Mimi Dumalaog and Shinsuke Hori (Harry), a real-life couple and the co-founders of Kamilas4am, share with us what it really feels like to launch a startup company.
Photo from Kamilas4am
“The series Startup really did summarize the life of Startup founders. If there is something that I wish could be highlighted more, it will be the number of failures we need to go through in order to get one win”, said Mimi.
Kamilas4am has just recently closed their pre-seed fundraising. However, before they reached this milestone, they shared that they got rejected by about 100 investors.
The co-founders even shared that they experienced being cut off a minute into their pitch because the potential investor was not interested!
“As first-time founders, we really have no connection. It was a bit hard for us to convince people since we have no track record of previous exits to show yet. All we can show for is our dedication for this company”, said Harry.
Photo from Kamilas4am
The rejection was all worth it because Kamila was able to raise close to 10 million pesos of funding from angel investors in Japan and the Philippines.
Like the Startup drama, Kamilas4am has their own “sandbox” program. Kamilas4am is under the mentorship of Station AI. This is the incubation and accelerator program of Softbank (one of the biggest telecommunication company in Japan) in partnership with the Nagoya Japanese government.
Photo from Kamilas4am
After they finished fundraising, now, they are ready to launch the beta version of their platform on Dec 2.
Kamilas4am built the beta version of their online platform where small business owners can know online trends for their business and can hire performer creators to shoot videos for their social media content.
They already have 500 performer creators in their community. The demographics is wide and varied that business owners can easily find the right fit for their brands.
The company aims to democratize social media marketing and innovate the creator industry.
“I was once a small business owner. It was so hard for me to market my product before. We want to change that.
The vision here is that small business owners can afford to create high quality and well-performing video contents for their social media accounts such as Tiktok and IG but in a price they can afford. Before Kamila, only big companies can afford to post videos for their brands. We want to change that”, Mimi shared.
For a country relying on the growth of our small business, this is a huge win!
The co-founders also shared that they are transforming the creator industry by enabling people to earn money from their content even if they have zero followers!
“With Kamila, any person who wants to get started as a creator can do so. They just need to apply as a performer creator of Kamila to start earning from making contents. We welcome people even if they have no social media account as long as they love performing”, Harry shared.
Wow, we are so excited for the growth of this startup.
If you want to check them out, you can reach them at kamilas4am.com. Their instagram is at kamilas4am.
They will also have a booth in Soiree’s bazaar at The Fifth in Rockwell from Dec 2-4 at 10AM to 6PM. They are giving away free video shoots for brands who will visit their booth! Just bring your product with you.
Their journey as a couple and co-founder is definitely worth seeing.
