Startup Academy Camp 2 was successfully held on Saturday and Sunday (July 13-14, 2019) at GO-JEK Headquarters, Pasaraya Blok M. In this second camp, participants were given material on building a steady financial growth and also marketing tips in the startup world.
Startup Academy Camp 2 – First Day
The first day of camp 2 was started with material sharing about “Fundraising and Monetization” with Mrs. Dina Andini Rohali as CFO of Hijup.com. She explained the key to finance and accounting in startup. In addition, the participants were given further explanations about establishing a financially stable startup.
During the interview, she shared her knowledge and experience while working as a CFO. She further explained that startups have funds which every dollar counts and produces something. “We must be detailed and careful. Monitors and records must be neatly organized because we are accountable to stakeholders,” Mrs. Dina said when we asked about how to manage funds in her company. “I am happy to see motivated young people happy to explore their knowledge further,” She said about her impression on the Startup Academy.
The next material given was “Know who and how to get support in Indonesia Startup Ecosystem” by Ms. Elsye Yolanda as Head of Operations at GnB Accelarator. She explained about the importance of investation in the startup world. The participants also gained new knowledge about type of investors, tips on pitching and also how to build connections with investors.
After lunch break, we held a talk show with Mr. Denny Santoso, Founder of DigitalConversion and DigitalMarketer.id with the theme Marketing 4.0. He shared his experience in building a startup. He also explained the importance of understanding the target market and what they need.
“The marketing trend is frictionless, people don’t wake up early and label themselves as an online or offline person. Companies think about how customers can get their goods as easily as possible. Marketing trends are triggered by the many technologies that arise,” he said when we asked about marketing 4.0 trends and factors of marketing trend changes. “When customers are provided with the best experience, they will gladly accept it. People are not just looking for products, but also looking for a shopping experience. Marketing 4.0 provides an online to offline experience, for example, QR code.” He added after we asked about implementations of marketing 4.0 for startup success. “For people who don’t understand marketing, they think marketing and sales are the same. They discard the market value. It will be a big problem if they (companies or startups) only sell functional products, then more competition will arise. Things that should be done is assessing the market needs and values that can be offered, so we won’t be competing only on goods, but also offering something new,” Mr Denny said about misconceptions in marketing.
Gigih, one of the participants from Bandung Undergrads team shared his story during Startup Academy. “Many things broke my assumptions about startups. By meeting excellent people, I learned a lot,” Gigih said when interviewed. “We always think we have great ideas, but that great idea for our heads is not necessarily for others. The best way for others to know our ideas are good or not is to ask it directly. There are people who have ideas and want to make products. People usually make it first without thinking what actually people need. The next thing you know, the product is already made, but people don’t necessarily use it,” he added when discussing about experiences during the startup academy that he would use in the future.
On the last session, participants was given explanations and preparation for elevator pitch. Then, the participants did the elevator pitch with their mentors.
Startup Academy Camp 2 – Day 2
The second day began with pitching for investors by the participants and judged with experts in their fields.
“There are many good proposals with interesting perspectives. There are some startups that have unique and contextual with this era,” said Mr. Andreas Senjaya as one of the judges. “People who are able to create something are very important to increase the speed of innovation in Indonesia. We can always have solutions to problems. Technology activists must continue to improve their quality and creativity, fix contextual problems also always able to come up with solutions according to current development.” Mr. Andreas said about the importance of technology activist in Indonesia. “Try to build high-level expertise, up to the highest level of competence. With higher expertise, you will get better privileges to compete with competitors and create high quality products. While you’re still at university, take advantage of networking, time, lecturers, coaches and friends who can help improve your quality. You can think about whether using the competency as a career path in the entrepreneurial or professional world later. Importantly, if you are qualified, you will have the power to contribute, “said Mr. Andreas on student as technology activists.
After pitching session, the participants held a mentoring session for the last time. “During my time as a mentor, I’m happy to see people who develop ideas, are still very excited.” Said Mr. Wicak Hidayat on his experience as one of the mentor for Startup Academy. “The biggest problem while building a startup is understanding the market target. We have to make a precise calculation. The most important thing is to know who the target is and what the problems are. We should also know what the the target market likes,” he added when discussing the biggest problem in the startups of the groups he mentored. “Technology is like language, if people go to school, they must learn language. Now you have to understand what technology is like. Don’t only use it without understanding how it functions. Understanding technology doesn’t mean that everyone has to be able to code. But you must understand how to use it, how it works and the concept of it. That’s why understanding technology is a must,”he said about the importance of education about technology for Indonesians. Finally, Mr. Wicak advised technology activists among students to always be down to earth and continue to learn many things from others. Besides that, he hopes that they will also pay attention to the technology of their inovation.
Startup Academy Camp 2 Day 2 was ended with networking sessions and awarding nights. There were three best participants, CGv Consulting is ranked third, EndorseGo is ranked second and the first best participant is Bandung Undergrads. Congratulations to all participants in finishing Startup Academy. We still have Data Science Academy and Software Engineering Academy coming around next week, so keep on following us on our social media to see the exciting journey of COMPFEST on Instagram @compfest, Twitter @compfest, and our main site http://www.compfest.id (Editorial Marketing/Sarah)
