AI for Founders with Ryan Estes The Offshore Kingdom: How Penbrothers Builds Teams That Scale
Welcome back to AI for Founders, I'm Ryan Estes.
Today’s episode starts with a tension every founder feels but rarely admits:
What do you do when the talent you need doesn’t exist in your own backyard - but exists in abundance halfway across the world?
My guest, Nico Bivero, has spent 22 years in Asia and 15 years in the Philippines building Penbrothers—one of the original offshore-team powerhouses that helped startups scale before “offshoring” became a buzzword. His company has supported 1,500 employees, partnered with 90+ global startups, and sits at the center of a massive shift in how founders build teams in the age of AI.
In this conversation, you’re going to learn how founders should think about global talent, why Filipinos consistently outperform expectations, what roles are perfect to offshore, and what roles you should never outsource. You’ll also learn how AI, culture, and human psychology collide when you build teams across continents.
If you’re a founder, operator, or anyone building with AI who wants to scale with precision—not chaos—this one is for you.
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