HS students picked as winning startup

ONE of the winning teams in the search for new information technology start-ups is composed of high school students.

Pancake Servers, one of the eight finalists at the Hack2Hatch: From Hacker to Founder event, developed gaming servers hosted on cloud drivers.

The group was established by Cristian Ayala, 16; Stefano Abad, 16; and Gianluca Abad, 18. All three are still in high school. Ayala studies at the International School Manila while the Abads go to the Beacon Academy in Makati.

Their team received P100,000 seed money for their project, which hosts servers for multi-player games in Southeast Asia.

Hack2Hatch, which closed last Sunday at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa, provided a venue for Filipino start-up groups to undergo mentorship from the world’s leading technopreneurs. It was organized by the Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev) and Developers Connect Philippines.

Pancake Servers plan to begin work on its project within a month. With help from Morphlabs, they plan to partner with telecommunication companies and Internet shops in the country.

“Hack2Hatch is an opportunity for us to engage in entrepreneurship. It allow us to meet potential mentors,” Stefano said.

The group said they decided to bring their gaming hobby to another level and make business out of it.

“We aim to provide quality gaming servers for the gaming system in the Philippines. We feel there’s a big market for quality servers,” Gianluca said.

Ayala said the idea for the project was born when a server community bogged down.

Based on the group’s research, the Philippines has the highest number of broadband
users among Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia.

When asked how age affects their participation in Hack2Hatch, the three said their confidence was strengthened by the support of their families.