For the first few years of KasKasan Buddies, there was no formal structure, no CEO title, and no grand plan to build what would eventually become a community of more than two million members.

There were simply two people who saw a problem and believed a community could help solve it.

Joel Cabugos, a finance professional and community builder, first came across Jacques “Jax” Reyes through his TikTok content about credit cards. Jax was already building an audience through conversations about credit cards, while Joel had experience in the local stock market, online marketing, Web3, and crypto.

What started with a message in 2022 eventually became KasKasan Buddies, officially established in July of that year.

It Started With A Message

Joel remembers discovering Jax almost by chance.

“Mabuti dumaan sya sa feed ko,” he said.

At the time, Jax’s credit card content was consistently drawing hundreds of comments. He was also doing regular livestreams, giving Joel a closer look at how people were responding to his discussions.

Joel was already working in finance, first as an Equity Research Analyst and handling Online Marketing for Angping Securities, before moving into Web3 and Crypto as a Business Development Executive. His experience in Web3, in particular, showed him how much a community could contribute beyond simply gathering people in one place.

It could educate. It could advocate. It could give members a voice.

That was what made him reach out to Jax.

“I randomly reached out and messaged him, asking if we could build a community together,” Joel recalled.

As it turned out, Jax had already been thinking about creating a community himself. Facebook was not necessarily his preferred platform, but the idea of building a group around the conversations he was already having made sense.

The timing also mattered.

Jax saw Facebook communities gaining traction in 2022 and believed there was a real need for a space where people could learn from one another. For him, the bigger idea was never about putting all the answers in the hands of one content creator.

“The core of it all is really acknowledging that the power of the community will always be BIGGER, BETTER, MORE POWERFUL, than just me or just a single content creator,” Jax said.

That principle would eventually become one of the foundations of KasKasan Buddies.

Two People, Different Strengths

In the beginning, there was no carefully written division of responsibilities between Joel and Jax. They simply gravitated toward the things they were better at.

Joel became more involved in community building, community management, and the daily operations within Meta. Jax continued creating content on TikTok, discussing credit cards and encouraging people to join the Facebook community.

“We were just a two-man team,” Joel said.

The community itself also played an important role. Rather than dictating every conversation, the two founders allowed members, known as KKBuddies, to contribute and interact organically.

Jax described the division as a matter of recognizing each other’s strengths.

Joel was the natural community builder, he stated, someone who knew how to engage members, manage the group, and find ways to keep the community active. He also handled negotiations with partners. Jax, meanwhile, remained closer to the content itself, particularly credit cards and identifying new topics and ideas that could be useful to the audience.

As KasKasan Buddies grew, the operation also expanded. They brought in Joram Joseph Bonus as their third core member and Chief Marketing Officer, helping extend the community’s advocacy through a wider social media presence.

The structure may have become more defined, but the basic principle stayed the same: each person contributed where they could create the most value.

The CEO Title Did Not Change The Partnership

Joel eventually took on the CEO designation and became the public voice of KasKasan Buddies in several institutional partnerships and signings.

But the title did not mean that decisions stopped being shared.

“At the end of the day, both of us make the decisions together, for the betterment of the Community,” Joel said.

The two founders describe themselves as each other’s check and balance. If one disagrees with an idea, particularly one that could affect the community, they simply do not proceed with it.

There is a straightforward reason behind that arrangement. They believe they started KasKasan Buddies with the same intention and continue to measure decisions against the same standard.
“We share the same guiding principles and moral compass, always putting the best interests of the community first,” Joel said.

For Jax, that shared purpose also explains why he does not see his work on products and platforms as something separate from the community.

Building More Than A Facebook Group

Jax spearheaded the KKB app, but he does not view the product as a separate project from community building.

The question, for him, is always what members need and where they are most comfortable finding it.

Some KKBuddies may prefer a mobile app for managing their finances, checking credit card features, or finding out which airport lounges they can access. Others may prefer Facebook because they want to read stories, exchange experiences, and hear from other members.

The platform changes, but the objective does not.

“Its always about WHAT the community needs and how can we lessen that friction,” Jax said.

That way of thinking also reflects the larger purpose behind KasKasan Buddies. The app, the Facebook community, and their other platforms are not meant to compete with one another. They are different ways of addressing different needs.

For Jax, adding another platform only makes sense when it provides another useful entry point for the community.

No Big Founder Fight

Co-founder stories often come with stories of disagreements, competing visions, or moments when one person wanted to go in a direction the other rejected.

That is not really the case for Joel and Jax.

Asked about a major disagreement during the early days of KasKasan Buddies, Joel said he could not remember one.

Jax had a similar answer.

“I cannot really recall a friction point that we had,” he said, describing most of their discussions instead as “healthy banter.”

That does not mean they automatically agree on everything. Their process is more about challenging ideas and testing them against the reason KasKasan Buddies exists in the first place.

“TEST FAST, FAIL FAST, LEARN FAST, and CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO,” Jax said.

The deciding question is simple. Does an idea contribute to the community’s purpose?

For new projects, they return to the same reason KasKasan Buddies was created: financial literacy for Filipinos.

For potential partners, they ask another practical question: what will KKBuddies actually gain from it?

If the answer is clear, the idea moves forward.

Four years after that first message, KasKasan Buddies has grown far beyond the initial idea of two people starting a Facebook community. Yet the relationship between Joel and Jax remains grounded in the same division of strengths and shared purpose that brought them together. Joel builds and manages the community, Jax continues to develop content and products around what members need, and both continue to make decisions with the KKBuddies at the center. For them, the strength of KasKasan Buddies does not come from either founder alone, but from what happens when two people with different expertise choose to build toward the same goal: making financial literacy more accessible to Filipinos.