consumers more than anything else. By understanding your consumers, you can further understand their behavior and what are the best ways to build a product around your customers needs.
Personalization is a powerful tool for optimizing customer journeys, but as businesses scale, it becomes essential to balance personalization with automation. Achieving this balance is key to retaining high-value customers. By leveraging data, businesses can identify the most critical touchpoints where personalization adds the greatest value. A/B testing can further support this process by pinpointing where automation or personalization will deliver the most impactful results.
To build trust in a product, word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective strategies. People value positive feedback from others, especially in the Philippines, where personal recommendations are among the most powerful marketing tools.
Mastering Customer Acquisition: Strategies to Drive Top-of-Funnel Growth
It’s important to understand your audience and know which channels they frequent. It’s best to diversify your marketing channels and experiment with your format (e.g., reels, static, text only, etc.) to attract them. If one channel doesn’t work anymore, it is probably an indicator to try and target your customers in another channel.
By categorizing your customers, and narrowing down which are more quality customers, you will understand how to optimize your strategies for customer acquisition.
Experimenting with different acquisition channels, from time to time, is a must as trends and client behavior changes. Conditions in each acquisition channel are also subject to change with varying degrees of effectiveness over time.
Customer acquisition cost should be kept in line with the expected lifetime value that your business can generate from each client. Tracking both these metrics will guide in the selection of appropriate acquisition strategies and channels
DOLE 101: Understanding Labor Standards and Practices
The Philippines has an employee-centric labor framework, making compliance a top priority from day one to protect both companies and their employees. Employers are legally obligated to provide essential benefits, including SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG contributions, as well as 13th-month pay and appropriate leave entitlements.
For startups seeking niche talent, probationary periods are a valuable tool for assessing fit. However, founders must adhere to strict guidelines—these periods are capped at six months, during which clear, measurable KPIs must be communicated to the employee. Without these metrics, it becomes difficult to justify non-regularization due to poor performance. A best practice is to include KPIs as an annex to the employment contract to avoid ambiguity.
While employment contracts and handbooks are important, their provisions must align with Philippine labor standards. Any non-compliant policies, even if detailed in contracts, are rendered invalid. Therefore, it is extremely important to draft compliant contracts.
Certain businesses may face unique labor issues depending on their industry. Regardless of the challenge, the key takeaway is to always fall back on the Philippine Labor Code. It serves as the ultimate guide to ensure compliance and avoid missteps, even when specific scenarios aren’t explicitly covered in day-to-day practices.
Funding Your Growth: Understanding Debt vs. Equity Options
Debt and equity are both viable choices for funding for startups, but their pros and cons are very different. Founders and management therefore need to assess what type of funding is more appropriate given their stage and business model.
While equity results in dilution of founder ownership, a default on debt can result in bankruptcy. Founders therefore need to ensure they can carry the burden of debt and include buffers in case of adverse operational results
Venture debt funds are typically more nimble when compared to traditional banks, resulting in shorter approval times, more flexible debt terms and structures, and a more tailored debt proposal.
Governance Essentials: How to Build and Manage an Effective Board of Directors
Forming a board of directors as early as approaching a Series A round is often advisable. A well-structured board can provide valuable guidance, shape strategic decisions, and influence your cap table, laying a strong foundation for the business's growth.
Investors typically specify in their terms whether they seek a board seat or an observer role. It is important to note that the board’s composition is forever evolving, especially with potential investor dilution during subsequent funding rounds.
Your board shouldn’t consist solely of your largest investors. Instead, aim for a balanced mix of expertise and strategies that align with your company’s needs. A diverse board brings varied perspectives, enabling the business to navigate challenges and seize opportunities more effectively.
The day was filled with valuable insights from both founders and industry experts. The topics struck a perfect balance—broad enough to resonate across various industries and stages, yet deeply focused to address the specific needs of our founders. If you are a founder or interested in the startup space, drop a comment down below to let us know what topics you would be interested in hearing about.