Listening to the Struggle to Build a Startup from Indonesian and United States Startup Actors

The startup world is tough and full of challenges and failures. These things want to be conveyed in a documentary made by an American filmmaker, Cynthia Wade.

In a special film screening session initiated by 500 Startups, three Indonesian entrepreneurs were also presented to share their experiences, ups and downs, and the targets they still want to achieve as startup founders. They are iGrow CEO Andreas Senjaya, Happy5 Founder & CEO Doni Priliandi, and Infonesia Founder & CEO Ihsan Fadhlur Rahman. Venture Partner 500 Startups for 500 Durians Ashraf Sinclair is moderating this event.

Failure in the startup world

Establishing a startup business means that you have to be able to survive and accept failure when running a business. When a business idea has been found and a solid team has been formed (even if it is a small number), there are still many paths for startups to take. Starting from funding to target markets and of course proving that the business model you have will work well.

For Doni Priliandi, it is not easy to run a startup business. Needed grit to full support from the closest family to be able to continue running the business.

"When building a startup business, there will be many rejections, whether it's from customers, investors to employees. When these difficult times come, family is the best support for you," said Donny.

Meanwhile, according to Andreas Senjaya, family and closest friends can not only be ideal supporters when difficulties come, but also potential customers who are ready to try, buy, and provide criticism when a startup product or service is ready to be launched.

"They are early adopting which is ideal and of course very helpful. Not just to get help but feedback honest and the opportunity to become a regular customer in the future," said Andreas.

Balance between work and personal life

Inspired by his educational background and experience during an internship at Uber, Infonesia's Founder & CEO Ihsan Fadhlur Rahman is interested in building the Infonesia startup business, which is still very young. To be able to prove it to investors and users, Ihsan and his team must be willing to spend more time working to produce interesting and useful products.

"According to me endurance, hustle and keep pushing is the most effective strategy for running a startup business," said Ihsan.

To be able to run a business well, it takes a good balance between work and personal life. This later became the reference for Andreas.

"Spend enough time for your family and make sure you as a startup owner can set aside time with your family. This is important to maintain a balance in life."

The conclusion that can be drawn from the experiences of the startups from the United States and the three Indonesian startups is that to be able to run a startup business properly, it requires great readiness and endurance to go through all challenges and find the best way to get out of the problems that come.