Tiket.com co-founder Natali Ardianto is now leading Indopasifik Teknologi Medika Indonesia as CEO and Co-Founder. However, its focus and branding remain a secret

Last year, Catcha Group released three predictions related to the future of Indonesian startup industry up to the year 2020. One of them was about the next unicorn company to come from the market, which was predicted to be from the fintech and healthtech sectors.

There might be some truths in the prediction. Indonesian healthcare market valuation is predicted to reach US$363 billion by 2025, up 18 times from the US$20 billion in 2010. This rapid increase is driven by the booming demand for healthcare services.

Behind this great potential, several challenges continue to haunt the local healthcare service industry, such as the limited number of medical professionals in rural areas and uneven distribution of healthcare facilities. There is even a belief that healthcare is something that is only accessible for upper class society

Having been known as the co-founder of Indonesian traveltech startup Tiket.com, Natali Ardianto jumps into the healthtech sector with a new startup that is set to be launched by the end of the year. After dabbling with fintech startup EmasDigi, Ardianto confirms that he had exited from the startup and is dedicating his time to develop the new healthtech company.

“Personally I enjoy starting over something from zero. The total addressable market (TAM) for healthcare industry [in Indonesia] is huge, but we still have not found any success story in this market. The same goes with online travel agencies; when Tiket.com was released in 2011, it was also due to a large TAM and lack of outstanding player,” he explains to DailySocial.

Also Read: Natali Ardianto joins EmasDigi as CTO

Ardianto considers the Indonesian healthtech industry to be in its infancy –this means many players have just realised its true potential and are now competing to be the biggest. He has no worries about this matter as he sees many opportunities to explore with his new company.

The man is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Indopasifik Teknologi Medika Indonesia (ITMI) as well as Advisor for Indopasifik Medika Investama (IMI). IMI is a holding company behind pharmacist PharmaPlus, homecare service platform Homecare24, general practitioner and specialist clinic PrimeCare Clinic.

IMI is affiliated with the Kwari family, who has been working in the healthcare sector for 40 years.

ITMI will be a healthtech startup under IMI that offers two services, set to be launched by the end of the year. Due to several considerations, Ardianto is unable to share further details about the startup, such as its name and sector.

“We are still unable to disclose what the service will be about, but we are building two digital products that are going to be launched by end of the year,” he says.

ITMI will be the fifth startup that Ardianto is working on. His first startup was city directory platform Urbanesia, which had been acquired leading news platform Kompas. He had also worked on golf course booking site Golfnesia, online travel agency Tiket.com (which was acquired by Djarum Group through BliBli), and gold trading platform EmasDigi.

Also Read: Indonesia’s Tiket.com co-founder, CTO Natali Ardianto has left the company

Optimism in ITMI

Despite his unwillingness to share any detail about ITMI, Ardianto expresses his optimism for the company. He projects that it will be able to make profit and grab 0.07 per cent of market share in Indonesia within just two years.

Ardianto believes that this is feasible as the concept has been proven successful in other countries. ITMI is merely replicating and modifying it for the Indonesian market; he also hinted that such service is currently available in the market in offline form.

“It’s the same as Go-Jek. They digitised the long-existing service of motorbike taxis; it is basically what we are doing at the moment. If you are trying to digitise a product, you need to know how to convert it into an online form. This is our task as engineers, while the experts are looking at the industry itself,” he says.

Currently on development stage, ITMI product will complement those of the sister companies within IMI ecosystem.

The company is run by a team of 11, which had only begun working on June 17. Ardianto serves as a co-founder with four other people; all of them happened to have worked at Tiket.com.

Ardianto expects to recruit engineers to accelerate the development of ITMI to 52 people by the end of the year. ITMI has also been supported by a pre-Series A funding round from its holding.

“As a CEO, I get to run the company the way I really want it to be. So the key here is execution; this is why we cannot say much at the moment. I hope that my experience [from the previous companies] will enable us to get it right,” he closes.

Ardianto’s entry to the healthtech sector is the latest amongst the country’s existing companies such as Alodokter, Halodoc, Medigo, HubSehat, Ayomed, Periksa.id, SehatQ, and Medi-Call.

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The article Optimisme Natali Ardianto Seriusi Segmen Healthtech was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Marsya Nabila for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: Natali Ardianto

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See how TAIRA 2019 (Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator) bridges the gap between corporates and startups in Southern Taiwan

As far as contemporary history is concerned, Taiwan has emerged to become one of the global leaders in computer hardware manufacturing, pioneering feats in the international tech spectrum by being home to tech giants, Asus and Acer, among many others.

Recently, however, we have seen a paradigm shift in terms of how Taiwan wants to shape its digital future — all as part of the country’s intention to become a global innovation hub. We now see government and non-government efforts in tech put a shared focus between hardware and software development.

Consequently, we’ve witnessed a growth in Taiwan’s startup culture, resulting in two particular areas steadily rising: AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Robotics capabilities.

In 2017, Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) and StarFab Accelerator — two of Taiwan’s leaders in modern tech — came together to come up with an initiative that supports and builds platforms for corporate-startup matchmaking and help startups secure funding. The initiative was prompted because both institutions saw a great potential in bridging the gap between corporations and startups.

The emergence of TAIRA (Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator) Programme

By 2018, this initiative led to creating TAIRA (Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator), an accelerator programme designed to fast track startups working on AI and robotics solutions.

The programme takes place annually at the Southern Taiwan Science Park, a space that encourages innovation and the cultivation of AI and Robotics related talents.

TAIRA supports startups through equity-free funding, product development resources, and early engagement with possible enterprise clients. The programme seeks to facilitate partnerships and collaborations between startups and big-time corporations to combine domain expertise and innovative tech solutions.

In 2019, TAIRA seeks to expand larger with StarFab’s commitment to funnel more resources to enrich their network of international accelerators and venture capitalists, and ultimately, to embolden Taiwan’s startup ecosystem further.

They’ve added test beds for corporate collaborations, technical platforms, and more funds to further equip and expose AI and Robotics startups with business and fundraising opportunities — pretty much all the tools necessary for market expansion, increasing market shares, and more client acquisition.

Corporate innovation: a marketplace of ideas

 

In order to better examine the positions and preferences of the corporates who are seeking out partnerships from the pool of startups, e27 spoke with three of StarFab’s corporate partners to learn more about their thoughts on tech innovation.

• United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) Smart Manufacturing Division

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides advanced IC production for applications spanning every major sector of the electronics industry.

One of the problems that smart manufacturing division faces is that more and more customers need variety custom products with less amount, so the operation process will be different from traditional ways. They need innovation transformations of cloud computing and machine managements in factories. With big data applications from startups, they are able to analyze more information and improve production capacity.

The programme, therefore, does not only help both parties on each side of the spectrum achieve meaningful, output-based partnerships, but also help create a marketplace of ideas in which both parties can establish a healthy exchange of learnings and insights.

• King’s Town Bank

King’s Town Bank Co., Ltd. provides various personal and corporate banking products and services in Taiwan. The company accepts deposits and virtual accounts, and provides loans and international financing services, among many others.

King’s Town Bank is keen on pursuing new technologies through TAIRA and give startups opportunities to cooperate with them while at the same time, help those startups achieve better successes in the future.

StarFab has helped them bridge startups together to visit their bank and more than that, form effective ways of connecting corporates to those startups.

• Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC)

KRTC, which is responsible for constructing and operating Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System in Taiwan, joins TAIRA in 2019. The rapid transit system is more than just traffic transport for KRTC. It not only brings convenient transportation to people, but is also the source of shaping a modernised urban pattern and is the driving force for a better lifestyle.

Monitoring passenger density, identifying elderly passengers or passengers with disabilities, and real-time behavior analysis and notification are the challenges they would like to be solved this year. Through the co-creation with startups in TAIRA, they expect to contribute to the promotion of high-quality public transport and the development of Kaohsiung City.

Why be part of TAIRA 2019?

At the end of the day, TAIRA is more than just an accelerator programme. It is a holistic online-to-offline innovation platform designed to bolster global AI and Robotics startups through partnerships with local Taiwan corporations.

What the programme ultimately does is foster a culture of collaboration and co-creation. These are things that are bred better in an environment that recognises growing internal demands, advanced business understanding, and a grasp of what it’s like to scale globally — all of which are found in innately among partnerships between corporates and startups.

Calling all AI startups who are interested to work with Taiwan tech corporations and expand their reach to the Taiwan market, TAIRA 2019 will open startup applications until June 30. For more information, check out the TAIRA website at http://www.tairax.com.tw/index.aspx

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Image credit: 123rf.com / ID 115218958

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Feedloop provides the building blocks for marketers to create interactive marketing campaigns such as survey, quizzes and interactive storytelling

Feedloop, a SaaS-based interactive content marketing platform in Indonesia, announced today that it has secured an undisclosed amount of seed investment from early-stage VC fund East Ventures and several unnamed angel investors.

The startup will use the money to build the next-generation interactive content experience to help companies in their brand activation initiatives.

Founded in late 2018, Feedloop aims to disrupt the way brands connect with its customers, especially to appeal to Millenials and Generation Z, for whom traditional one-directional marketing is no longer effective. Feedloop provides the building blocks for marketers to create interactive marketing campaigns such as survey, quizzes and interactive storytelling that drives high user engagements.

Exclusive: Indonesia’s Automo closes seed round; in talks for fresh funding

“This generation of consumers expect a two-way dialogue with their brands, simply delivering message is not enough,” said Ahmad Rizqi Meydiarso, Co-founder and CEO of Feedloop, who also previously co-founded Kata.ai, a conversational AI company in Indonesia. “Showing ads to promote your product or brand is no longer working. You have to invest in building contents that spark dialogue and give value to your audience.”

Within just less than six months of operation, Feedloop had executed pilot projects with multiple brands and digital marketing agencies to test the potential use cases of such technologies. The two campaign examples are for social media engagement and talent acquisition funnel management.

For social media engagement, Feedloop assisted Liga1 (highest professional football division of the Indonesian football league system) and its agency Panenmaya to build a brand engagement campaign on Instagram. Users filled in the survey to find out which Liga1 players were most alike to them and then posted the result on their personal Instagram story. This campaign attracted 20,000 unique user’s posts in just one single day, totaling over 30,000 posts in two consecutive days.

For talent acquisition funnel management, Feedloop assisted Paragon (one of Indonesia’s largest cosmetic producers owning brands of Wardah, Make Over, Emina, IX, dan Putri) in creating interactive campaign builder to improve its talent acquisition funnel. Rather than just clicking through job application pages, applicants’ journey started from checking whether their personality suited to the related position they applied for. For employers, this helps to map suitability of the candidates prior to engaging with them directly.

“By providing the much-needed tools to build immersive interactive experience, Feedloop can dramatically reduce the time-to-market of a creative campaign while reducing the cost if compared to custom vendor-built campaigns,” claimed Ronaldi Kurniawan, Co-founder and CTO of Feedloop. “Thus, we are relieving marketers burden to let them focus on the most important thing: the creative process. We also give them the ability to continuously improve through the feedback loop made possible through our analytics system.”

Feedloop also collaborates with Narasi.tv (an online media platform providing video content with journalistic approach) to create interactive digital media experience that allows viewers of the programme to provide real-time feedback.

According to PwC, Indonesia’s digital media spending is among the fastest growing in the world, with PQ Media estimating its ads spending at USD$12 billion. Despite the large spend, key challenges lie in digital skill or resource gaps for content marketing: how could marketers design a great overall customer experience to improve brand engagement, thus results in higher marketing ROI. Feedloop believes that interactive digital content is the solution.

Melisa Irene, Partner of East Ventures, said: “We believe that with more than 150 million Indonesian consumers already online, personalisation will be key strategy for brands and companies to reach customers more effectively. Feedloop team has the right mindset as they bring product- based approach to help companies innovate on personalized brand experience in multiple use cases.

East Ventures has invested in hundreds of companies in Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand. Its portfolio companies include Tokopedia, Traveloka, Mercari, Disdus (acquired by Groupon), Kudo (acquired by Grab), TechInAsia, Omise, IDNTimes, Ruangguru, Jurnal, Cermati, MokaPOS, ShopBack, EVHive, Pasar Polis and Loket (acquired by Gojek).

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How do you avoid being part of that 90 per cent of startups that failed?

There’s always a dream behind every startup; loaded with ambitions, desires, and irreplaceable persistence. So – why do startups fail? If entrepreneurs know what they want and are on a mission with total conviction, what stops them from achieving it all?

Are bad ideas the reason that startups fail? No – Google was also considered a bad startup idea when it was proposed. But then, it’s not always the idea that costs your business, sometimes it’s for a  few other reasons, including the A-team.

The personal readiness for the role

Most early entrants into the startup world may find it exhausting. There are cases where entrepreneurs take out equity on their own home. Also, putting themselves and their family members in continuous debt is not new – we often hear of similar cases in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Plunging into a business may leave you in a position where it gets tricky to circumvent such problems.  It is critical you stay prepared. You will be under pressure to balance your emotions as you pursue your startup dream; to move fast in business and still keep good mental and physical health, as well as develop a compassionate mindset.

Ask yourself if you are ready to invest ‘all-in’ of yourself in this new role? Consider consulting your friends, family and the closed ones. Maybe it is just the right time for you and the right version of you as you decide to begin this entrepreneurial (mis)adventure.

What does the market research say?

You have successfully launched a business, but have you researched about the market demand for the product or services you offer? It would be important to conduct such surveys as they help gauge whether your idea will turn out to be a successful one. Also, it helps you to identify existing problems that your potential users are facing and gives a clearer idea of what the solution should look like.

It’s difficult to be fully sure that you are the first one to roll out such offerings as there may be some similar business offerings. Reach out to them or at least read about them to identify whether they have succeeded? If no, why did they fail? You will need answers to these questions and find out a way to differentiate yourself in the market.

It all boils down to how you execute the offerings once the market research is done. Some of the businesses that fail to launch their MVP can attribute it to their lack of execution discipline, as well as a lack of brand to lean on. Some businesses fail because they go all out without conducting adequate market research and they try to peddle products that are not required at all. Sometimes the product may evolve as an experience but then it may also limit the number of re-purchases.

Also Read: How Go-Jek evolved from a startup to a tech unicorn in less than 10 years

But then, what if your market research fails? It may happen that this will have you pushing your products towards the incorrect target market. What if your data on the market size is wrong? The product positioning may cause your business to veer off in the wrong direction even before it is launched.

Keep the answers of these three questions ready before you are ready to launch:

1. Are you clear about your target market and its specific problem?
2. Is your business able to provide the best possible solution to that problem?
3. What is the size of your target market? Is it well-defined? And most of all, is it big enough to sustain your new business?

Inablility to focus – in a single direction

A new business will demand a lot of things from your end, but then sometimes you will need to pause and introspect. You may be multitasking but then you will have to ask if it actually moves the needle. If it doesn’t, stop wasting your efforts.

Most startups will fail due to routine stuff that hampers the growth:

• Networking –. Sure, business partnerships can turn profitable with the right contacts but it is recommended to network wisely so you do not waste time.
• Don’t be in a hurry to form a board of advisors once you get funding
• Stop multiple partnership businesses if you don’t see any revenue in a predetermined time.
• You should not be channelizing your own and your team’s effort on PR and social media unless you are highly confident that you have the right product for your target customer market.

Now, you only have two important things to focus on if you really want to succeed. There is no third way out.

1. Users

Understanding where they come from and what they seek from your offerings is an important aspect of success. User engagement is equally important because after acquiring them, that’s how you will be able to engage them for a longer time and extend the Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV).

2. Product

This is the heart of your startup –  always endeavour to improve product offerings. Talk to users, address their issues and enhance their experience by altering your product accordingly. If you really want your startup to be a successful one, you’ll be spending the majority of your time in improving your product.

Optimistic entrepreneurs tend to function as a one-person team

Y-Combinator’s co-founder Paul Graham points three important things that drive a successful startup.

1. A team of genuinely dedicated people;
2. Offering precisely what your target customers want;
3. Reducing outflow of cash as much as possible

From the above-mentioned points, if you want to achieve the latter two, fix the first one. Good people will build a significantly useful product and this will also fix your problem of unnecessary expenses. Make sure you create and retain your A-team for the startup as they will be the ones leading the attack from the front. The research suggests that the average solo founders may take around 3.6x longer to scale their startups no matter how focused they are on growth.

Also Read: The essentials of managing your business financials at 4 stages of its lifecycle

An ideal scenario will involve having at least one person onboard from each department – marketing, development, designing, etcetera. If you have the right team who are experts in their own work you are almost certain to provide customers with what they really need – 100x easier than you’d rather do it alone. As a team, the long hours get more bearable and you’ll have each others’ back through all thick and thin. The perils of being a one-man army are not confined to just inefficiency but could also lead to a failure in the longer run.

Conclusion:

Though 90 per cent of startups fail, some entrepreneurs striving for success may want to settle for average results. But if you truly want to be in the that 10 per cent and hit the jackpot, try to be mindful and avoid making mistakes that are common across all the startups that failed.

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e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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The Indonesia-based venture capital Alpha JWC Ventures receives investment from the Japanese IT company for its second fund

Japan-based information technology solutions NS Solutions Corporations announced its investment in the second fund of Indonesia’s venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures.

The company stated that the objective of the investment is to “search for promising technology companies in the emerging Southeast Asian market, mainly in Indonesia”.

In its joint statement, NC Solutions also remarked that the partnership marks the firm’s first investment in Southeast Asian venture capital, in hope to take part in accelerating the region’s digital economy growth.

“Alpha JWC is one of the region’s most active VCs with investment in 23 startups in their first fund alone. We support their approach in managing their portfolio where they provide hands-on support to help the startups grow fast and right,” said Toshiyuki Kajiwara, Director of Global Business Development & Management Department at NS Solutions.

The terms of the partnership include NS Solutions introducing Alpha JWC Ventures’ current and upcoming portfolio companies to its local Japanese customers, which will contribute to the startups’ business development. At the same time, NS Solutions will share its group’s technology and know-how to the startups.

NS Solutions is a Tokyo-based information technology company founded by Nippon Steel in 1980. It was later merged with Sumitomo Metal Corp and got an update with the offering of services such as system integration, cloud computing, and other corporate-intended technology solutions.

Also Read: East Ventures backs Indonesia’s interactive content marketing startup Feedloop

With subsidiaries in Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia, the company has experience in Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem. NS Solutions made an investment into an Indonesian tech company that provides network management to software training PT Sakura System Solutions in 2015.

Alpha JWC Ventures was established in Indonesia in 2015, led by partners who have been investing in Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem since 2010. The firm currently manages two funds of US$50 million and US$100 million, with 28 active portfolio companies in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It has two exits — co-working space Spacemob (acquired by workspace giant WeWork), and business news platform DealStreetAsia (acquired by Financial Times of Nikkei Group).

“We are excited to have NS Solutions on board with our mission to further nurture Southeast Asia’s leading tech companies,” said Alpha JWC Ventures’ Co-Founder and Managing Partner Chandra Tjan.
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Extracting massive volumes of relevant customer data will be integral in transforming the insurance industry

A cloud-based infrastructure is now the norm for most insurance companies. In 2019, seven in 10 carriers incorporated the cloud in their business operations, with increased speed, flexibility, and scalability being some of the key benefits. And this widespread cloud adoption has meant one thing – a massive volume of data.

When harnessed correctly, this data can lead to profound insights within the insurance industry, helping providers become more efficient and deliver a better customer experience. With that said, here’s the role big data plays in the insurance industry, and how to capitalize on it.

Why it’s being used in the insurance industry?

Big data has three main uses. First, it offers in-depth insights into customer needs. Analyzing data offers a deeper understanding of customer behavior, what they’re looking for with insurance policies, potential issues that may cause friction, which channels are most effective for reaching them, and so on.

In turn, insurance companies can adjust their premiums, improve customer service, and create targeted offers customers are likely to respond to. The end result is increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

Next, big data serves as a catalyst for business model innovation. It helps insurance companies optimize everything from underwriting and claims processing to fraud detection and investigation. This maximizes efficiency and allows providers to get more done with less wasted motion.

Third, it enables companies to monitor financial performance. Whether it’s tweaking pricing or tracking claims adjustment expenses, big data can be leveraged to improve decision-making and increase profit margins.

How is it being used in the insurance industry?

Risk management is a major concern for insurance companies. There are many emerging threats they must contend with and overcome in order to remain competitive and thrive long-term. Big data can be a tremendous asset for managing risk, as it can be used to ensure compliance with data storage and privacy regulations, and monitor brand reputation.

For instance, an insurance agency might use big data to ensure their practices align with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and promptly address any bad publicity on social media before it gets out of hand.

Beyond that, insurance companies can use it to perform background checks on candidates by quickly gathering data from different resources like legal databases, financial registers, and sanctions lists.

Also Read: Insurtech startup Sunday Ins reveals the secret to win the Southeast Asian insurance market

Rather than going through the arduous and time-consuming process of sifting through a mountain of resources manually, big data can produce in-depth reports within minutes.

Also note that newer technologies like web data integration tools are capable of extracting and normalizing huge volumes of data and producing highly-digestible, easy-to-read reports and visualizations. This means insurance companies spend less time preparing the data and more time putting it to use.

The use cases

To further illustrate the practical application of big data in the insurance industry, here are a few examples of how companies can capitalize on it. One is to conveniently and efficiently collect information on a person to determine a premium.

For instance, an auto insurance company might examine a person’s previous driving record and the driving safety level in their area to calculate the chances of them being involved in an accident.

Insurance companies can also use big data in fraud detection. Fraudulent claims are an ongoing problem and total at least US$80 billion per year.

With big data, insurance companies can find out how many past claims a customer has made and the chances of those claims being fraudulent. If a person has a history of false claims, an agent will be automatically notified so they can investigate the customer further.
In turn, this streamlines the process significantly, ensuring agents only spend time assessing valid threats.

Where is all of this heading?

The volume of global data being generated has increased dramatically, from 8 zettabyte in 2015 to a predicted 40 zettabyte in 2020.

This surge has created immense opportunities for insurance companies. Taking a data-driven approach allows them to create better value for customers, increase productivity, optimize their marketing strategies, and gain a competitive advantage.

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e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Image Credit : everythingpossible

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Just hear me out

I used to question the motives and agenda of women who would let their kids become a public face of brands and get paid to do so. That was me, like three years ago.

Now, I can’t really get enough of documenting and sharing about my kid. Specifically on Instagram.

In 2018, a survey conducted by TheAsianParent in Indonesia showed that Instagram is the most popular social media platform among Indonesian digital moms, as reported in The Jakarta Post.

More than 98 per cent of Indonesian moms has at least one Instagram account with 34 per cent of them spending at least one to three hours per day on Instagram.

The survey by Tickled Media also showed that woman’s media consumption in Indonesia had a tendency to change once becoming a mother.

These surveys are all me, seem to track my experience converting to the life of Instagrammin’ motherin’.

No escape

Many people would argue that limiting your screen time once you become a parent should be the norm. Let me tell you, and it is a cold little truth: It is impossible. Unless you give up your phone, lock it somewhere safe, and wait for your kid to sleep.

Why?

Well for me, a remote-working stay at home Mom, my smartphone is basically my main survival tool. Even with a cracked screen and all, it’s what helped me go through my day working and connecting.

Also Read: 5 essential traits of a successful entrepreneur

As a lot of parents know, I can’t openly use my laptop for basic tasks with a toddler at home. I need it to write articles like these, so when I am answering emails or replying to colleagues, I have to hide the laptop. I live with a soon-to-be-toddler, I can’t have my one source of income ruined.

This is not to judge. Actually, I am a bit jealous of the hardcore perfect-parenting cult member, I don’t know how you get rid of your phone, but I salute you living in another level of connectivity and commitment.

Surviving one scroll at a time

Now that I have my phone with me 24/7 with a one-year-old, what’d do I with it besides working? Of course social media.

If I have a breather when my kid is busy with her pull and touch storybook or with her blocks, I open Instagram.

It’s more convenient, creatively inspiring, and not boring. Sorry Facebook and Twitter, but for Moms, Instagram is where it’s at.

Based on the survey mentioned before, “internet users increased by 48.7 percent, while television viewership reduced drastically to 78 percent” as most mothers preferred to spend time on the internet with most Indonesian digital moms use the internet to read parenting websites, check social media, and shop online.

Instagram is where the uplifting quotes and heartwarming videos that make you feel less alone in motherhood. And they are readily accessible. It tracks what you visit most and provides you with the exact content you are looking for.

Sometimes I worry that it’s on another level of creepy — as it feels like Instagram is listening to my conversation and showing me ads of the things I mentioned. But for the most part, it’s a nice 10 minute reprieve until my daughter inevitably knocks over her bricks and begins wailing.

I began my parenting journey on Instagram when I was pregnant. I read about steps and preps to decrease my chance of having a Caesarean section (spoiler alert: it worked, although not as smooth as I had hoped for). I watched tips to successfully breastfeed, and I watched new parents (my imminent future) interacting with a newborn on a daily basis.

After birth, I did the same for when I tried to find ideas on meal prepping for a baby who just started on solids. It helped me accessing information quickly, visually, and informatively.

Of course, I will step out of Instagram for deeper research as there’s no backlink on an Insta post, but the point is I learn. Also again, to drive the point home, now that I am a parent, sometimes I only have 10 minutes of quiet which is not enough time to read a book or long form article.

Having a community

I read a really nice quote by a mom featured in a Humans of New York on Instagram post. She said that motherhood can be “depersonalising” despite what people said about the magic and the privilege.

I felt that big time. It goes without saying that I’m aware of how lucky I am to get to be a mother, but I won’t lie that life without a kid was more easy and carefree.

It’s always gonna be hard. Just when you thought you have it all covered, your once-toddler is bringing home her first boyfriend. Another curveball forcing you to relearn what you know.

Also Read: ‘Airbnb for diving’ Deepblu connects scuba divers with dive shops around the world

Instagram is a double-edged sword, though, as too much scrolling and retaining of information can lead to excessive comparison and insecurity. I did catch the insecurity part. Seeing another person’s kid reach a milestone way ahead of your kid can be disheartening.

Comparison is the thief of joy, but it’s really on you, not other people, to not let comparison make the platform toxic.

I, for one, found my mommy community on Instagram. It was through a mutual friend and we have kept each other grounded ever since.

One time, one of the mommy friends I met through Instagram said that she’s glad that we talk every day about everything and that this group chat over Instagram Direct Message is the most positive mommy community that she’s a part of.

“It’s like we are all grownups here, not trying to impose unsolicited advice about motherhood or trying to show off that ‘my kids are better than yours’ mentality,” she said. I totally agree although I’m not that deep into motherhood group chats universe, as I only have this one, positive, group chat.

Personally updating each other, cheering up a mom-in-the-dumps and loving each other’s kids feel empowering to me, so much so that it becomes one of the highlights of my day (besides the coffee that gets to be enjoyed cold and my kid’s nap time).

Oversharing is not a crime, but…

The crime lies in exploiting. Staging things for the sake of engagements and the number of followers it not morally wrong, just vain. But don’t we all use Instagram to be in touch with our own vanities?

While I think we ought to embrace that side of ourselves, the vain one, we shouldn’t flare it up, just simply acknowledging it.

You may scroll a little too long, share a little too much, go a little too far, but make sure to catch yourself and put the phone down for a bit.

It does get complicated. As for me, I don’t want to share about my kid on my handle because I think it can become too much easily.

Maybe it’s just me but I still think people on Instagram can switch quickly from “oh so cute” to “no one thinks she’s cute stop showing off”. After all, oversharing is -to an extent- showing off.

I now have three accounts on Instagram that I revisit back and forth during the day, one of them is for my kid’s pictures and videos with her name as the handle.

Am I slowly becoming that mom whom I used to scoff at? But, for me, it’s more about freeze moments that go by quickly. Unfortunately, a cynic might think I am being obnoxious on my own account.

I think it’s best used to document your kid for personal mementos.

Being personal and candid on Instagram is the new cool, but it comes at a price. I know that once my kid grows older to understand better, I will have to set boundaries on getting everything, even my winding down time, from Instagram.

I think Instagram is used to build an image, a personal brand that you wish people would believe about you. You control your narrative.

I put the Instagram where I share pictures and videos of my kid on private, and I only allow people who I know, and who know my kid, to follow.

Because even if it’s helpful for me now, I may be treading the thin line between the useful parenting information sourcing and the failed parental supervision caused by the excessive use of it. No one can know for sure, but a parent must look at all the precautions.

When it comes to parenting, Instagram is, after all, a “proceed at your own risk” game.

Who knows, maybe when my kid is aware of Instagram I will delete it all (after saving the pictures of course) and let her take control of her digital footprint.

Although…who actually knows. I did use to judge the Instagramming-mother I have become.
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Photo by Kev Costello on Unsplash

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CoHive will use the funding to add new co-working, co-living, and co-retail locations

Co-working space operator CoHive announced a US$13.5 million Series B funding round led by Stonebridge Ventures. Other participating investors in the round included Kolon Investment, Stassets Investment, a local property developer as well as existing investors from the company’s Series A funding round such as H&CK Partners.

CoHive CEO and Founder Jason Lee stated that the Series B funding round will be closed at US$20 million. The company expected to hit the final number by the end of the year. It was the exact same number that the company has managed to close for its Series A funding round last year.

The funding will be used to fund the expansion of its co-working space into new locations in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Makassar. The company also aims to develop new products in the co-living and co-retail sectors, though it still has no plan to expand beyond Indonesia.

“There will be nine new co-working space locations that are ready to build; we are going to have up to 40 locations by the end of the year. There is also a possibility of [setting up a coworking space] in other potential locations, as we go where the demands are,” Lee explained on Wednesday, June 19.

In total, CoHive owns 31 locations in four Indonesian cities: Jakarta, Medan, Jogjakarta, and Bali with the total area of 65,000 square meters. The company has secured around 9,000 individuals and 8,000 startups who are renting their space on a monthly basis.

Also Read: CoHive to launch 18-story co-working building CoHive 101

Formerly known as EV Hive, CoHive has been operating since 2015 as a project by East Ventures. The company has been making aggressive moves in the sector, considering how it was only available in 17 locations (30,300 square meters with 3,100 members) in June 2018.

CoHive claimed to lead the Indonesian co-working space sector in Indonesia by having the biggest number of locations, followed by GoWork, Kolega, Union Space, Freeware Space, and Conclave.

New products by CoHive

 

At the same occasion, Lee also introduced the company’s three new products: CoLiving, CoRetail, and CoHive Event Space. The company also inaugurated its first building CoHive 101, which is located in the Mega Kuningan area of South Jakarta.

CoLiving is a combination of co-working and co-living space with a first location at Tower Crest West Vista, West Jakarta. The product is the result of a collaboration with Keppel Land Indonesia.

CoLiving provides 64 rooms with a total size of 2,800 square meters. Lee claimed that the first floor of CoLiving has started operations in May with a 90 per cent occupancy rate. Its second floor will be launched in September.

Also Read: A look into one of the most active early stage VC firms this year

CoRetail is a flexible and affordable service meant for retail businesses that are selling its products in startup communities such as CoHive. The product offers temporary pop-up stores, permanent stores, and canteen for these businesses.

This new product is available on the ground floor of CoHive 101. Tenants that have been using the service included Go-Food Festival, Fore Coffee, Pepenero Bakery, and Bukalapak.

“CoRetail makes it easier for retailers to start selling without the need to pay for deposits, which makes it hard for them to start their operations. We provide a different offerings from shopping malls, which require them to rent a space for three to five years and pay for 12 months in advance.”

Lee explained that their new product CoHive Event Space was meant to help their members and business partners in hosting meetings and company events. With its considerable number of branches, the product offers an opportunity for the company to maximise the use of existing space.

The CoHive 101 building was also launched during the same occasion. The building has a capacity of 2,700 individuals and included a coworking space, a private office space, CoRetail, an event space, a canteen, and other facilities. The company claimed that it has secured an occupancy rate of 75 per cent.

“CoHive also offers build-to-order option for startups with more than a hundred employees. Cermati and TaniHub have reached out to us to join, as they are attracted by the opportunities for collaboration that we offer,” Lee ended.

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The article CoHive Raih Pendanaan Seri B Lebih dari 192 Miliar Rupiah, Incar Tutup di Angka 285 Miliar Rupiah was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Marsya Nabila for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

The post CoHive raises US$13.5M+ in Series B funding round, aims for US$20M appeared first on e27.

The acquisition was announced yesterday, June 19, by the CEO of Tokopedia, William Tanuwijaya

Indonesian e-Commerce platform Tokopedia announced that it has acquired both BrideStory and ParentStory, the former being wedding directory platform and the latter a children activity marketplace.

“Tokopedia’s mission has been about helping offline businesses thrives. We’ve been looking at wedding vendors, and discussing with both BrideStory and ParentStory up until the acquisition decision,” said William Tanuwijaya, CEO of Tokopedia.

With the acquisition, Kevin Mintaraga, a Co-founder of BrideStory, will join Tokopedia’s management as one of the Vice Presidents.

e27 has reached out to Mintaraga for comment.

Tanuwijaya emphasised that there will be no changes in BrideStory’s and ParentStory’s business model, as Tokopedia will not meddle with either’s operations. BrideStory will still be focussed on improving its wedding directory products, thus providing a full-fledged ecosystem.

Also Read: Accelerating Asia launches seed-stage accelerator cohort

“We’re still figuring out how best to integrate the products for vendors and Tokopedia. We certainly can provide the service of BrideStory in Tokopedia, or it could be something else,” said Tanuwijaya.
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The post Tokopedia buys wedding directory BrideStory and children activity platform ParentStory appeared first on e27.

Working in a startup is very different from working in a large corporation

The startup life is full of twists and turns. One moment a startup might be making a breakthrough, but the next moment the team might be collapsing due to many possible causes, such as mismanagement, investor conflicts, and more.

Staying at a startup for several years is also not easy, especially in a society where young, fresh graduates are told to work for large corporations because the salary is higher and the career path is less risky.

For me, accepting the offer from my current company, Tagtoo, 4 years ago was actually the best decision I’ve ever made. It allowed me to closely observe how a CEO managed an organization and gave me the opportunity to take on more responsibilities.

Working in a startup is challenging. With that said, there are actually a few tips that can help you get through all the difficulties and succeed in any assigned mission.

Here are 3 takeaways I learned as a senior employee in a startup.

Be versatile and collaborative

In most cases, there is no clear structure in a startup organization. One moment you are approaching potential clients as a salesperson, the next moment you may be designing the next seasonal campaign as a marketer with other team members. This is exactly how a startup life looks like.

To be able to succeed in the aforementioned scene, being a master in a specific field is not necessary. In fact, being versatile and collaborative is key. A startup employee should be open in supporting any projects and be collaborative to work with colleagues from different teams to achieve a greater goal.

As far as I was concerned, my previous position was about managing our clients’ advertising accounts and optimizing their digital ads to reach the target ROI. Little did I realised that I was also required to handle customer service on behalf of the sales team sometimes due to the manpower shortage.

I didn’t think that my company didn’t appreciate my specialities. Instead, I was more than happy to support other teams in any way I could. I strongly agreed with the company’s mission and extremely valued the togetherness created by everyone in the organization.

Startup life is not as glamorous as one thinks, and, yes, it is sometimes kind of messy. But an ideal startup employee should be able to tolerate the chaos and utilise all his innate talents and work with other teams to ensure projects succeed.

Be independent and self-taught

In a startup, your manager might not be able to give you clear instructions all the time. Chances are he or she has several ongoing projects at hand and is supporting different functional teams.

In situations like this, being independent and self-taught becomes extremely critical for a startup employee to get on the right track and not to be at a loss of what to do. You can not expect others to come to your aid every time you are handling a hot potato.

Also Read: 7 ways to increase productivity at work

Take me as an example. There wasn’t anyone that possessed market research skills at Tagtoo when I took the position of Market Analyst. My assigned research reports continuously didn’t meet my CEO’s expectation. For the first 3 months, I was almost lost and was not sure how to step ahead.

Thankfully, I bounced back after realizing the sense of loss didn’t help at all. I changed the way I worked and started to utilize available online resources such as eMarketer and SimilarWeb to make reports look more professional. I also learned that I should see obstacles ahead as opportunities to improve my problem-solving skills and try to become a reliable employee that can take on greater responsibilities.

While it took me another 3 months to recover my morale, the process had enabled me to become more independent and deepened my skill of self-learning.

Be confident and ambitious

Startups are not like big corporates that have abundant resources to spare. It is critical to seize any potential opportunity, such as strategic partnerships, that enables your startup company to grow,

To help you startup gain a strong foothold in a market, being confident and ambitious is the key to success. The former allows you to take on more challenges and responsibilities while the latter helps you to see the bigger picture on the startup’s future development.

In my case, I was given numerous opportunities to engage with senior executives and convince them to adopt our services when I was promoted to oversee the business development in Jakarta. However, I found it hard to eliminate my fear to give decent sale presentations among experienced industry insiders and thereby failed to close any deal.

Also Read: What makes your readers click: Writing tips to improve conversions

Only when I came across several student entrepreneurs who seemed naive but confidently approached me did I learn that one’s confidence level can be increased through intentional practices. Subsequently, as the confidence level goes up, the way you see things will dramatically change and that’s when your ambition starts at play.

This may be the most difficult part to practice. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone and overcome your nervousness so that you can possess the self-belief that you can do a great job. It’s not easy, but I am pretty sure it will be rewarding.

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