Tag: column

[Simply Business] Startup Launch Checklist

Launching a new startup is one of the most exciting time of the startup life cycle. It’s the time when you are finally ready to show your baby to the world, the one that you have developed and nurtured for months and maybe years. It is definitely exciting, but it is hard nonetheless.

Doubts will rise as whether or not your product is ready for public use, have you gotten everything right, etc. Well, as someone that is in the middle of launching a new startup as well, let me share you a startup launch checklist. This is my checklist so I would expect some differences, and also hope that if I miss anything then you guys can correct me as well. So here goes:

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[Music Monday] Does The Average Consumer Care About Legal, Digital Music?

Before I go on with this article, let me be clear – most references are anecdotal; I don’t have a survey or research results to refer to, but I think this will ring true to most consumers of digital entertainment – not many of us, including me, think of the legal aspects of something we want to hear/view/play. Having worked in intellectual property based-industries for some time, I avoid pirated content and always try to find legal ways to get music, movies and software. Full disclosure – I’ve done my fair share of downloading and torrenting, and I often download TV shows that have not aired in Indonesia, and sometimes movies I missed watching in the cinema. I’m no saint.

I’ll admit that I avoid illegal music and software, because I know what goes on behind the scenes and how they make their money. I also feel less guilty (but guilty nonetheless) about downloading TV and movies because I also know how they actually make their money (and outside of the cinema, it’s based on upfront royalties, advertising revenue share, cable subscription share, and so on). I’ll probably write more on that later… but here’s the point: I happen to have insight into these industries. What of the average consumer who does not?

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[Simply Business] Tips on How to be Successful at Networking Events

A good friend and mentor of mine once said that your network is your net worth, I agree completely with him and you definitely should expand your network especially when you’re just starting out. Knowing the people in (and also who complement) your industry is definitely a must if you want to excel in your business. But some people I met during during conferences and networking events tend to shy away or made a bad first impression, which is bad in the long run. So here are some tips to turn you into a rockstar at networking events.

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[Music Monday] Musiklegal And The Fight Against Piracy

Piracy remains a sensitive issue for music labels. Efforts to curb piracy on the national level in Indonesia remains in full steam, with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics blocking 20 illegal mp3 download sites end of May 2012. I tried some of the addresses announced in the article and sure enough, the sites could not be accessed. This action was the result of a lengthy lobbying process by ASIRI (the Recording Industry Association of Indonesia) to the government, while at the same time they also had active discussions with the Phone Credit Theft Task Force appointed by DPR to alleviate and soften the impact made by the government’s decision to reset all mobile services dependent on subscription charged by SMS.

The effort to curb the spread of illegal music copies being spread through the internet would not mean a thing if the music industry did not offer something in its place – sure enough, music download stores have been around since 2009 but they have yet to achieve significant user traction and all-important revenue. Illegal downloads are said to be the cause of low user traction, and even before that ASIRI has been lobbying the government to start blocking illegal download sites. Since the latest administration seems intent on blocking pornography sites, the same technology could be used to block these illegal music sites. So it was just the matter of political will. Now, the government seems to want to listen to the plight of the music labels, despite only taking action online and not taking care of the equally damaging pirate CD stores.

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[Dailyssimo] KPI and Measurements for Social Media

We know the KPI (Key Performance Indicator) as a mean of measuring target achievement in a project or a job. So what is the KPI for social media? The answer to this question will probably be a deciding matter which makes many agencies to peacefully keep focus to execute client’s request.

In any project, a measurement tool is required to determine an achievement, as well as social media based projects. If a brand wants to measure the level of awareness after the campaign, then the brand should like to know how much the media is talking about it. Or if the brand would like to know how big an activity on social media can be converted for sales, it would need another measurement tool, and so on.

The easiest measurement on social media platform is the one provided on each service, such as number of followers on Twitter or the whole parameter on Facebook Insight. The problem is, these available data sometimes is not the data that can be used as an appropriate measurement tool. For example, follower cannot be directly used to measure a success of a campaign, even for brand awareness.

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[Simply Business] Would You Keep Going or Would You Quit?

The media loves to flaunt the success of the startups, the crazy valuations, the billion dollar acquisition and the so-called overnight success. But the most interesting stories are actually the hard part, the near-death experience and the comeback.

OMGPOP, the creator of Draw Something created 35 mediocre games before Draw Something and was in near bankrupt situation right before Zynga acquired them. Angry Birds was the 52nd game that Rovio made before their “overnight” success. Kaskus.com, Indonesia’s biggest online forum went through six years running without any profit. I can only imagine how emotionally straining it is for them to continue working hard despite the lack of monthly payroll and the departure of staffs that sees an unclear future of the company.

The emotional frustrations, the stress and the weight being put in their shoulders are mostly untold. The thought of letting go of their startups must have crossed their mind countless times as they go and face their co-workers every single day.

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[Music Monday] NKOTBSB: A Great Impulse Buy For Digital Music

For weeks and days heading up to the NKOTBSB concert in Jakarta last Friday, longtime fans have been racking up YouTube views of their videos, and radio stations have been playing songs from NKOTB and Backstreet Boys to prime everybody up for enjoying the concert. Needless to say, on June 1 evening Jakarta time, Twitter was awash with people tweeting from the concert and sending whatever pics they can to share with their friends. The show was a success, but what can we learn and exploit from it?

One of the most basic principles of music marketing is to increase awareness and raise sales, a band or musician should do live shows direct in front of audiences. This applies to new or established artists – pushing a song for increased awareness is sometimes not enough through tv, radio and the internet; but a live show (especially if tied with met-and-greet sessions with fans and autograph sessions) would do a lot to reward fans, retain loyalty, and generate awareness and interest for people who have not previously heard of the band/musician. Bands would tour tirelessly around their country – and around the world – as a way to promote themselves and their most latest album. The music labels in charge would also arrange time for the band/musician to meet with the press, to make sure they get more exposure.

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[Dailyssimo] FM Radio’s Positioning in the Mist of Online Radio Technology Usage

Last Friday, I got the chance to be interviewed by two researchers who collect data about social media map and its impact on the development of radio in Indonesia. Miss Meryanda and Mr. Teguh Prakoso who interviewed, or maybe it’s better to call it as having a chitchat with me, happen to work at research division in two FM Radios in Jakarta, namely Jak-FM and Gen FM.

Our topic of conversation was about the role of social media in the development of FM radio and what is FM radio’s position with the happening of online radio.

Really interesting topic because just like most of you know, I once ran an online radio and the field I’m engaging right now is more or less social media. That’s what makes our conversation very stimulating.

Is the happening of online radio a threat to the existence of FM radio? I think, the new online radio technology has to support FM radio. If you use the word “threat” to describe the happening of online radio, then I say you haven’t fully understand the technology and what benefit we can get from it so it looks like a threat.

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[Dailyssimo] A Piece of Garden Called Social Media

Have you ever noticed that the social media we know today have the meaning that is quite different for each user? Maybe if it’s about basic definition by only pointing to Facebook and Twitter, everybody would understand immediately but do you ever dig what they actually understand about social media?

Quoting from a conversation with a ex-Yahoo! fellow, Jonas Del Los Reyes who currently resides in the Philippines, you probably can imagine what the situation is here. The quote is as follows, “…our market is still young, definitions are scattered, everyone running with their understanding.” Yes, I think that’s exactly what is happening in this region. I might say it’s chaotic but in a good way.

Maybe you still remember what was done by General Motor (GM) a while ago just before Facebook took the historic step to enter the stock exchange (IPO). GM decided to discontinue its advertising investment on Facebook Ad worth $10 million. GM said that while it decided to stop the investment in advertising, it won’t leave Facebook but would be more focus on content strategy that would keep being distributed via its Facebook Page.

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[Simply Business] Stick to What You’re Good At and Outsource the Rest

After reading about the winner of Imagine Cup 2012, I remembered my days as a finalist when I was in senior year for Imagine Cup 2005. I was with a team representing University of Indonesia and brought an app that can calculate the fastest way to get to one place to another using a public transportation. Back then we didn’t have Google Maps so we made our own version of it.

It was an awesome app, at least in our heads. We made our first prototype on an HP iPaq PDA using the Windows .Net mobile (or something.. can’t really remember). But two problems arose: We didnt’ know how to draw a correct map and we couldn’t get the right data from public transportation because there was just not enough information on the net.

We ended up getting the map from a screen-printed version of Cybermap, and generating random possible spots of public transports because we couldn’t get the right data. Everything was hard-coded, the app was a mess and even with those compromises we couldn’t finish the app in time. Even so, we won second place.

 

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