Enzo Doromal is the CTO of Advance, the first salary-on-demand provider in the Philippines. They help give Filipinos easy access to loans when needed, helping them achieve financial freedom and be more productive at work.

🎙 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

I make sure our tiny team of humans is well-equipped with the right technology, tools, and robots to continuously help thousands of people understand, control, and maximize their earnings.

🤨 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I often find myself saying no to tech-first solutions. It's easy to rely on technology as a crutch and use it to answer any and every problem. We've found a lot of success in designing and perfecting manual processes long before a single line of code gets written.

🏅 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far, and why?

Hearing personal stories from customer feedback and testimonials. I didn't realize our impact until we started receiving unsolicited positive feedback, even handwritten letters, from customers. These make the perceived consequences and fear of letting a customer down very real.

🤓 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?

I'm enjoying the innovations coming from the biotech & bio-monitoring spaces. Despite my aversion to wearables, I find immense value in having the option to eliminate trial-and-error and guesswork when making lifestyle changes.

🎓 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

Resist over-optimization and "shiny toy syndrome." Embrace the duct tape and scaffolding phase— you'll miss it when you have to introduce real structure.

🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Home fermentation

🎬 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

The Prestige.

🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?

Strawberry.