Indonesian healthtech firm pivots towards a profitable path

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Hello there,

If you celebrate the lunar new year, have a good one! For many, a new year means new beginnings, so if you’ve been wanting to start something, perhaps now is the right time.

Let me share a little personal story here. After studying computer science at college, I tried to pursue a career as a developer at a big chemical company.

However, the role is far from what you’d expect from being a developer at a tech startup nowadays. At the company where I worked, the approval process for tech-related projects tended to be really slow, especially for initiatives with no direct connection to the core business.

After several years, I realized that there wasn’t much room for me to grow, and the only thing that made me stay in that jobs was the certainty of a monthly salary until retirement.

Then an exciting opportunity came along: be a tech journalist to cover the up-and-coming startup scene. It seemed like a gamble since I needed to start from scratch, but it could pave a new career path that would allow me to grow.

At around the same time, I learned what the term sunk cost means, which was really helpful as I took the next step in my journey.

Long story short, I decided to “pivot” my career from a developer at a large corporation to a startup journalist at Tech in Asia.

That’s why I can relate with this week’s Big Story, which is about an Indonesia-based startup called Klinik Pintar. The firm started out by digitalizing hospitals, but soon redirected its focus to clinics. It also tried several business models like software as a service to a marketplace for medicines before deciding to directly manage clinics. As a result, Klinik Pintar has steered itself towards profitability.

Speaking about shifting paths, this week’s Making Waves features Jayesh Parekh, who ran funds at Tiger Global and Aavishkaar Capital before calling it a day. He came out of retirement in 2020 to co-lead Good Startup, a VC firm focused on alt-protein sector. The investor shares some insights on why he’s optimistic about the industry despite flat sales and the recession.

— Aditya

THE BIG STORY

This Indonesian healthtech firm checked out of hospitals to run clinics

Image credit: Timmy Loen

MAKING WAVES

AI ODYSSEY

NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

FYI