San Francisco, California, United States
Earl is a member of AWS’s Startup and VC partnerships team in Silicon Valley. He is a former founder and investor and an aerospace engineer by background. Earl was a Senior Manager for Azure, working at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, WA. He was also appointed by the President of the Philippines as an Executive Member of the National Innovation Council representing the Business Sector. He is the co-author of the book "Startup Mindsets: A Blueprint to Thrive in an Innovation-Driven and Globally Connected World", published by Penguin Randomhouse. He was the co-founder of Plentina, an Al and fintech start-up in the credit and robo-advisory space in Southeast Asia invested in by top VCs such as Techstars, 500 Startups, TMV.vc and Global Founders Capital. He spent his time in the tech side of Wall Street in the data team of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest algorithm-based hedge funds, and the digital group of Charles Schwab, one of the world's largest broker-dealers. He also spent several years in enterprise tech working at Cisco, VMWare and Dell EMC in their emerging technology and CTO teams in Silicon Valley. He was also at Venture funds Investor Growth Capital in Menlo Park and H&Q Asia Pacific in their Manila Office. Earl is a leader in the South East Asian startup ecosystem, where he co-founded IdeaSpace, the leading incubator and accelerator based in Manila and QBO, the innovation center of the Philippines, both with a combined 100+ incubated companies. He also was the VP of Corporate Development and Innovation at Smart/PLDT, a telco with 60m mobile subs and a global pioneer of mobile money. Some of his investments includes coins.ph, one of the first crypto exchanges in the Philippines and Thailand (acquired by GoJek) and Edukart, a edtech marketplace in India (acquired by PayTM). For his contributions to emerging market innovation, he was honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, and awarded by the President of the Philippines as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men and Women of the country. Earl started at the University of the Philippines and completed his degree in Electrical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, from Boston University. He also has a Masters in Systems Engineering from Cornell University, an executive leadership and policy program at the Harvard Kennedy School and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with Certificates in Global and Public Management. Find out more at: www.earlvalencia.com
After years as both a founder and investor, I now partner with top Silicon Valley venture-backed startups (Seed and beyond) and their investors—helping them accelerate growth with AWS and the broader Amazon ecosystem.
Product marketing for Microsoft Azure, focusing on the growth of the adaptive cloud approach and its expansion to distributed infrastructure and AI on the edge. Business licensing strategy and planning for Microsoft-hyperscaler partnerships.
Setting up the Business and Operations functions of a startup that uses alternative data in order to create financial equality for the emerging middle class. Leading and building key business functions such as business development, partnerships, operations and marketing. Secured regulatory licenses and raised $750k in the first 6 months (closed during covid) and acceptance into Techstars, one of the top start-up accelerators globally. Subsequently closed a ~$5M seed round. Scaled company to seed stage raising close to 50 full time employees across 5 counties.
The National Innovation Council (NIC)is a 25-member policy advisory body in the Philippines. It is chaired by the President of the Philippines, NEDA Secretary as Vice-Chairperson, 16 Department Secretaries, and 7 Executive Members from the private sector. As a Presidential appointee, I will represent the Business and Private sector in the Council, which aims to create the framework to build a robust Innovation Ecosystem of the country.