Today was a very exciting Saturday for the Vigattin Team because we were privileged to cover the first day of AngelHack Manila 2013, which will continue until tomorrow for the teams to finish their programs and pitch those to the judges. This is also the first time that the Philippines is holding an AngelHack competition along with 32 cities all over the world this year. There are at least 70 teams (200+ participants) in the Philippines, and some even flew from as far as Davao just to join this event. With a $20,000 investment, a trip to Silicon Valley, and a lot more at stake, our participants are so much motivated to spend an all-nighter to finish their programs.

For our Vigattin Radio Program this morning, I got to interview significant people at AngelHack Manila 2013, all of whom have been our program guests before. They were Mr. Melvin Ryan Fetalvero, a participant of this year's AngelHack; Mr. Rai Escarez, one of the mentors in the competition; and Mr. Earl Valencia, President of Ideaspace Foundation and one of the sponsor judges in the event. The Vigattin Team also had the chance to exclusively interview Mr. Greg Gopman, Founder and CEO of AngelHack.

Sir Melvin, one of the pioneers of Chikka, used to be a judge in previous hackathons and programming competitions in the Philippines. This time around, he's one of the participants. It just shows that some of the key people in the Philippine technology community are joining this event. When asked about the preparations his team made for AngelHack Manila 2013, Sir Melvin said that they made sure that what they will do has the right winning formula - an innovative, creative, and marketable program that will be relevant to the market. This should have the right collaboration between its technical and business sides. In fact, this formula seems to be the theme in today's local startup scene.

There are also new faces, young startup teams who are aspiring to make it big in the IT and business industries. If they ever need mentoring, there are people like Sir Rai to help them out. Sir Rai, together with the mentoring group of AngelHack Manila 2013, has already experienced this kind of competition in the previous hackathons he's been to. Now, he's part of the event not as a participant but as a mentor who offers his expertise to guide the AngelHackers through their programming.

Interview with Sir Melvin and Sir Rai:

Sir Earl talked about his passion and advocacy to help startups realize their dreams. As president of one of the main sponsors of the event, he told me that he and Ideaspace Foundation really want to bridge investors and startup founders. This is not just sponsoring "in cash or in kind." This is funding, mentoring, and guiding startups on their way to the technology mecca, Silicon Valley. As Sir Earl has notably put it, "Let's bring Silicon Valley to the Philippines to bring a Filipino to Silicon Valley."

So, I've talked with one participant, one mentor, and one sponsor judge at AngelHack Manila 2013. To complete the list, we didn't miss the oppurtunity to interview the guy behind all this, Sir Greg.

Check out my next write up about our interview with Mr. Greg Gopman, Founder and CEO of AngelHack.

Studio record of the interview with Sir Melvin, Sir Rai, and Sir Earl: