Tokopedia CEO William Tanuwijaya wants to turn Jakarta into the next Silicon Valley

Tokopedia CEO William Tanuwijaya

From the minute the doors opened at Startup Asia Jakarta 2014, the majority of speakers and panelists on stage claimed they believe ecommerce in Indonesia is the next goldmine of Southeast Asia. Tokopedia was the company most often referenced, but Tokopedia CEO William Tanuwijaya says he’s not even thinking about money.

Tanuwijaya took the stage today for a fireside chat with Tech in Asia’s own Enricko Lukman to discuss whether or not his C2C marketplace portal can become the Alibaba of Southeast Asia. Tanuwijaya’s interview was highly anticipated, as Tokopedia recently received a US$100 million investment from Japan’s SoftBank and India’s Sequoia Capital. The investment was by far the largest round of funding on record in Indonesian tech startup history.

See: The story and strategy behind Tokopedia

After sharing a little about his backstory as an entrepreneur and his humble beginnings working the graveyard shift at an internet cafe in Sumatra, Tanuwijaya says that he hates the fundraising process, but enjoys the educational opportunity. “I don’t enjoy sitting with you here today,” Tanuwijaya says honestly to Lukman. “But every chance I get to speak, I take it because I get to meet really smart people and learn all kinds of new things.” He also mentioned that he wants to use Tokopedia as a vehicle to start turning Jakarta into a place more like Silicon Valley by bringing in the best international talent.

Referring to what Tokopedia did correctly in order to pull in such a large investment, Tanuwijaya says that keeping his product consistent was the overall key. He also spoke about the value of not focusing on revenues, but rather creating products that will make people’s lives easier. He adds, “Our top merchants on Tokopedia make more money and have more comfortable lives than me.”

This is part of the coverage of Startup Asia Jakarta 2014, our event running on November 26 and 27. Check out all the Startup Arena pitches here. You can follow along on Twitter at @techinasia and on our Facebook page.