Charmaine Tangonan

The Active Generation, Co-Founder

"Learn to walk the line between being open to feedback and pivoting, and having conviction in your vision for your product/company.""All incubators have different strengths they can provide — be sure you pick an incubator program that complements your needs best. After all, you're developing a relationship!"

Alex Mann

Rzerv, Co-Founder

"It's not a 9-5 job. It's exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. If you love your project then that will keep you going. If you don't and don't appreciate the opportunity, you'll fail, guaranteed.""Utilize every single contact you make and don't be afraid to network like crazy, from industry players who may help you long term, to the other members of the incubator who may help you with a pressing problem."

Andy Jaing

Piggy Back, Co-Founder

"It is important to have some involvement in the startup community — attend events, meet other entrepreneurs, go to hackathons to stay on top of the latest emerging technologies, etc. The benefits include not only just networking and growing your contacts, but also encouragement, support and cross-pollination of ideas."

"Successful people across all disciplines are skilled at explaining complex ideas to anybody. It is critical to spend time making your pitch to investors as easily understandable as possible — you can have the best idea in the world, but realize that it is futile if no one can understand the problem you are solving."