Startup Hustle is a podcast for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. With the mission of telling the real story of startups and entrepreneurs, topics range from funding to failure and beyond. If you want to start, own, or build a business then you're in the right place.
Building the Ramp of the Philippines: Fintech for the Underbanked
"There are eight digital banks trying to build the Chime of the Philippines. No one's building the Ramp or the Brex. That's the opportunity."
I talked with Zach Marks, founder and CEO of Jia, on Startup Hustle this week. Jia is building modern digital banking for small businesses in emerging markets, starting in the Philippines, powered by an AI credit engine that turns messy, handwritten paperwork into an underwriting decision in minutes instead of weeks.
Here's what you'll get out of it:
⚡ Why small businesses in emerging markets are so underserved, and why banks there take zero risk while asking founders to put their house up as collateral
⚡ How Zach went from teaching English and befriending samosa vendors in India to launching fintech markets across 15+ countries
⚡ How Jia's AI credit engine cuts a three-week manual underwriting file down to minutes, with a low non-performing loan rate
⚡ The real story of doing business in the Philippines, from BIR shakedowns to why the best local talent still beats every other emerging market
⚡ Why building a strong local culture and hiring leaders who embody it matters more than anything when you hire abroad
If you're building in fintech, emerging markets, or with an offshore team, this one is worth your time.
Listen to the Startup Hustle podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts!
⏱️ Episode Breakdown
01:16 Introduction and Guest Background
02:20 Starting in Construction and Key Clients
03:24 The Inspiration Behind the Book
04:23 Early Life Challenges and Lessons Learned
07:03 Common Entrepreneurial Traits and Backgrounds
09:38 Key Lessons from the Book
10:27 Business Lessons for Tech Entrepreneurs
11:55 Impact of AI on Construction and Design
13:50 Acquiring Big Name Clients and Referrals
16:24 Building a Scalable Business Model
18:24 The Power of Case Studies and Content Marketing
20:05 Showcasing Work Through Content and Videos
24:00 Final Advice and Closing Remarks
Links & Resources
Connect with Zach Marks on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachmarks/)
Jia - https://jia.xyz/ (https://jia.xyz/)
Full Scale (https://fullscale.io/) – Build your dev team quickly and affordably
If you're trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.
Unlock working capital with Jia (https://jia.xyz/)
20 Aug 2026
Nothing to Lose: What Really Drives Entrepreneurs
"There's no magical growth lever. You just do a good job, every day, for 23 years, and the referrals do the rest."
I talked with Matt Watts, founder of MWA Projects and author of Made With Ambition, on Startup Hustle this week. Matt designs and builds some of the most striking commercial spaces in the world, from Jimmy Choo's London HQ to Nike showrooms, Net-a-Porter, and a new lounge for Netflix.
Here's what you'll get out of it:
⚡ Why there's no magic growth lever, and how one great job snowballed into Nike, Hermès, ASOS, and Stella McCartney through pure referral
⚡ How a difficult childhood and a bitter divorce shaped the risk appetite so many entrepreneurs share, playing not to lose instead of playing to win
⚡ The AI horror story where a tool invented 10 years of Harrods experience for his head of facilities "because it thought it sounded better"
⚡ Why case studies are the mistake too many founders skip, and how showing beats telling in a visual business
⚡ Why the CEO has to drive the marketing, and why "TikTok next week" is now on the agenda
⏱️ Episode Breakdown
00:48 Introduction and Guest Background
01:52 Starting in Construction and Key Clients
03:18 The Inspiration Behind the Book
03:55 Early Life Challenges and Lessons Learned
06:35 Common Entrepreneurial Traits and Backgrounds
09:09 Key Lessons from the Book
09:59 Business Lessons for Tech Entrepreneurs
11:27 Impact of AI on Construction and Design
13:22 Acquiring Big Name Clients and Referrals
15:56 Building a Scalable Business Model
17:56 The Power of Case Studies and Content Marketing
19:37 Showcasing Work Through Content and Videos
23:32 Final Advice and Closing Remarks
Links & Resources
Connect with Matt Watts on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwattsmwa/)
Website: MWA Projects (https://www.mwaprojects.com/)
What Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025 (https://hirefullscale.com/offshore-hiring-guide?utm_source=PDpod)
Subscribe to the Global Talent Sprint (https://hirefullscale.com/sprint?utm_source=PDpod)
Full Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordably
If you're building a business the slow, durable way, this one is worth your time.
Listen to the Startup Hustle podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts!
13 Aug 2026
The 2026 State of IT Staffing: Trends in Hiring, AI, and Offshore
"Both things are true. Software jobs are projected to grow 15%, and 74% of employers say they can't fill the roles. That's the whole story of IT staffing in 2026."
This week on Startup Hustle, Matt Brown, Full Scale's head of marketing, put me in the guest chair to walk through our new State of IT Staffing report, a data-heavy look at where tech hiring actually stands heading into 2026.
Here's what you'll get out of it:
⚡ The 2026 paradox, why the field isn't shrinking but the entry ramp into it is breaking, with new-grad hiring down 65% at big tech
⚡ Why the job shifted from "engineering" back to "development," and why AI made product thinking the scarce skill
⚡ Why AI sped up the typing but left the judgment exactly as hard, so the value moved to senior people
⚡ Why retention is the number the industry can't fake, and why AI turned it from nice-to-have into the whole game
⚡ Why software has never been cheaper to build, and why that's a reason to build more, not cut
If you're hiring engineers, leading a team, or building a career in software, this one is worth your time.
⏱️ Episode Breakdown
00:33 Introduction and overview of the episode
02:39 Full scale's employee satisfaction and recognition
05:30 The impact of AI on software development roles
10:40 The 2026 paradox: job growth vs. role filling
15:35 The importance of product thinking and customer feedback
20:36 Decoupling headcount from output with AI
25:21 Remote work, location independence, and cultural shifts
30:37 Running engineering teams in 2026 and beyond
35:35 The need for strategic focus and organizational agility
40:37 Conclusion and key takeaways from the episode
Links & Resources
Read the full report - [https://fullscale.io/blog/state-of-it-staffing/ (https://fullscale.io/blog/state-of-it-staffing/)
Full Scale(https://fullscale.io/blog/state-of-it-staffing/`Full) (https://fullscale.io/blog/state-of-it-staffing/%60Full)) – Build your dev team quickly and affordably
What Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025 (https://hirefullscale.com/offshore-hiring-guide?utm_source=PDpod)
Subscribe to the Global Talent Sprint (https://hirefullscale.com/sprint?utm_source=PDpod)
If you're trying to get your team out of the basement and into real product ownership, this episode is your playbook. Stop being a ticket factory. Build teams that think, create, and lead.
Inside a recent episode
API Security
Published 26 Dec 2023 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So if you're, if you remember a name called UUNET, AOL, MCI WorldCom, all of these like early internet service providers were all here. We have a legacy of that now. So if you're using modern cloud platforms, AWS, US East One is here, Microsoft Azure, US East is here, Google, US East is here. We've got about 25 % of the world's internet capacity here. Literally about 15 minutes that way. So, you know, it's just row after row of data center because we've got the convergence of two of the largest fiber backbones, the intersection of the North, South, and East West. And we have no natural disasters, and we have relatively cheap electricity costs. […]
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