Letter to readers: Indonesia’s final frontier

Dear readers,

I watched a fair bit of Star Trek growing up. I still do. There’s something about venturing into a new frontier that appeals to me.

But it’s all escapism. In the real world, exploring new frontiers is less glamorous though still exciting.

A few Indonesian startups are exploring what’s perhaps the final frontier in Indonesian retail.

Instead of sending starships, they’re driving lorries to the country’s rural areas. Their mission? To empower roadside stalls or warungs with digital tools to help sellers make a better living for themselves.

Last week, we wrote about Dagangan, a startup that is looking to become Indonesia’s next big consumer goods company. It’s taking a unique approach: Besides empowering stall owners, it’s setting up its own house brand, too.

Photo credit: Dagangan

We also featured Ula, which has experienced rapid growth in Indonesia since it started. It’s picking up lessons from players that have come before it, and has the additional benefit of gaining funding and wisdom from the co-founders of Udaan, India’s multi-billion dollar equivalent.

Turning to Singapore, we look at how the country may be approaching a golden age for SaaS startups.

A number of startups here have made a decent fortune selling software to customers an ocean away, which makes us more confident that the next wave of SaaS companies can do even better.

As we were writing this story, news about Patsnap’s huge valuation broke. It’s certainly a sign that things are moving in the right direction for Singapore.

There are bound to be some bumps in the road, however, as insurtech platform CXA found out when it had to lay off its entire team in Vietnam in the process of growing its SaaS business.

These challenges should be viewed with the right perspective: Startups face them all the time, and many end up doing alright. That was certainly the case for TradeGecko, which had to lay off a quarter of its staff en route to an US$80 million sale.

These stories convince me that I probably don’t have the stomach to start a VC-funded high-growth company. There’s just a lot of heartbreak involved while working for an uncertain outcome.