BLOCK71 x Talkabot.id

Interview with Distra Vantari, CEO and Founder 

In this particular series of the Founder’s Story, BLOCK71 Bandung had an interesting chat with Distra Vantari, the CEO and founder of Talkabot.id. Talkabot.id, as the name suggests, is a chatbot platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to engage with clients. Besides its ability to serve thousands of clients at once, the Talkabot.id chat platform allows for human take-over features and contains a customizable inventory management system. This aspect of the chat platform is revolutionary as it allows users to design their own way of communication with their clients. 

Distra’s inspiration to create Talkabot.id stems from his personal experience with his friends who often create their own brands and promote their products on social media like Facebook and Instagram. He realized that while people can successfully promote goods online using e-commerce, it is challenging for them to engage effectively with their clients as their brands grow. Often, these expanding brands find themselves in situations where they are unable to cope with an overwhelming influx of queries from their clients. This perennial problem then sparked the idea for Distra to combine AI and the chatbot platform to create Talkabot.id.

Like many other businesses, the founder and CEO of Talkabot.id have concrete plans for further expansion. When asked about the goals for Talkabot.id, Distra replied confidently ‘by the end of this year, I want to be able to reach about 500 brands’. Beyond his business goals, one of Distra’s personal goals is also to transform the skeptical mindsets of Indonesian brands towards technology. At present, many Indonesian brands are reluctant to incorporate technology as part of their operations as there is a misconception that it would be a hindrance to their businesses. Distra hopes that with his chatbot system, brands will start to understand that technology can benefit their operations immensely.

Despite Talkabot.id’s stable progress now, the journey has not always been smooth for Distra and the Talkabot.id team. When asked about his journey of creating Talkabot.id, Distra described the journey as ‘fun and hard at the same time’. In fact, the hardest part of Distra’s journey happened just last year in December when the company incurred a debt of over IDR 200 million. The company almost stopped all operations. Despite almost giving up and going back to an office job, Distra persevered and found a way to bounce back into the business. His strategy lies in proper job designation and selecting the right people for the job. While the Talkabot.id founder focused his energy on fundraising, he entrusted the operations and sales component to the rest of his team. The company also restructures fast to avoid making mistakes. Today, Talkabot.id has continuously received funding twice in a row from Kemenristekdikti, an accomplishment that not many start-ups can claim. 

Distra takes his motivation in his entrepreneurial journey from the most game-changing businesses in Indonesia, including Go-Jek, Bukalapak, and Tokopedia. He hopes that with Talkabot.id, he can make a similar impact on the Indonesian landscape like his predecessors. His desire to create a product that can make a positive impact on society was also one of the reasons why Distra persevered through the company’s lowest phase. 

Finally, Distra leaves budding entrepreneurs with 2 main advice to avoid pitfalls:

1. Always think of the ‘why’ when you create your product

2. Don’t make assumptions without validating it!

Cliche as it sounds, but when creating a product, it is important to constantly remind yourself why you started out in the first place, instead of focusing on the profits. It’s ok to make assumptions too, but market validation is crucial to test the amount of truth in those assumptions. 

Find Talkabot.id on Instagram: @talkabot.id

BLOCK71 x Mycotech

Interview with Adi Reza, CEO and Co-founder

BLOCK71 Bandung brings back our second feature of the Founder’s Story! In this story, we follow Adi Reza, CEO and Co-founder of Mycotech as he brings us along his journey of creating a more sustainable vision of the world by harnessing mushrooms. Mycotech started out in 2012 when the team discovered the potential of mushrooms in creating eco-friendly materials in a humble kitchen. Since then, Mycotech’s access to production labs has expanded across the globe. 

The motivation to establish Mycotech comes from Adi and the Mycotech’s team love for the environment, as well as concern over the sustainability of producing leather. Cow-based leather production is unsustainable in terms of production and procession as the chemical treatment can heavily pollute water bodies if not done properly. In addition, Adi added that rearing cows make up the third largest contributor of global emissions. This calls for a new solution for leather replacement that is not only sustainable, but also affordable. And this is exactly what Mycotech is about - creating bio-based materials that can positively impact the environment. 

Besides the environmental aspect, Mycotech has also been making social change by empowering mushroom farmers. The CEO and founder of Mycotech highlights that there are as much as 43,000 mushroom farmers across Indonesia. By partnering up with these farmers to obtain their initial materials, Mycotech not only provides them with additional income, the company itself also saves on investment cost. 

The journey of Mycotech has been an extremely interesting one. It is also an unexpected story of discovery and learning. Mycotech started out as a food gourmet company that sells mushrooms as snacks. However, with the discovery of mycelium technology, the co-founders decided to save the profits from the gourmet business and invest them into research. A year of testing in Adi’s mom’s pantry did not work out as smoothly as they had planned. However, like many successful entrepreneurs, Adi and team learnt from their mistakes fast. Access to international labs, as well as joint research projects helped greatly in expediting the technology improvement process. 

When asked about his biggest inspiration, Adi pointed to his wife as the biggest influence in his care for sustainability. Her eco-consciousness encouraged Adi and the Mycotech team to solve environmental problems using technology. Seeing his clients share the same vision of wanting to make a positive environmental impact is also a huge source of motivation for him. 

Now, Mycotech’s technology is spreading quickly across the region. Just recently, Mycotech exhibited at the SG Innovfest Unbound 2019, where more than 100+ startups, brands, entrepreneurs, investors and corporates met for an exchange of ideas. As Mycotech propels onto the global platform, BLOCK71 is excited to follow their journey ahead. 

Find Mycotech on Instagram at: @mycotech

Website: https://www.mycote.ch/

BLOCK71 Bandung launches it very first Startup Showcase! University students from all around Bandung were invited to attend this event. The Bandung Startup Showcase aims to introduce undergraduates to the startup ecosystem and inspire students to pursue their startup dreams. Featuring BLOCK71’s signature event, the Kopichat, founders and CEOs from 4 startups shared useful and interesting insights about their experiences. Approximately 40 students attended the event and got the chance to network with the startup founders. 

In this series, Mr Alvin Junianto Lan from EcoMatcher, Mr Distra Vantari from Talkabot, Mr Gerryadi Agusta from KAABA, and Mr Hendra Araji from Everidea shared their entrepreneurial journey in an honest conversation. Ranging from the sustainability to virtual reality, the attendees got the chance to delve deeper into the challenges and joys of working in a startup across different industries. As the event came to a close, enthusiastic students lingered behind to networking with the 4 startup founders.

We hope that this has been a fruitful and inspiring session for everyone!