Every entrepreneur has heard the advice: “Talk to your customers.” But what happens when the answers they give lead you straight into a dead end? A growing body of business research suggests that direct questions about what customers want often produce polite false positives — people say yes to avoid disappointing you, or they describe a future they can’t really
When a Philippine business grows from a core team of five to thirty people, the informal ways of working that used to get things done start breaking down. The founder who once knew every task and approved every decision becomes a bottleneck. Communication that used to flow naturally across a small group turns into misaligned priorities, delayed execution, and growing
The Philippine retail market is projected to reach around PHP 2.65 trillion by 2026, and physical stores still account for the bulk of that spending. But when the number of people walking through your door starts falling — and you notice it before your competitors do — the difference between recovering that traffic and watching it slide further often comes
In 2022, 70.71 percent of Filipino workers reported high burnout—the highest rate in Southeast Asia. That same year, roughly 9 out of 10 startups in the Philippines were failing, with 70 percent of registered ones shutting down before ever launching a product. These two numbers aren’t just coincidental. For many business owners, overwork becomes a way to avoid the harder,
Consumer complaints in the Philippines have been climbing steadily, and the numbers tell a clear story. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) received 27,947 complaints in 2022, more than double the volume from 2019. By 2023, that figure inched up further to 28,824. Online transactions alone accounted for 44 percent of the 2022 total, with over 2,500 cases involving
Nine out of every ten startups in the Philippines eventually fail. Seven in ten registered startups shut down before they ever launch a single product. These aren’t just statistics — they’re the backdrop against which every Filipino entrepreneur operates. When the odds are that steep, pausing to celebrate a win can feel like taking your eye off the ball. The
