‘What it takes to be Indonesia’s next unicorn’: David Fernando Audy

Maintaining a successful and sustainable business is not only about having the brightest ideas nor having the largest amount of capital. It is also about execution, building the right team, giving the right solutions, and several other criteria that we believe are what make a company capable of surviving, scaling up, and eventually transforming itself into a unicorn. However, above all, there are four pivotal pillars that startup companies must have as their strengths in order to transform into unicorns.

1. Entrepreneurship

It is the ability to create a business and the excellence in execution and delivery, which is the characteristic of the founders of the business. We believe that the founders’ credibility and integrity also play an important role in the success of a business, bearing in mind that big businesses are built on reputation and track records. Founders should work hard—and more importantly work smart—to maintain a good speed, momentum, and accuracy, as business is always about timing and seizing the opportunities. Another trait that we think plays an important role in being a notable entrepreneur is humility, the willingness to learn, and continuously improve oneself.

When talking about a market-fit product, it means the degree to which a product or service is capable of meeting or satisfying the market demand, as a solution to current market problems or challenges. It should not be something that is too visionary, or long overdue; it should be a solution, the right answer to fulfill the market needs.

3. Company’s scalability

Just having a brilliant idea for your business is not enough if the company does not have the capability to scale its business, increase profits as it grows, with a business model that can be replicated successfully. Once a business has passed the economies of scale, it continues to soar. Scalability is what makes a business become giant companies, in tech, we call it, a unicorn.

4. Institutionalization

Startup companies should not always rely solely on its founding team. At one point, business processes and management systems must be institutionalized to ensure continuous growth and sustainability, removing its dependency to a certain individual only, but instead to be dependent on a reliable system and  professional management.

What is next after unicorn

What comes after attaining the unicorn status is to make the right decisions and act timely to address the problems throughout the journey to scale up. One example from East Ventures’ own story or portfolio is Traveloka. In early 2020, as COVID-19 first arrived in Indonesia, Traveloka has prepared itself to face the pandemic head on. As travel restrictions came into force, they decided to completely cut off their marketing expenses to 0, which happens to be their biggest spending as an online travel company. They took an even tougher choice in streamlining their operation to be more efficient and to adjust with the situations.

Despite going through an undoubtedly hard time during the pandemic, Traveloka continued to be resilient and this success story was proven as they kept operations running. Once the issue had subdued, they eventually continued to expand and improve the company. Traveloka has become stronger and is cementing its position as market leader.