Edward Tirtanata's New Role: Become an "Angel Investor" Through Capital Memories

Startups new retail Kopi Kenangan has received a lot of attention thanks to the business coffee chain Indonesia who received big funding from a line of well-known VCs, including Sequoia Capital and Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin.

The rise of this business cannot be separated from the efforts of its founders, Edward Tirtanata and James Prananto. Now Kopi Kenangan has been transformed into one of the brand the strongest coffee drink, especially among young people in Indonesia.

DailySocial had the opportunity to interview Edward Tirtanata, not as a business founder, but his new experience sebagai angel investors through Memories Capital. How does Edward interpret this new role?

PASSION in the field of entrepreneurship

Edward's role became angel investors In fact, this has been going on for the last year. Through angel funds (under the name of the managed fund Kenangan Investment Fund), he has invested in a number of Indonesian startups, including BukuKas, GudangAda, OtoKlix, and Medigo (Smart Clinic).

From the start, he admitted that he was very passionate about the field entrepreneurship. Hal This is proven by his efforts to build Kopi Kenangan. However, his success in building a business doesn't want to stop there.

For him, entrepreneurship can be likened to "a good wealth management" which involves asset classes different. This means that if he wants to differentiate, he doesn't want to invest in good assets (blue chips) or just deposit.

"A good investor it should be possible diversify. Asset class angel investing, in one year an increase of ten times is normal. "That's interesting for me," said Edward.

Through Kenangan Kapital, he hopes to contribute more to the Indonesian startup industry. This also encouraged Edward to try out new experiences by getting involved in startup funding.

Attraction to the sector consumertech

consumer tech is one of the business verticals that investors are looking at. Product consumer combined with technology is the reason why this business can bescale up easily.

The most relevant example is the proliferation of startups that are entering traditional business and utilizing technology with an approach direct-to-consumer (DTCs). Eyewear or beauty products can now be marketed without the need to build distribution channels.

Realizing this trend, Edward admitted that he was interested in playing more in the sector consumertech via Capital Memories. He thinks it's still there missing gaps di consumertech Indonesia.

According to him, Indonesia still needs more disruption considering products/services that target segments consumer still counts underrated from a technological perspective. On the other hand, Edward wants to see how far this vertical will lead him to new experiences in entrepreneurship.

This is reflected in a number of its portfolios, which mostly operate in the B2C segment. A slightly different hypothesis is taken when investing into Medigo.

The business model promoted by Medigo is considered to be able to provide impact to segments consumer. Clinics are the main pillar of the health ecosystem in Indonesia. Currently, there are still many clinics that have not been standardized, while the cost of hospital treatment is still relatively expensive and cannot yet reach the global segment. grassroots.

"We took an early bet when the numbers were still small, but now they are [Medigo] showing promising results even during the pandemic," said Edward.

Challenge

Outside of his main focus on consumertech, Edward revealed that he had not set a target for the portfolio he would pursue in 2021. The same goes for targets range the investment that Memories of Kapital will disburse.

According to him, angel investors do not have pressure specific in providing funding. This is the opposite of how VCs work, which have their own KPIs. He tends to choose to invest if he sees the opportunities before his eyes.

"I think so angel investors You don't have to have an investment target [issued]. It all depends on deal by deal. "Of course, if there are exceptions for certain companies, I can invest as much as possible," he explained.

Even though he doesn't have a specific KPI, Edward emphasized that the most important thing in following the growth of his portfolio business is product to market fit. If a startup gains organic traction, at least the metrics it measures are customer acquisition costs (ACC).

However, Edward admitted that there were challenges angel investors Actually, it's not much different venture capitalist. The most common is about selecting a portfolio. He tends to choose founder who can run/find the right business.

"Lots good founders, but not much good founders that pick a good business. It's better to invest in a good business though founderhis mediocre. The main thing for me conviction. It means, no matter what happens, they still survive and make the best out of it. The term is there determination," he said.

Become a CEO and investor at the same time

Then how does Edward manage his role as CEO and angel investors as the size of the Kenangan Kapital portfolio grows in the future?

"First, I need to emphasize that full time jobs My main role is as CEO of Kopi Kenangan. I do not want passion me to help the entrepreneur "It actually disrupts my main job at Kopi Kenangan," he said.

Second, he believes that it is not good for any businessman to depend too much on their investors for a long time. Ideally, these founders are expected to be independent and focus on their business within three to six months.

"Because Memories of Capital are like family office or there are no outside investors, I don't exist pressure for deploy capital as is the case private equity or VC. I can invest in a very few but exceptional founders and help 2-3 founders at a time," he said.

In fact, he admitted that he would be happy if someone from his portfolio joined a well-known accelerator program. According to Edward, that could mean they wouldn't need his involvement as much in the business.

Accommodating the ecosystem angel investors

It cannot be denied that the ecosystem angel investors In Indonesia it can be said that the echo is not heard. Whereas angel investors plays a big role in providing startup funding in the initial phase.

According to Edward, existence angel investors in Indonesia is very different from in the United States (US). This startup industry mecca has platform which netted thousands angel investors there. That way, startups can get direct access and find funding more easily angel investors.

"Here is access to angel investors it's a bit difficult, so they tend to look for funding options from their families. Therefore, this is what makes them unable to provide [relevant] experience to the startups they invest in because investorit's not from background startup," explained Edward.

He understands this situation. According to him, the phenomenon was the same when the VC industry only emerged and became popular in recent years. As the industry develops, he hopes the ecosystem angel investors will also develop later.