From Manila to Silicon Valley: A Q&A with AngelHack Manila winners

On June 9, five Dabawenyos clinched the top spot in the first ever AngelHack Manila—a nationwide programming competition and local arm of one of the world's biggest and most prestigious hacking marathons. Rolly Rulete, Marvin Consuegra, Raymund Delfin, Mio Galang, and Jay Albano—collectively known as PageSnapp—bested 39 other teams and over 200 other rival developers.

 

Their eponymously-named winning entry, PageSnapp, is an app that allows businesses to update their social media followers directly via the latter's mobile phones.

 

The PageSnapp team will be flying to Silicon Valley in the US in September for a chance to pitch their ideas to blue-chip companies there.

 

In an exclusive interview with GMA News, PageSnapp's team leader, Rolly Rulete—who also developed DOST's Project Noah app—talks about the excitement of winning and opportunities and challenges of being a Filipino start-up and in the wide world of app development:

 

 

What were your reactions when you guys heard that you won AngelHack Manila?

 

It was great and fullfilling. But the fact that we had produced a working and functional prototoype in the hackathon, is already worthy for our efforts.

 

 

What other ideas did you have in mind before you decided on PageSnapp? what made you decide to focus on PageSnapp?

 

The idea came from Marvin as what he experienced on managing Facebook page, searching for Facebook pages in the search bar or looking for the page name on the left side of Facebook is time-consuming. So why not create an app that turns the page into an app directly so that the users/followers/fans of the page will not go anymore to the search bar or left side of the Facebook wall? They will automatically be updated from the feeds of the Facebook page on their mobile phones.

 

 

Pagesnapp was described as a service that would develop mobile apps from Facebook business pages. How would this work, specifically? Are you free to share any of the technical details?

 

Pagesnapp lets Facebook Page owners/admins/managers create their own mobile app in a matter of seconds. It will generate a native Android app that can be uploaded to the Play Store. And one more thing, the app is fully compatible with Blackberry 10 OS. With our service, you can have both Android and Blackberry apps.

 

 

What other teams/startups at AngelHack did you think were your serious competitors?

 

Most of the teams were awesome, but we did not think of competing against them but rather we're competing against time. Our important goal was to have a functional prototype by the end of hackthon—and to have fun!

 

 

How was angelhack different from the other hackathons you guys have attended?

 

AngelHack Manila was biggest hackathon we joined. It was definitely the most awesome one.

 

 

Are you guys ready for Silicon valley? What did your family members, girlfriends, friends, and colleagues think about your win?

 

We're preparing for it. Lots of things to do like processing our visa, incorporating our company and many other stuffs.  Our family/friends/gf/colleagues were proud of us. :)

 

 

Any advice or tips for young Filipino developers?

 

Focus. Think of ideas. Get a team you can work with well and knows what to do. Execute.

 

 

Anything you want to promote? New projects, TV shows, maybe?

 

We would like to get the support from the government especially of the Davao local government. The trip to Silicon Valley is good for two only. We have 5 team members and we wish all of us will go.

 

—TJD, GMA News