For seven years, I poured almost everything I had into building tech startups in Bicol.
Every financial resource that came in went toward the next step. My time went there too. Somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking about myself. I became more focused on finding a way to redeem myself through the work.
I kept building, believing that if I could make the right product and get it into people’s hands, I could eventually make the business work.
I tried three times.
The first was Besty.
Besty was an SMS platform integrated with AI, meant to offer food delivery and transportation booking to people in Naga City. I was exploring what AI could do before that conversation became as prominent as it is today. I wanted a tool people could use in daily life.
Building the product and sustaining the company behind it were two different problems. Besty did not become the company I had hoped to build.
My second attempt was Oragon Shop.
When I returned to my mother’s hometown in Nabua, there was only one food delivery provider there. I saw a chance to bring that service onto a website and a mobile app. Oragon Shop later expanded into bill payment, including electricity bills.
The need I saw did not come with the resources required to grow the company.
Then came ePasuyo in 2025.
I tried food delivery again, this time looking at how advances in AI could support the business. I focused on business development and delegated the platform’s development to someone else. I did not make sure we had a working minimum viable product before I moved forward with that effort.
That mistake is mine. The business needed a working product, and I should have made sure the foundation was in place.
Three attempts. None of them became the sustainable tech company I was trying to create.
The common thread was funding.
A technology platform needs time before it can sustain itself. Funding buys that time. I did not have enough of it. I was trying to build the product, develop the business, and keep the effort alive all at once. I could build something. The harder problem was keeping the company alive long enough for it to work.
I was also doing this without a support system. Most of my attention stayed on the businesses, and on how I might redeem myself through them. I gave so much to the work that I neglected what I needed beyond it. I cannot separate that from the way I look at building now. A company needs funding. It also needs people who understand what I am trying to do and can think through the decisions with me.
There was another gap I kept meeting. I met people who wanted to improve their lives, and I did not always see that desire turn into adoption of the services I was offering. I do not take that as proof that people in Bicol did not want better opportunities. Wanting a better life and being ready to adopt a particular service are different things. A product still has to fit the people it serves, and a business still needs a market that can sustain it.
Seeing a need was not enough to keep the company alive. Working harder on the product was not enough either. I take responsibility for my decisions, including the mistakes I made. Determination cannot replace the resources a company needs to survive.
I do not look back at those seven years as wasted time.
I learned the distance between building a product and building a company. I still want to build. I am grateful for what Bicol gave me. I can appreciate that chapter and still recognize that it was not the right environment for the kind of company I was trying to create.
Now I am back in the metro, building a support system for myself. Building a company is difficult enough without trying to figure everything out alone.
I am taking responsibility for funding the next chapter myself. I am building Listo, a staycation marketplace, and using client work to fund the effort. I am not assuming that a different location guarantees success. There are still challenges ahead. I am entering this chapter with a clearer understanding of what it takes to give a business a chance.
The three attempts in Bicol did not lead where I wanted them to. They changed how I approach the work. I am bringing those lessons with me.
Starting again. Not from zero.