Starting a business is incredibly difficult, but starting up in the Philippines may be even more challenging.

The Southeast Asian country’s venture capital landscape is not as developed as its neighbors’ in the region. In addition, the lack of widespread success in the Philippine startup ecosystem leads investors to be more cautious and conservative with the businesses they choose to support.

However, part of the problem stems from the lack of perspective among local startups.

“The curse of the Filipino entrepreneur or Filipino startup founder is this: They want to solve problems, but they only want to solve problems within their backyard,” says Ron Baetiong, founder and CEO of Podcast Network Asia. “They don’t understand [that] these problems might exist in other cities, in other countries, and whatnot.”

On this episode of Startup Frontiers: The Philippines, players on the ground chime in to discuss the challenges facing the country’s aspiring entrepreneurs. They also share what they believe needs to happen for the Philippine startup ecosystem to catch up with its counterparts in Southeast Asia.

Watch the rest of the Startup Frontiers: The Philippines series:

• Episode 1: An introduction to the Philippines’ tech and startup ecosystem
• Episode 3: The Philippines’ promising post-pandemic future

This entry is part of the Startup Frontiers series, which explores the tech and startup ecosystem of a market, portrays a historical account of the business landscape, dives into the current state of tech and innovation, looks at the key players in the ecosystem, and discusses its prospects for future growth.