A culture of caring: A

conversation with Globe

Telecom’s Glenn Estrella
Growing a market-leading business while spawning start-ups depends
on a willingness to fail and a corporate culture of caring modeled from
the top down, according to the start-up chief of the Philippines’ largest
mobile telecom provider.

June 2020
 In this episode of The Venture, we share a its own services and new businesses. We’re
conversation with Glenn Estrella, entrepreneur also going to ask Glenn about building a start-
in residence at 917Ventures, Globe Telecom’s up culture within large organizations like Globe.
corporate incubator. With some 97 million Welcome, Glenn. Great to have you on the show.
subscribers, Globe is the biggest mobile
telecom operator in the Philippines. Estrella Glenn Estrella: Hi, Andrew. It’s good to see you
discusses with McKinsey’s Andrew Roth how again.
Globe fueled explosive growth, launched a
series of successful start-ups, and continues Andrew Roth: Let’s begin the conversation by
to innovate amid the COVID-19 pandemic. At stepping back in time to 2011, when you rejoined
the close of the interview, McKinsey’s Tomas Globe after leaving to enter the start-up world.
Laboutka offers his insights. An edited What made you return to Globe?
transcript of the podcast follows.
Glenn Estrella: I was running a Globe subsidiary,
Podcast transcript just having turned around that company after a
year, and was invited to lead the digital media
“[There’s a] Filipino word, “malasakit.” The team of the consumer mobile business. I think
English translation is caring. You really care. they were looking for someone who knew Globe,
It’s not just enough to be passionate about since I’d been with Globe off and on since the
something; you have to care. And if you care ’90s, and who also knew the internet side of
for something or someone, whether it be things.
your customers or your company, you’ll act
accordingly.” My mission was to give consumers a reason
to use mobile internet. It wasn’t enough to just
sell them mobile data packs for access. Back
—Glenn Estrella, entrepreneur in residence at
then, the only thing people in the Philippines
917Ventures
knew about the internet was Facebook. And a
lot of Facebook users were using Wi-Fi rather
Andrew Roth: From Leap by McKinsey, our
than their mobile internet service to access
business-building practice, I’m Andrew Roth.
Facebook.
Welcome to The Venture, a series featuring
conversations with legendary venture builders
Andrew Roth: Yes, I remember when I moved to
in Asia about how to design, launch, and scale
Singapore in 2011 and heard about this strategy
new businesses. In each episode, we cut
to offer consumers a free version of Facebook
through the noise to bring practical advice on
to get them interested in mobile data.
how leaders can build successful businesses
from scratch.
Glenn Estrella: Exactly. Nothing was free back
then, so giving something away removed the
For our second episode of The Venture, I’m
friction of spend. At the time, the Philippines
excited to welcome Glenn Estrella from Globe
was predominantly a prepaid mobile country,
Telecom, the largest mobile network operator
and we needed to remove the pricing friction.
in the Philippines, with a total subscriber base
Prior to the Facebook partnership, we offered
of 97 million. Glenn is currently entrepreneur in
a similar free trial with Google that didn’t
residence at 917Ventures, Globe’s corporate
work very well, because it was an unfamiliar
incubator.
experience for consumers. That taught us a
lesson about the importance of user experience.
There’s a lot to cover, including Glenn’s journey
with Globe since the ’90s, how the company
Since people were using Facebook in a certain
was able to double customer growth for some
way, the goal was to preserve that experience
of their partners and then looked inward to grow

2 A culture of caring: A conversation with Globe Telecom’s Glenn Estrella

by allowing them use the app to access the mobile We started thinking, “If we can do that for
side of Facebook without noticing any change, other partners, why can’t we do that for some
apart from it being free. That was the goal, and it homegrown pain points?” That’s when it all
worked. It took us about eight months to set this started.
up with Facebook in-country, working out the
engineering side of things, and it worked out One of the early products was an app called
really well. GMovies, which allows you to book movie
tickets. It may not sound like a big deal, but the
Andrew Roth: Are you able to share any initial cinemas are run by different mall operators in
numbers that defined success? the Philippines, so you have to contact each
one, which is not easy. They were still barely
Glenn Estrella: Our first free trial with Google was online, so that presented an opportunity.
around 2012, and Facebook happened a year later.
We had about 1.5 million mobile internet users, Andrew Roth: That’s interesting. You were able
and after launching free Facebook, we doubled to make partners successful. Then you decided,
that number in 90 days. “Why don’t we create our own assets, our own
businesses, and scale them?” Was there a
The remarkable part was that everything else process where you landed on movies? Did you
haloed. People started shifting to Globe, spending have a portfolio of ideas that you narrowed
more and topping up more, and not just data. Our down? What was that decision like on where to
customers started learning there’s more on the play?
internet than just Facebook, and then Viber and
Spotify happened. So it was great, and it turned Glenn Estrella: To be perfectly honest, back
out to be this wave we had to keep fueling. then it was largely personal experience. And
you get validation from research data of your
Andrew Roth: It sounds like introducing your own customer base. I was fortunate that our
customers to internet and data removed all CEO Ernest Cu allowed me the freedom to
friction and led to a domino effect into other try new things as long as it wasn’t expensive.
behaviors. That’s how we got through it. Then a year later
we formalized this innovation team, innovating
Glenn Estrella: Absolutely. from within, mostly moving out.

Andrew Roth: When did some of the I was already reporting to Ernest by the end
conversations start happening around building of 2015, and he started giving us mandates on
new businesses based on that initial success? what to do, pinpointing problems across Globe
Telecom, including clients or internal problems
Glenn Estrella: We launched an over-the-top he asked us to solve.
partner every year. We launched Google first,
and then Facebook, Viber, and Spotify. When Andrew Roth: You had direction from Ernest,
we launched Grab, it overtook Uber overnight, but it sounds like you had some freedom as
because Grab gave Globe customers a special well. When you were building this innovation
freebie and Globe marketed Grab to its base. group and getting into movies, was it spun off
as a subsidiary, or was the operating model still
Around late 2015, I was sitting on the board of under Globe?
several subsidiaries, and Globe was maturing and
no longer selling mobile data. Our message was, Glenn Estrella: Ernest has this saying, “Let
“We’re your network partner. We’re a telco partner a thousand flowers bloom.” Nobody has a
when it comes to going to the internet. Whether it monopoly on innovation. If you have a customer
be search, social media, chat, video streaming, or base, or a business that’s worthwhile, then it’ll
sports, we’re your go-to.” naturally just move out and become a company

A culture of caring: A conversation with Globe Telecom’s Glenn Estrella 3

 on its own. That’s what happened with AdSpark, be looked at a lot more closely. If you’re trying
which was spun off under my term. to experiment with ideas and test them, you’re
supposed to allow people to make mistakes.
Andrew Roth: OK, so a bit of both then? Some At the same time, these are manageable
ideas stayed within, and some spun off? mistakes that I can handle, even if it goes up
the chain.
Glenn Estrella: Yes. For example, we implemented
interactive voice technology to help with Globe’s Let’s say my team gives me five options. Of
billing. We reduced the cost of call centers by 50 the five, you could probably do one to three,
percent and doubled our collection rate, with a very and these are the potential land mines. But
minimal investment. It’s five years old now, and it’s I can take any of those for the team. They
all homegrown. need to feel safe, or else you’re going to be
micromanaging the whole time.
Andrew Roth: Interesting. It sounds like you were
innovating in areas to improve the core business, Andrew Roth: So in the context of a large
like billing, and spinning off new businesses, like organization, you’re helping to provide cover
advertising. for your team if those failures happen. I would
imagine that can be stressful for you. So we’re
Glenn Estrella: Yes. talking about failure—giving team members
the space to win and fail, creating that culture.
Andrew Roth: How did you find talent? A question I You had told me once that Ernest has a single
often get when talking to CEOs is, “Ideas are great, word for culture. Can you explain it?
prototypes are great, but if we really want to drive
long-term impact, how do we find the talent and Glenn Estrella: It’s the Filipino word
create the culture?” “malasakit.” The English translation is caring.
You really care. It’s not just enough to be
Glenn Estrella: I look for people who have worked passionate about something; you have to care.
in a start-up. Anybody with experience in digital Our culture is the circle of happiness. If you
advertising and performance marketing is always a care for something or someone, whether it be
good choice as well. your customers or your company, you’ll act
accordingly.
Andrew Roth: There’s this debate about hiring for
experience or hiring for culture. If it’s sincere caring, I care enough that it has
to be done a certain way, I care enough that
Glenn Estrella: Normally, when you have the right I don’t want to release a product that’s just a
behavior and the right attitude, training is not a minimum viable product, I care enough that
problem. I’ve allowed these guys to really fail—and I launch a product with feedback from the
fail big. consumer.

Andrew Roth: So what you’re saying is, failure is It really cuts deep. We started caring for our
allowed. You give people the space to fail. That’s company. Before I rejoined, we didn’t want
interesting, because that’s a word that incumbents, to be associated with Globe, even though
or corporates, don’t want to talk about. we worked there. Now, people wear the logo
proudly. And that’s the culture for us.
Glenn Estrella: That’s because they need to feel
safe. But we’re risk takers. We can afford to be risk Andrew Roth: In the midst of COVID-19, have
takers because we haven’t built a big business yet. there been any discussions about how you’re
If you’re running a bigger corporation, risks have to going to live that culture as things loosen up

4 A culture of caring: A conversation with Globe Telecom’s Glenn Estrella

and economies start reopening? Any areas you’re are like, “What do we do? How do we do this?
looking at demonstrating that culture of care? How do you get online?” That’s where we play.

Glenn Estrella: When we started the lockdown, Andrew Roth: Did businesses like GCash or any
the first thing Globe did—and again, it’s a function of the other subsidiaries see a similar growth?
of how Ernest thinks—was to make sure that our
people were safe, especially our telco frontliners Glenn Estrella: I think all the fintech companies
who are out there fixing problems with networks have seen it, but GCash is doing well because
and cell sites, rolling out broadband internet it’s easy to use. GCash is basically a mobile
connections, and delivering prepaid modems, wallet. You just need to download the app and
despite the lockdown checkpoints. use any mobile number that’s assigned. Once
you’ve opened it and done your “know your
If we want to service our customers, we need to customer,” you can funnel in your cash.
protect our people. That’s what’s great about having
leaders who think like that. Protect our employees, If you’re a bank, you can connect all your
and make sure that they’re safe to do their jobs so banking apps or services there, too. If you’re in
they don’t have to worry about their families. a market like the Philippines, where there’s a
lot of nonbanking transactions, they could also
Andrew Roth: Right. They need to role-model the do the cash in points and put money through
actual behavior so it’s not just a sign on the wall. a convenience store or any of our machines.
There’s also a payroll solution in GCash for
Glenn Estrella: Yes, and Ernest is the real deal. I’m companies as well.
very privileged to be able to work with him and try
to live up to the vision and the things he wants to Andrew Roth: Are you seeing investment in
accomplish. the product backlog with GCash and other
subsidiaries as you prepare to come out
Andrew Roth: I’m sure you’re looking at some of of COVID-19? Have there been talks about
these new businesses that you’ve launched and investing in more engineering, or are you more
thinking of how to adjust based on COVID-19. Can interested in steady growth?
you share a bit about one of them that you feel is
reaching scale or well beyond product market fit? Glenn Estrella: There’s already funding for
What are you tracking on a daily basis? the start-ups we’re in charge of now, at least
the ones that are in incubation or scale mode.
Glenn Estrella: Driving growth at a time like this is Personally, I think we should think about the
really challenging, but I don’t think the principles opportunities that aren’t readily apparent
have changed. We’re a telco in a position to provide because of what’s happening. When people
connectivity, so in that sense, we’re already relevant. start going back to work or going back outside,
Now, why is that more relevant today? With people there’ll be a lot of opportunities to solve
staying home, it’s not just about giving people problems.
internet so they can watch Netflix all day and night.
What I’ve seen, and I’m sure it’s not just in the It’s also an investment, and there’s more than
Philippines, is that these businesses were not ready. enough funding. I think it’s all about speed to
test, speed to try out, and whoever gets there
There’s a joke that asks, “Who drove your digital first will have an advantage. That’s the whole
transformation? Was it your CIO? Was it your CEO? premise of what we do, trying to unlock the
Or was it COVID-19?” COVID-19 forced everybody Globe customer base to try out these things.
online, so connectivity sales went up. Bandwidth
also went up. It’s not enough, because these small to Andrew Roth: That’s a good segue to speed,
midsize enterprises, and even the large corporates, incubation, and what you’re doing now with

A culture of caring: A conversation with Globe Telecom’s Glenn Estrella 5

 917Ventures. Can you share a bit on your role in Andrew Roth: That’s understandable. Now,
917Ventures and what it is? in a world without Globe, what start-up or
company would you want to work for?
Glenn Estrella: 917Ventures is Globe’s corporate
incubator. Our thinking was, if we’re able to grow Glenn Estrella: I’d probably do my own thing.
the apps coming out of the United States or some I’d probably do a start-up, and that start-up
other country, we should be able to do the same would probably be more on the agricultural
for ourselves. A colleague of mine coined this term side, bringing in technology and automation.
and said, “We’re kingmakers.” We’re doing it for
all our start-ups now, using Globe to fuel GMovies, Andrew Roth: That’s interesting. Describe
GCash, and RUSH, our white-label loyalty your start-up superpower in a few words.
program. That’s the principle. I’m an entrepreneur
in residence, and I handle more than one start-up Glenn Estrella: If there is such a thing that we
in either incubation or scale mode. could have, it would be Wolverine’s healing
ability, because he gets knocked down and
Andrew Roth: You’re mentioning how this type of gets right back up. You get cut down and run
corporate incubator is a bit different, because you over as a start-up, even if you have a Globe as
have access to the core business under Globe and a backer. The quicker you heal, the quicker you
the advantages that come from that. keep fighting again.

Glenn Estrella: Yes. It can be simple things such Andrew Roth: It’s true. It’s not talked about
as SMS broadcast marketing. Why should I have enough, but the daily ups and downs, mentally,
to pay for digital advertising when I can just use of being in the start-up space is significant.
the Globe base to try out a product? Our belief
is, these are assets that businesses would kill for, Glenn, I love how you went from innovating
so why not use them? How many companies can in the core business back in 2011, learning a
bring 97 million consumers to your doorstep? lot from these partnerships. Then you found
the confidence to start building your own
Andrew Roth: You’re right. You have these businesses, learning how to adopt failure and
distribution channels through the core business. bring that kind of culture aboard and recruiting
It’s interesting that, with 917Ventures, you’ve people externally.
made that into a model, where the start-ups that
go through the incubation of 917Ventures have I think some of these are important messages
access to the advantages of being affiliated with for other venture builders who are at the
Globe. beginning of the journey. You don’t always
need to come up with the next amazing
Glenn Estrella: Ernest always reminds us that we business model out of thin air. It is a learning
all probably have the same strategy and plans, but process and a journey.
it all boils down to who’s going to execute better
and faster. Glenn Estrella: Yes, it is.

Andrew Roth: So speaking of execution and Andrew Roth: Then, what you’ve been saying
being fast, I’m going to ask you a few lightning- around where the opportunities are, I think will
round questions. Who would you want on your probably be another conversation we should
board? Elon Musk or Jack Ma? have. I think there’s going to be a lot of positive
things we can do as we go into the COVID-19
Glenn Estrella: I guess the quick answer would recovery process.
be Jack Ma.

6 A culture of caring: A conversation with Globe Telecom’s Glenn Estrella

Glenn Estrella: I totally agree. failure too much, but it’s important in the sake
of moving fast and speed. Failure is a big word
Andrew Roth: Glenn, I want to thank you for your when it comes to culture. What were your
time. It’s been a great conversation, and I look thoughts there?
forward to catching up soon.
Tomas Laboutka: That’s interesting, because
when we talk with CEOs, we do see this
resistance to failure. People fear to fail. Yet you
Andrew Roth: Now it’s time for a segment where have leaders telling you the velocity of your
we invite founders and experts from McKinsey to experiments and the number of times that you
provide more context and draw practical insights. fail ultimately define the probability of your
I’m joined by my colleague Tomas Laboutka, from success.
Leap by McKinsey. Tomas, welcome back. What
struck you the most from the conversation with It’s clear that Glenn provides the environment
Glenn? where it’s OK to fail.

Tomas Laboutka: Hi, Andrew. One thing that Andrew Roth: We heard the word “care” from
really stood out for me was the search for unfair Glenn. We heard the word “open” in our last
advantages for Globe and 917Ventures. They episode with Aaron Tan from Carro. I would say
started off with partnerships and discovered by both were able to explain how they’ve made the
partnering with big companies such as Google, words that are meaningful to their culture more
Facebook, and Spotify that they were able to not than just a poster on the wall and more than just
just provide connectivity but ultimately double the cheerleading at a weekly town hall.
number of their users.
I think that’s going to be a continuing theme
Then they were able to bring and leverage go-to- around how to win. How do you make things
market channels for 917Ventures. And they’re able like failure OK? How do you engender the right
to hack the go-to-market with 97 million users, culture that’s role-modeled by the leaders?
which is impressive. It seems that they are always I think it’ll be interesting to hear from more
on the hunt for more opportunities, leveraging their leaders in the future on how they’re making
assets and solving more entrepreneurial problems. culture real and role-modeling it.

Andrew Roth: Yes. And when it comes to innovation, Andrew Roth: You have been listening to The
they learned a lot from these partnerships. That Venture with me, Andrew Roth. If you like what
gave them the courage to ask, “Shouldn’t we be you’ve heard, subscribe to our show on Apple
doing this for ourselves?” So they started launching podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Don’t
these new services with movies, loyalty, and cash. forget to leave a review and rating on your
In order to do that, Glenn made it clear that failure favorite episode. We will be back with a brand-
was OK—not from the perspective of “Hey, let’s just new episode next month.
go and fail,” because I think people almost cheer

Andrew Roth and Tomas Laboutka are associate partners in McKinsey’s Singapore office. Glenn Estrella is entrepreneur in
residence at 917Ventures.

Copyright © 2020 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved.

A culture of caring: A conversation with Globe Telecom’s Glenn Estrella 7