public source · not yet founder-confirmed · Jun 2022 · 🇵🇭 Philippines (Parañaque, Metro Manila) · Services · solo founder
An SEO agency whose first client came from a seat on a plane
Started with ₱1,300 in 2010; the first inquiry came from a stranger on a Hong Kong flight whose relative ran the country's biggest scuba company.
- Business
- SEO and digital-marketing agency (SEO Hacker)
- Founder
- Sean Si
- Started
- April 2010
- Start-up capital
- ₱1,300 (about US$60)
- Revenue
- US$84k/month (Starter Story headline, 2022; the page's revenue field is inconsistent, so the headline figure is used)
- Team
- 74 employees (2022)
Numbers are ranges or the figure the source published; we never publish a founder's documents.
Source, pinpointed
Starter Story — From Making $150/Month As An Intern To Starting An $84K/Month SEO Agency
founder interview (Starter Story) · Jun 2022
Cross-check: no second public source found yet; a Starter Story or press snippet is added when one exists.
First customers — the part nobody publishes
Channel: A chance referral, then recurring B2B
What didn't work: Early hires without a process; the culture that followed.
“Our first inquiry came out of the blue — during a trip to Hong Kong. I was seated beside a lady who had a relative who owned the biggest scuba diving company in the Philippines during the time.”
Starter Story, June 2022: a scuba-diving company became the first recurring client after a chance conversation; the agency grew to 74 staff. The founder says his early hiring mistakes, not marketing, were what nearly stopped it.
Would it work in…
The same idea, other markets — our read from the database's country filters, not a forecast.
- Kuala Lumpur — likely — English-language SEO for regional clients
- Ho Chi Minh City — maybe — local-language SEO is a different product
Similar ideas in the database
- Grease-trap cleaning sold to the chains, not the stalls · Singapore · Just under S$3 million in 2025 (company figure)
- Kangkong chips from an aunt's recipe, ₱3,500 to start · Philippines · ₱100,000+/month within six months; first million within a year (as reported)
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