Life after exiting Tokobagus (LIVE BLOG)

Remco Lupker, co-founder of Indonesia’s biggest classifieds site Tokobagus, is one of the first foreign tech founders who has made it in Indonesia. After selling off the company, he started video ad network Ambient Digital Indonesia.

In this panel, Tech in Asia writer Enricko Lukman will be catching up with Lupker to find out how he propelled Tokobagus to the top, why he decided to leave in the end, and what plans he has next in terms of the kind of companies he’d like to invest in.

#14:22: Welcome Remco Lupker up on stage, here he comes. Just behind him comes Enricko Lukman, our chief editor for Tech In Asia Indonesia.

#14:25: Many might recognize this interesting pair, they were on stage last night. Lupker says he moved to Indonesia from Holland about five years ago after having started Tokobagus because he felt that he needed to be here full time.

#14:26: When Lupker started Tokobagus eight years ago, they sent 1.4 million emails, spamming people to get traction. But now he advises people no to do that.

#14:26: When they first started out, they started out with four people in total. “A startup with nothing” in Bali. Lupker wishes that he stayed there longer, but it’s not a typical startup environment.

#14:27: Lukman asks “What’s the secret sauce?” Lupker answers, “Aggression. At first, we started slowly, but we kept pushing for the seven years. And we just executed quite okay, I think. Attacking the market as hard as you can.”

#14:28: “Why did you go so aggressive into TV ads? How can you measure that?” asks an audience member. “I got to be a little bit careful here with what I answer. But in general TV is for building awareness and online is for conversion. If you reach a certain volume you might think about TV as the main drive for a classifieds site.”

#14:30: Lukman: “What do you think is more important, awareness of conversion?” Lupker: “Well, I’m a conversion guy. But this is an early market and there is some place for education at the moment, Even the Rocket guys are doing that. I think it is inevitable.”
#14:31: Lukman: “Besides going aggressive with TV ads, what else did you guys do?” Lupker: “I’m not going to disclose details. But you see us everywhere, right? On Facebook, et cetera. There’s some secret sauce in there. Well, it’s a secret but if you Googled for strategies on Adwords, then you could learn.” He says you need to squeeze as much as you can out of a dollar.

#14:31: Lukman: “Besides going aggressive with TV ads, what else did you guys do?” Lupker: “I’m not going to disclose details. But you see us everywhere, right? On Facebook, et cetera. There’s some secret sauce in there. Well, it’s a secret but if you Googled for strategies on Adwords, then you could learn.” He says you need to squeeze as much as you can out of a dollar.
#14:32: Lukman keeps asking about Tokobagus, but Lupker wants to talk about life after. Lukman continues to press. Lupker continues, “For me, Tokobagus is local. The whole team was a local team.” This is despite Lupker being from Holland.

#14:33: Lukman: “Let’s get to the chunk of this question, why did you leave?” Lupker says he exited when he felt it was right.
#14:35: After Tokobagus, Lupker did “research on the night life in Indonesia” and hung out. After his holiday, he didn’t want to rush into any new ventures and eventually met Andrew, his co-founder. They stumbled into Ambient Digital, a company in the digital ads space.

#14:37: Lupker: “I don’t have any experience in the ads space. Some people said to do something in e-commerce again, but I want to do something new again and challenging.”
#14:39: Lukman: “Will you work with Arnold again?” Lupker: “Well, it’s not like you have to do things together. Maybe we will do something together. It’s not like a marriage, you know.”

#14:32: Lukman: “How’s Ambient doing?” Lupker: “Well, it’s still in startup phase. Back to zero.”
#14:41: Lukman: “How much are you making now?” Lupker: “I don’t really want to say, but it’s probably a multiple of your salary. This market is growing 30 percent and it’s quite new.”

#14:45>: Lukman: “Any tips for entrepreneurs can make it?” Lupker: “It’s all about execution and an attention to the detail. I think that you should also be aggressiveness. Ads are indeed one way to be aggressive, or sending 1.4 million emails is another way. It’s not just about throwing around big budgets. You have to find your own way with being aggresive.”