How Families Together Build Startups

The dynamic startup industry attracts various talents to take part in it. No exception for those who have blood ties, aka brothers and sisters or even twins. DailySocial noted that several startups founded by this family were able to survive and remain relevant in the competitive industry.

These startups are engaged in the media industry, foodtech, Gaming, and fintech. Here are some discussions about family experiences and support when building a startup.

Anton and Roki: common hobbies and interests

When setting up touch, brothers Anton and Roki Soeharyo have the same hobby, namely gaming, which was handed down directly by their father. Seeing the opportunity, when they grew up, Anton and Roki decided to start a company Gaming in Indonesia.

"At first I just thought if I could play games and 'get paid'. After we grew up we started 'evolve' and decided to create his own game. Finally, we thought about how our startup can lift the Indonesian game industry," said Anton.

Touchten itself was founded in 2009. Although it was founded with his younger brother, Anton is now focusing on developing the PlayGame and MainGame platforms. Roki now serves as CEO, replacing Anton.

"Blood is thicker than water. Even though the company is different, my sister will always be in my heart. If there is anything I can help with from moral support or any kind of support, I will certainly be helped. As entrepreneur Of course we need moral support or just friends to confide in," said Anton.

For those who want to set up a startup with their family, Anton shares interesting tips based on his experience building a business with his younger brother.

"What's definitely difficult is maintain clear distance between family and business. Be professional, must be firm between family and colleagues. When you are at home you can be brother and sister, but when you step foot in the office you have to be professional so you can move forward," said Anton.

Mario, Marbio, and Marius Suntanu: Work-life balance

Yummy Corp starting from the vision of Mario Suntanu who saw the development of the industry food delivery which is growing rapidly everywhere, including in Indonesia. Mario took his younger brothers, Ismaya Group, and other Co-Founders (Juan Chene and Daisy Harjanto) to build a company together.

The first stage of the startup was led by Marbio Suntanu as Managing Director to build a business that provides healthy, delicious lunches, helps productivity, but is still affordable. In 2018, Mario joined full-time at Yummy Corp as CEO. In the same year, Marius Suntanu joined as Food Development Director and was responsible for all variations of Yummy Corp. food. In one year, the team he leads managed to present around 11.350 different menu variations.

One of the keys to the success of Yummy Corp is the positive relationship between siblings. Similar to other co-worker relationships, each must be able to support in various situations. Another thing to note is to respect each other's opinions with each other expertise in their respective fields to complement each other.

"The advantages of being one family, discussions and Brainstorm outside office hours very possible to do at family gatherings. However, there needs to be a limit to the extent to which the discussion continues so that work-life balance stay awake and family relations outside the office stay warm," said Mario.

combination expertise Ivan Tambunan, Mikhail Tambunan, and Christopher Gultom

The advantages claimed by CEO Ivan Tambunan, CFO Mikhail Tambunan, and Chief Credit Officer Christopher Gultom are: expertise each. This makes Ivan more confident in setting strategies and leading product development Acceleration. Each is responsible based on skill and work experience in running a company.

"Supported with background each of which is related to the financial sector, we have the same vision, namely reducing financing gap in Indonesia, and the biggest one is experienced by SMEs," said Christopher.

According to Mikhail, the hardest thing is how to maintain sibling relations in the midst of professional relationships in the company. If the vision and mission as well as the duties and authorities are not clear, then the worst thing can happen is a rift in brotherly relations.

For Ivan, even though there is a risk of conflict that can damage relationships, there are many benefits that can be obtained if you set up a startup with your family, especially in terms of moral support and mutual trust.

"Most importantly, startups must run with merit based. So building with family is not only because of kinship [nepotism] but because it really is expertise from each side. In addition, from the start, they had to be compact and decided to be transparent and fair against each other," Ivan said.

Winston and William Utomo: media business

As CEO IDN Media, Winston Utomo started a business in the form of a website called IDN Times with his younger brother William since 2014. Now IDN Times has become a media platform for various generations, especially the younger generation, even though both of them have no experience in the field of journalism.

Unfortunately Winston and William Utomo did not respond to requests for interviews DailySocial related to his experience of starting and running a business with this brother.

Reynold and Ronald Wijaya moral support

Unlike other startup founders, Reynold and Ronald Wijaya have startups in different industries. Reynold Wijaya CEO my capital targeting the fintech industry, while his twin brother Ronald Wijaya is building a business healthy food products named Lemonilo.

Even though they were different, when they started building a business, each one gave each other moral support. Ronald felt that this was true when he built his first startup, namely Consulate.

“In those dark times, I actually got a lot of moral support from Reynold, and of course from his wife and other family. Because of the nature nature from our very different businesses, so I get more moral support. But I think moral support is actually far more important than anything else. There are many times when we want to give up, but finally bounce back because of the moral support," said Ronald.

As brothers, Reynolds and Ronald's relationship was very close. Both can rely on each other and open to each other. As twins, they were always in the same school from birth to university.

"Of course we support each other and in running the business try our best to provide input on business development, solve problems or grow the company well," said Reynold.

For those who want to build a startup with their brother or sister, there are interesting tips shared by Ronald and Reynold. Although they decided not to set up a business together, there was an important lesson that the two of them focused on.

"The best thing if you still want to start a joint business is that it's okay to divide the shares to other families from the start, as long as it's clear. But in terms of management, there shouldn't be two voices. You have to determine who the captain of the ship is so you can clearly distinguish between management and ownership," said Ronald.