Cracking the code: what makes a sticky website? (#StartupAsia preview)

Tech entrepreneurs are always trying to “crack the code” to unlock a secret recipe that makes a website become “sticky” and viral. In countries like Indonesia, there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to what will actually be popular and accepted by the market. Apart from knowing what has worked in previous years, local startup founders often find themselves throwing the proverbial spaghetti against the wall, then taking notes on what actually sticks.

To an outsider, Indonesia’s online community Kaskus seems curiously ambiguous (Is it a forum? Ecommerce site? News portal? All three?). But as history has shown, Kaskus is one of the most successful and sticky websites in the archipelago. SimilarWeb ranks it as number seven in the nation, and estimates that it received 33.3 million visits last month alone.

KapanLagi is an entertainment news portal. It established itself much later than local online news giants like Detik or Kompas, yet within a decade the company has grown to more than 200 employees. KapanLagi houses five media brands, releases nearly 500 articles per day, and is the company that gave birth to the nation’s now famous Merdeka news portal. Merdeka has even surpassed KapanLagi itself on SimilarWeb, clocking in at number 25 in Indonesia, with an estimated 10.4 million visits last month.

See: Indonesia’s KapanLagi wants to surpass Kompas and Detik in 2 years

Local online classifieds ecommerce site OLX Indonesia (formerly known as TokoBagus) may not have been the first company to adopt the online marketplace business model in the archipelago. But today, the site is recognized as one of the most successful ecommerce portals in Indonesia, with a SimilarWeb rank of 12 in the nation and an estimated 12.1 million visitors in October.

So what makes these three Indonesian sites so sticky? We will be interviewing Kaskus ex-CEO Ken Dean Lawadinata, KapanLagi co-founder Steve Christian, and TokoBagus co-founder Remco Lupker in a group discussion at Startup Asia Jakarta 2014 to learn how they cracked the code in the archipelago.

Join us at Startup Asia Jakarta on November 26 and 27. You can use LATEBIRD10 for a 10 percent discount while registering. The code is valid until November 14, and this is where you can sign up.