Age doesn’t matter, as many would say. The Backscoop Founder lived by these words to succeed in the Southeast Asian tech business industry.

Recently, seven Filipinos were officially listed under the Forbes 30 under 30 – a global collection of young and successful businesspeople, leaders, and trailblazers in 2024.

The young SHE-E-O

Amanda Cua, 22, is one of the Philippines’ brightest entrepreneurs who gained Forbes’ recognition for founding Backscoop: a news publication focused on Southeast Asian startup companies and businesses.

“Being listed this year felt like a huge milestone moment for me. When I saw the notification, my eyes started tearing up… While I’m still far from achieving everything I set out to achieve, being listed was a milestone moment that made me look back at everything that has happened,” she tells Manila Bulletin.

While her peers are expecting to graduate this year, she paved her own success through a different route.

“When I started my company in 2021, I told myself that I'd work hard so that by the time my friends graduate in 2024, I would have done something worthwhile. Something that wouldn't make my family and friends say that I should have just gone to school. I had 3 years.”

With a high school diploma in hand, Cua worked for a year in an online coding boot camp when she was 18 before building her company from the ground up at age 19.

“My biggest obstacle was my insecurity about age. [When starting a company,] you are both younger than everyone else in your field, lack experience, and have practically zero networks,” she admitted.

Despite the age hurdle, this didn’t stop her from achieving her vision for the company, stating that “You are not any better or any worse than anyone else. You are just starting out earlier with less of an experience and network. So, all you need to do is keep developing your skills and building your business.”

How much should a startup capital cost?

Many would assume that creating a news publication would require millions, if not billions of money in capital. But sometimes all it takes is risk… and P3,000.

“I used the small amount of savings I had from my first job to fund myself. Built a website with 3,000 pesos, started my network from scratch, and didn’t have a team behind me,” Cua shared.

According to Cua, the company’s backstory began when her love for business news grew during her high school years, and noticed how nobody had purposely focused on tech startups before; especially in the Southeast Asia region where she believed there was a growing potential in the startup ecosystem–Enter Backscoop.

“After almost three years, we are making revenue, we’ve grown to a community of tens of thousands of people, received funding, are a small but mighty team, and I’ve gotten to build amazing connections, work with many respected companies as clients, and travel around Asia for work.”

Business as usual

Three years into her humble journey to success, Cua believes her newsletter can go above and beyond tech business explainers.

In an exclusive interview with MB, she elaborated the effect of her company on people stating, “Yes, startups get connected to investors and get funding. But that’s just one thing we do. We also see startups get connected to new customers, help readers find new jobs, and more.”

“We’re here to help anyone in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem easily access the information they need to land their next opportunity and make better decisions—whether that is landing an investment, partnership, new job, new client, or even just getting inspiration.”

Currently, Southeast Asian founders, executives, venture capitalists (VCs), and startup operators read Backscoop’s content.

Aside from this, she and her team are planning to expand into a Thursday newsletter called Scoop of Success– showcasing original stories and lessons of traditional businesses and startup companies like Charles and Keith, Oatside, and more.

Today, Backscoop remains a free, go-to source for the latest startup news in Southeast Asia.

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