#StartupLokal 1st Anniversary

Apr 17, 2011

#StartupLokal 1st Anniversary – a Personal Note

Being one of #StartupLokal initiators to nurture the #StartupLokal @startuplokal community have changed my life. I remember a year ago, I really want to attend the first #StartupLokal meetup when something really bad happened. It was a personal problem that you already know the outcome back in January 2011.

In the emotional roller coaster that time, I drag myself to come to the 2nd #StartupLokal meetup where I met @nuniek again after a long while and first time knowing @SaGad . I saw a huge enthusiasm in the community, when they listened to startup founders who just got back from Echelon 2010 in Singapore, telling their story about that startup competition. At that time, I think of nothing but supporting them. After 2 more meetups, @SaGad ask me to become one of the initiators. I refused, because I thought I don’t have spare time anymore. But when @nataliardianto ask me with the same request, and told me that this won’t take a lot of time, only few meetings, that’s all hehe :)), I finally said yes. And it maybe one of the best decisions that I ever made in my life.

So, long story short, I started ‘working’ with them (@SaGad @Nuniek @NataliArdianto ). Meeting a lot of important people. Taking care of our regular events. Thinking ahead about our next plan. We do it all without questioning rewards or expecting anything but networking and opportunities that might struck us along the way. When Enterprise Ireland invited us to learn more about how to nurture startup environment in Dublin, we never thought #StartupLokal will bring us ‘that far’, and we’re so thankful for the great opportunity.

Last week was #StartupLokal 1st Anniversary. It’s been 12x we successfully did the meetups. More and more startups built (Have you seen ‘the crowd’ at #StartupLokal Showcase?), more people find business partners, more founders got investments, and Indonesian startups environment started to shape. We’re so glad to see the growth. That’s why to celebrate, we create a special 1 day party at Platinum XXI & IndoChine, FX, Jakarta. The topic was “Digital Heros go Global“, featuring Indonesian startups that going global like Eevent.com @EdySulistyo & Sixreps.com @DennySantoso

We also launch our book: #StartupLokal Kita: Ide, Dedikasi, Strategi self published at NulisBuku.com. Huge credit for Rhein Mahatma @reintweets and Joshua Kevin @oleeoebi who have been working hard to collect the article, writing, editing in such tight deadline. The book is about how Indonesian startup founders found their idea, build strategy and dedicate themselves in their startup. We’re preparing the English version and should be available within couple of months.

The idea of the party itself was a sudden decision (we have plan A and it didn’t worked out), and I’d like to thank Sitra WIMAX, for being our main sponsor, Weber Shandwick for PR related help, Enterprise Ireland for supporting & brought great speakers like Pat O’Riordan (EI) & Paul Costigan (Movidius), Nokia as our yearly sponsored, all our friends from the media that attend the event and last but not least #StartupLokal volunteers that have been working very hard together with us. I’m so grateful to have you all onboard.

To my partners, it’s been full of pressure weeks for us, and it was hard (because all of us have the ego of tigers), but we manage to stay amazingly solid together, all for the community!