Skystar Ventures Launches “STARPODS,” a Platform for Startup Practitioners to Share Knowledge

The two speakers discuss the startup ecosystem in the STARPODS event. (Doc. Skystar Ventures UMN)

The business incubation program and collaborative-driven space under the auspices of Multimedia Nusantara University (Universitas Multimedia Nusantara/UMN), Skystar Ventures, launched the “STARPODS” podcast on Thursday (19/1/2023). STARPODS aims to be a platform for startup practitioners to share their knowledge with the public. 

Two startup practitioners attended the event, namely Co-founder & CEO of Lifepack.id, Natali Ardianto, and VP of Investment at Kejora Capital, Erwin Arifin. 

In the first episode of STARPODS, the theme discussed was “Is it the Right Time to Build a Startup?”

Erwin answered the big question: “I think now is still the best time [to build a startup] because, luckily, we live in Indonesia. There are still many problems [to be solved], but there are also many opportunities.”

Not only that, Erwin revealed that many global investors are now starting to move their investments to countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. 

“If we look at it, China used to be the main go-to-market for global investors. So billions of dollars are put there, but if you look at the data, in the last year, since inflation and winter markets of all kinds, billions of dollars have also disappeared from  China. Did the money really disappear, just evaporate? No,” Erwin said.

“When they see emerging markets like Indonesia and Southeast Asia, they’ll do this. Many global investors, we just see how many global VCs suddenly open offices in Singapore, suddenly open offices in Jakarta, a lot, a lot. Global investors started shifting their investments from different regions to Southeast Asia, to Indonesia.”

In line with Erwin, Natali believes there are still many opportunities for startups to grow in Indonesia. This is seen from Indonesia’s economic conditions, which are quite favorable compared to other countries. 

“In terms of Indonesia, we’ve never had a crisis. Because 70 percent of our GDP is consumption, people will not stop consuming. For others, for example, Ireland, it is 90 percent of exports, its GDP. So if you can’t export, 90 percent of your GDP is gone. But in Indonesia, 70 percent is consumption. So for me, yes, we will not enter the crisis.” 

Natali also said that Indonesia still has many high-value problems to solve. 

“Creating a startup is solving people’s problems, not my problem. Find the problem that is worth so big. Because solving a problem whose value is only 10 million dollars, the value is one million dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars, the time is the same. And even though there are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of problems in Indonesia,” she added. 

STARPODS is a discussion program created by UMN’s Skystar Ventures, which is packaged in the form of a podcast and held on-site for startup enthusiasts. This program will be held monthly by presenting practitioners and founders from the startup ecosystem.

By Skystar Ventures

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora