I just got back from a talk by Dr. Paco Sandejas on what VC’s are looking for in 2008.   While the topic for the meeting was quite high level it did bring forward a lot of thought provoking discussion.  The meeting was full and I was surprised at the mix of VC’s,  government and university representatives and aspiring young people looking to tap into the answer of starting a business.  There was a lot of discussion around the opportunities that were in place,  such as facilities and grants,  as well guidance on the types of company that would peak interest in those with the money.

I think that while this type of meeting is great - one of the problems faced was that many of the young technology entrepreneurs lack keen business and vision-leading experience.  Paco made note of this as he discussed the difficult subject of supporting application development companies - often seen as nothing more than BPO’s.

The truth is that application development companies like Exist (my employer) and Stratpoint (Paco’s investment) provide a bridge between many types of company leveraging software,  including VC backed start-ups and large scale enterprises.  It is more important than ever that teams working in the Philippines grow to see there connection with these companies as more than being a hired-development shop - and understand the partnership that is commonly in place.    Understanding that will help Filipino developers and architects connect with experience in places like the San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York - learning from them,  understanding how they are building companies out off the back of technical innovation (commonly being done in the Philippines).  I remember working as an architect and first understanding the workings of companies - and it was a valuable time when you start to examine the creativity you have in the light of how it will endure a business environment.