East Ventures Alpha Holds First Mentoring Session [REPORT]

It took no more than two days for East Ventures Alpha to start its first mentoring session, with the mentors coming from its parent company, East Ventures. Willson Cuaca, Batara Eto, and Taiga Matsuyama are three of the four partners of East Ventures.

Things began with an introduction of East Ventures and how it actually started investing in Indonesia and Singapore’s start-ups. After that, the start-ups introduced themselves one-by-one and described what they are making as well as each member’s role in the startup.

Willson then emphasized why it is such a great opportunity for these start-ups to join the first incubator/accelerator in Indonesia. He explained that over the next 100 days they will meet experienced mentors who have already gone through the process and exited their start-ups. At the end of the incubation they will present to a panel of investors on ‘Demo Day.’

East Ventures is helping to build a support system that was not present before, so in that sense the project isn’t only about the start-ups that will be incubated — but rather it’s also about the ecosystem as a whole.

Willson speaking during the session

Batara, Taiga, and the start-ups

Batara then took over from Willson and shared his story, going back to Mixi in Japan. Before creating Mixi, the founding company had previously started a jobs listing site and Batara applied to be a developer there.

So what were the initial impressions of the start-up founders listening to all this? Bayu Raharjo from Promoote said that his favorite moment was…

…when Batara Eto shared his journey how he took Mixi from 10,000 in three months to 10 million in three years. He funded it from all his projects before he started working for the company. It really boosted our confidence to do the same and hopefully with East Ventures Alpha’s help, we can do it. I can’t wait for the next mentoring session!

There appears to be a lot of spirit and passion in this first batch at East Ventures Alpha, or as Willson called it, East Ventures Alpha – First Class (taking a page from the X-men film, of course). But these companies are works in progress and have lots still to do, especially on their pitches. If you’re in the area, do make sure you come to the East Ventures Alpha Demo Day in a few months to see what they’ve become!