Potential Application of Advanced Technology in Indonesian Startups

In a conversation with several investors in Indonesia, it is said that the focus of most technology startups in Indonesia is limited to product implementation, providing complete services, and marketing in order to gain rapid growth.

When it comes to innovation, are startup applications limited to basic needs or will they continue to evolve to apply technology more deeply like products in the world's technology center?

The right product, the main service

In general, the activities and capabilities of startups in Indonesia have been able to disrupt the existing market. Ideally, to develop appropriate products, startups should be able to prioritize the technology they want to implement. According to the Chief Innovation Officer DOCK Rudianto, in the early stages of a technology startup, the most important thing is to get product-market fit.

"Therefore, startups need to choose technologies that support development systems with extreme speed. As for services, startups must remove the idea of ​​having full functionality, by building minimum functionalization and focusing on services to data collection and of course listening. feedback from users," said Rudianto.

While CEO sirclo Brian Marshal sees, in the context of startups that focus on the Indonesian market, service is a top priority.

"I think this approach is in line with mindset to remain agile in such a dynamic market condition. Identifying what consumers need can help businesses deliver the right technology," said Brian.

If startups are able to produce technology that is considered sophisticated and is really needed today, make sure they already have a target market and adjust conditions.

"The concern is that Indonesian startups do not need to compete in technology with startups globally. Create appropriate innovations and continue to focus on business growth, target user acquisition strategies, and strengthening the startup economy unit," said Founder & Managing Partner Indogen Capital Chandra Firmanto.

Focus on basic ecosystem

Indeed, Indonesian startups have the potential to apply advanced technology. However, due to the lack of support from the government and the market, most local startups still focus on the most basic ecosystem and don't offer much new technology.

This strategic move is fine as long as the startup has the right target market and a strong economic unit. In the end, adjusting to conditions and over time, relevant and "deeper" technologies can be developed accordingly capital owned and activities fundraising which continues to be done.

"Conditions like this do not only occur in Indonesia, but also startups in other Southeast Asian countries. The advantages of Indonesian startups are the large population of young people and a large market. It is important then [local startups] focus on the market and the foundation of the economic unit. strong," said Chandra.

According to Brian, there is no technology that is directly felt by users in Indonesia.frontier". It is still rare to find local startups that adopt technology that has never been implemented in Indonesia region other.

"[Nevertheless] various large startups in Indonesia are able to present technology with strong and sophisticated infrastructure to enable complex digital activity. Examples like enable transactions that last for flash sale Harbolnas 12.12 without any downtime," said Brian.

According to CEO DycodeX Andri Yadi, it is undeniable that there are still few investors who are interested in pouring their funds into startups that are focused on developing technology. However, in the end, these obstacles did not discourage startup activists from continuing to build new technologies.

"In the end, whether it gets funding support or not, the business must continue. And new technologies and innovations must still be created," said Andri.

On the other hand, investors see, when founder intend to raise funds to the VC, make sure the technology applied is real. Avoid doing sugar coating hoping to get funding.

"Actually, Indonesian startups have potential, but it's still not enough. It's difficult for them to convince the market if new technologies and innovations are presented. [..] Make sure the ideas and technology are honest and real," said VP Investment Kejora-SBI Orbit Fund Richie Wirjan.

Potential application of advanced technology

Currently, there are several startups that focus on implementing AI, IoT, Big Data, and other technologies. But in reality, more than 90% of business cases can actually be met with the underlying technology for now. Most startup activists still don't see the urgency to focus on developing advanced technology.

"The 'basic' standards are now getting more and more quality. Continuous integration is also becoming more common nowadays," said Rudianto.

It is hoped that in the future there will be more startups that offer innovation and advanced technology for the people of Indonesia.

"In order to be able to deliver technology that sophisticated and also to stakeholder must prioritize the research aspect in developing adequate infrastructure," said Brian.

In addition, another way to provoke more new innovations is to recruit a professional workforce who already has experience working in foreign technology companies, especially in the world's technology centers.

"Actually Indonesia has a collection of diaspora who have worked in global technology companies. To recruit these people with world-class technological knowledge, for example a PhD in Computer Vision, we need to have very strong financial reserves. Another more affordable way is to develop our own world-level people," said Rudianto.