Kim Lato - The Hustle Behind Kimstore

This week on Hustleshare, host Ron Baetiong sits down with Kim Lato, founder and CEO of KimStore, the Philippines' longest-running and largest electronics e-tailer. Kim shares her incredible 19-year journey from selling cameras on Multiply as an 18-year-old college student to building an e-commerce empire that survived platform shutdowns, customs controversies, family tragedy, and a global pandemic—emerging stronger each time.Episode Timeline:00:02:06 – Kim's hustle: Building KimStore.com from scratch00:06:41 – The Fil-Chi way: financial literacy from age 1200:09:04 – Launching on Multiply: from hobby to side hustle00:11:25 – Early fulfillment: LRT rides with cameras to meetups00:14:15 – Wild Wild West: ghosting customers and cash-on-delivery struggles00:16:36 – 2008 financial crisis: choosing full-time hustle over job hunting00:19:29 – Building the first team: CSRs and in-house riders in Tondo00:21:52 – Riding the group buying wave (Groupon era)00:24:18 – Go Negosyo feature: "I want to be the Amazon of Electronics"00:29:02 – When Multiply shut down (2013): pivoting to Facebook00:35:17 – 2015 tragedy: Dad shot 8 times in inside job holdup00:36:45 – Finding God: the turning point that changed everything00:42:36 – Lazada and Shopee: competition or opportunity?00:48:10 – COVID-19: The breakthrough year (2020)00:52:35 – Building brand equity vs. just selling00:54:02 – Delayed gratification: first car after 9 years00:56:01 – Finding purpose beyond the hustle"I wasn't really certain about what I'm doing, but I took a leap of faith that I think this is something worth pursuing. I think we could make this big. And that really helped me do this in a bigger aspect."Resources:Website: https://www.kimstore.comFacebook: KimStore (3M+ followers)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimstorePH/Links/Sponsors:OneCFO: https://www.onecfoph.co/Hustleshare is powered by PodmachineListen to our brand new podcast: Founders Only HEREDiamond Supporters: Sarisuki, PayMongo, SeekCap, Shoppable Business, Qapita, GoTyme Bank, Sprout Solutions, UNO Digital Bank. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.