Teman Startup last month held its end-year event “Archive 2021” for two weeks. Through the event, Teman Startup seeks to inspire business owners to keep innovating and grow their business. 

Carrying “Brand Beyond Crisis” as its main theme, Teman Startup invited top Indonesian brands to participate in the event by sharing their general insights in 2021 as well as outlook for 2022. 

The participants include Disrupto, Anteraja, Blibli, Wahyoo, NOICE, Telkomsel, Bukalapak, Stockbit & Bibit and LINE Indonesia. These brands shared their experience in surviving or even thriving in the midst of the pandemic. 

Innovations and disruptions are the main drivers of such achievements. CEO of tech innovation ecosystem Disrupto Gupta Sitorus said that innovation is an added value for companies nowadays. 

It is an important aspect that will determine each company’s unique selling point (USP) that will eventually affect profitability. Gupta also predicted that in 2022, companies will start to tap into the metaverse.

This is the opportunity for brands to ‘ride the wave’ which may give them a new USP as well as a new experience for the customers,” he added. 

Peter Shearer, CEO of online culinary application Wahyoo, shared that in 2021, he noticed the importance of innovations and disruptions, especially for culinary MSMEs. It validates the company's initial hypothesis that despite any kind of crisis, culinary businesses will survive. 

“In any kind of crisis, people will definitely still look for food. However, they will look for the most affordable ones. Culinary MSMEs are the answer for this, where people could buy food for only Rp10,000-Rp12,000,” he explained. 

Hence, innovations that Wahyoo offers for culinary MSMEs has helped these businesses thrive. Those culinary MSMEs also did their own innovations by launching new menus, Peter added. 

“Other than the product which is the food and its taste, interesting branding strategies, marketing promotions, accessibility and operational matters are also important for culinary businesses,” he said. 

Blibli VP Business Development William Hadibowo shared his outlook for 2022. According to him, the main thing that businesses and brands should pay attention to is understanding their customers. 

E-commerce companies need to focus on value creation, not valuation. They have to look for other strategies other than giving out promotional deals because it may not sustain once all e-commerce companies start to aim for profitability. 

He illustrated business owners and founders as drivers in a race, saying that 2022 will be a sharp turn for businesses.

“If you already have the resources or experience [to move forward], do it and take the opportunity. However, if you don’t have the confidence yet, it is also okay - it’s not the end of the road. However, you need to reflect on yourself, see where you’re lacking. The most important things are to stay in the race and calculate the risks,” he stated. 

Teman Startup also shared some of its achievements and insights with TFR. The most notable is that throughout July-November 2021, Teman Startup recorded an 87.4% growth in new visitors to its website with 10,371 new users.