Aaron Villegas is the Co-founder and CEO of Lista. This Philippine fintech is an MSME-focused financial management platform that recently raised a $5.1M round.

👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

My job consists of three things:

The first is setting a clear vision for the company and ensuring each team member is laser-focused on executing towards that common purpose.

The second is building a great team, which means recruiting, hiring, enabling, and retaining the best.

The third is making sure the company has resources to execute and keeping morale high.

🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

During and right after high school, I went straight to building and working for startups instead of going to college.

🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Having the opportunity to learn directly from the best founders, operators, and team members.

🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?

Tech in emerging markets! It's always exciting to see how innovative business models are helping the underserved.

💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

Four things to keep in mind:

1.) Focus on how you can be useful to others.

2.) Work on something you're passionate about, not just because it's the hot idea in the market.

3.) Just start, reiterate fast, and look at the data very closely. Don't fall in love with your product/feature even if the data shows you the opposite.

4.) Persevere. The downs are part of the process.

🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Startups and real-life Lista user stories!

🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

Movies: Unbroken, Race, Pursuit of Happiness TV Shows: Super pumped, Wecrashed, Silicon Valley

🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?

Dark Chocolate