Indonesia’s techpreneur problem: the lack of business model offered
I’ve always turned green with envy when I read or heard about the success stories of IT giants that have appeared frequently in the international media so far: None of the guys behind them were Indonesian!
What’s wrong? Do we not have the talent or capability in this area? I don’t think so. Maybe our IT guys have already accomplished something, but haven’t received proper exposure.
Or maybe they created something big, but didn’t have enough strategy to promote and market it — so it remained silent, unknown and finally disappeared.
I often meet talented young programmers when I make a trip to cities across the country. And when I talked with them — amazing! — they had brilliant ideas! They had even created a prototype and it operated well, but it’s a pity they didn’t have the first clue how to capitalize on it.
I suggested that they talk with some investors or possible business partners. But here the problem is — one of them, at least — they don’t network well.
I tried to cross-check the information: I spoke with the potential investors they mentioned, and I got the impression that most of these investors weren’t interested in the software or application due to the weakness of its business model.
“They failed to convince us how to sell and make money from that,” said a guy in the telecommunications industry. “Most of them create their software or application by approaching its technology side and ignoring its business side. Of course, it would be absurd for us to step forward with them.”
Yes, to create a start-up company, especially in the IT sector, it’s not enough to count on technology geeks, but should incorporate professionals from other fields like business, management and law.
Fine. Start-ups should come up with solid team members instead of forming just a techie group, which has small bargaining power when they deal with the industry.
The full version of this piece was originally appeared in The Jakarta Post
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You met alot of bright Indonesian partner? Well hook me up with one :-). I rarely met a bright Indonesian engineer (by bright I mean, dare to do something different instead of following the herd). The one that is bright enough is already swayed to be an academician. So please hook me up if you met one, I might work out the business side and still have enough understanding on the technical side
When I visit Indonesia, I’m also amazed by the number of talented people; engineers, flash developers, and designers etc. alike.
I thinks it’s not entirely true that a start-up need a whole team of professionals from different fields just to get started. Many of today’s success stories in the IT sector got off with only a few techies working on a project which didn’t make too much business sense in the first place.
So, it may also be a misconception by talented young engineers that established business partners are a prerequisite to continue working on an interesting project. Perhaps another talented friend could help out just as well for the first few months, and another? One may also argue that businesses in Indonesia are operating in a recovering economy with plenty of other risks to worry about?