The secrets to building a Pinoy-centric social media app

KUMU’s Chief Architect Andrew Pineda

Architects are defined as designers who supervise the construction of structures from the planning phase to its finishing touches. The same goes for KUMU’s Chief Architect Andrew Pineda only his work entails building a social media app that appeals to creative and fun-loving individuals while devising solutions that can help them and let them enjoy its numerous features.

Building a Pinoy-centric app

In Asia, most countries have their own dedicated social media app outside the big three of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In the Philippines, KUMU takes that role in bringing Pinoys from all over the world into one app that connects them and gives them opportunities to earn and win cash and prizes. “What makes an app great is that it solves a problem for the user,” says Andrew when asked what makes KUMU a good app. “We saw that a lot of countries in Asia had their own social network that was localized for their market and we wanted to take what we learned from what’s going on in the United States and other developed countries, come back to the Philippines and offer an app that prioritizes the voices of Filipinos in the ever-evolving digital ecosystem that is transforming the economy of Southeast Asia” he added.

Thanks to Andrew’s and the entire KUMU team’s foresight, the mobile app has now established itself as the fastest-growing social media app in the country.

Just recently, Andrew and the KUMU team have also managed to raise $5 million in Series A funding to bolster the app’s new features and growing operations highlighted by more than 25,000 live streams a day.

Teamwork makes the dream work

KUMU’s main goal internally is to keep the entire team cohesive when it comes to product development and engineering. Andrew takes on the coach’s role to set the plays and score big in terms of numbers. “We always ensure that every member knows what the goals are, what the environment is signaling, and what people, time, and money constraints exist,” shared Andrew who recognizes that for most startups, product management means continuously developing strategies that maximize the impact to KUMU’s mission.

“Knowing enough about engineering, UX, data, finance, organizational design, operations, research, marketing, etc. helps your ability to synthesize these inputs more effectively but it is up to the product manager to maximize each person’s individual and collective potentials by aligning everyone on a product strategy and fostering a healthy team dynamic,” he shares.

And Andrew certainly has the chops to be on top of KUMU’s product management with his extensive experience in startup management, app development, digital marketing, and information technology management systems. Like how a trusted architect constructs a structure with all of its elements functioning for the best user satisfaction, so does Andrew ensure that KUMU will be the top choice for its Pinoy market when it comes to enjoying a truly unique digital experience.

What makes a good Pinoy app?

It takes a lot to determine what facets contribute to making KUMU a good social media app for Pinoys. For Andrew and the team, while there may be a few hits and misses during production stages, striking the balance between user-experience and offering worthwhile features came in early thanks to an organized team that’s driven to execute each strategy.

According to Andrew, there are only three things that every team should accomplish when trying to come up with a good app for Pinoys:

1. Find the balance between adding more features whilst simultaneously improving user experience.
2. Focus on customer and business impact, and amplify your colleagues. Great product teams live in the future and work backward.
3. Drive high-quality decisions, optimize for learning, and strive to execute impeccably.