Reynazran Royono's Steps to Build "Fita" Startup Out of Shadows Telkomsel

Telkomsel officially launched Fita's newest digital platform playing in the segment prevent healthcare. Previously, Fita app already present on the Google Play Store and Apps Store in the middle of this year.

One of the highlights, at the virtual launch event some time ago, Telkomsel while introducing Reynazran Royono as CEO of Fita. The man who is affectionately called Rey is known as Snapcart Founder & CEO, startups that offer services loyalty.

In a special interview by DailySocial.id, Rey admits that he has now fully worked at Fita. "Because I founder, of course [my name] will still be in board Snapcart. However, [my role] is only key decision-making, but not operational which is held by C-level,” he said.

According to Rey, at that time Snapcart had planned to enter the realm healthtech considering that this vertical is experiencing significant growth during the Covid-19 period. Especially in the segment prevent healthcare which is called doubling. Besides, he saw supply and demand in this segment have not been met.

At the same time, at that time Telkomsel also have a similar plan to enter prevent healthcare through Fita, and Rey said he was interested in the development plan. However, this situation is considered to have the potential to be a distraction for Snapcart who wants to enter the market healthtech. Therefore, he decided to leave his position as CEO of Snapcart.

Startup style and ecosystem

There are several interesting reasons that pushed Rey to dock to Fita. First, Telkomsel has a user base and service ecosystem that can help it grow Fita. As entrepreneur who have been poor across the digital ecosystem  leverage it is very significant considering user base is one of the most difficult metrics tostairs at startup.

Second, Telkomsel is said to have given Rey and her team great independence to develop Fita. According to Rey, Fita stands by using a startup-style approach. Organizationally, Fita's 40-person team came entirely from pro hire. Telkomsel only include one person in it to help the development and synergy of Fita.

Other than that, Telkomsel give freedom to Fita to practice growth mentality inherent in the startup culture. These things are considered to be able to help him to experiment at Fita, and freely channel his abilities and experiences as a entrepreneur.

“For me, startup success is driven by three things, namely product market fit, corporate culture, independent experimentation and research, Branding, to user acquisition. So far, Telkomsel have all three and none influence from the corporate side. This agenda cannot bepush from Telkomsel considering they don't have core there [healthtech]," he said.

Rey took an example on strategy Branding. According to him, Branding which is conducted Telkomsel will produce emotional selling than if it was done by Fita herself, which according to her, could be attached to values functionality. This is one of the big agendas that Fita wants to achieve.

Fita's long term plan

Since being developed last year, Fita is said to have achieved product market fit. According to company data, Fita has been downloaded 350 times on Android and iOS devices. Then, Fita also ranked first in the Fitness and Health category in the Google Play Store Indonesia. According to Rey, considering that 94% of the Indonesian market is dominated by Android devices, this achievement is significant, and at the same time proves that their products are accepted by the market.

He sees the challenges of developing a product wellness still big. Because the market healthtech Indonesia is currently 70% still dominated by services Telemedicine which accelerated rapidly last year. Market wellness starting to show a growth trend considering that many Indonesians are now starting to pay attention to health in the Covid-19 era.

For that, Rey is pushing awareness Fita to stick as a product wellness in Indonesia. He will also focus on encouraging value proposition products and target markets based on research that has been done for the last 1,5 years.

First, Fita will strengthen the localization of content that is close to the Indonesian persona. This content can be in the form of sports activities, meal plans, or community. Besides, he will also work on the system reward which can be obtained from various Fita content. He hopes the concept reward This can help shape healthy living habits of Indonesians.

"Here prevent healthcare still very neglected. That's why we do a lot partnerships to move wellness in Indonesia. While looking for Opportunity for monetization, we want to create high-performance growth startups, but still sustainable, said Rey.

Lastly, Fita will do enhance on features Existing to improve the user experience. Take for example, knowing the amount of nutrients and calories in food with AI technology. Another example is the use of AI to find out whether the sports movements that are being carried out are correct.

"We are targeting to reach one million users by adding ten coach from position 40 coach at the moment. In the short term, we hope to capture 1%-2% market share in the next 2-3 years. We want to experiment first, not to directly monetize with a paid model,” he added.

Opportunity to find investors

So far, one of the challenges of cellular operators in developing digital products is achieving Return on Investment (ROI). This is because the telecommunications industry is one of the most investment-intensive sectors, so ROI is crucial.

This was also highlighted by Rey. According to him, Telkomsel don't see it as a key metric for Fita's development. Since the beginning Telkomsel has given a commitment to Fita to develop as a startup. "When it comes to measurable metrics, we don't use revenue, but user base, especially for the first three years,” he added.

Furthermore, Rey also said that he did not rule out looking for investors outside the scope Telkomsel or Telkom Group, or even separated into a separate entity as is the case LinkAja (formerly T-cash).

“There is a phase to get there if you look at the experience Telkomsel earlier. I think this goes to plan Kuncie and Fita. However, please note that at this time we can't talk about it, considering that Fita is still under structure Telkomsel, and regardless of its approach as a startup.”