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Andy Zain’s 5 Tips for Surviving in Indonesia’s Mobile Market

Leading up to our Startup Asia Jakarta 2012 event, we attended a networking event where we were lucky enough to have Andy Zain deliver a talk on Indonesia’s mobile market. He is the founder of Mobile Monday Indonesia and the director of the Jakarta Founder’s Institute as well as being an active entrepreneur. His presentation was thorough and packed with lots of crunch facts and figures. He noted that while Indonesia is a very attractive market, with about 250,100,000 mobile subscription [1], it can be like a jungle for foreign companies with intentions to enter. He outlined five handy survival tips for foreign companies to keep in mind when they want to navigate this ‘jungle,’ and I thought I’d share them with you below:

1. Be like Mario – No this does not mean you should slaughter every turtle you see. But rather Andy means you should always move forward, like in the original Mario Bros game, and never go backwards. If you aren’t completely serious about moving forward, don’t bother playing in the Indonesian market. It’s hard, and if you don’t keep moving forward, your business is going to die. 2. Bring a compass – Because your business needs to choose a direction and stick with it. What market segment are you going to target? Are you going after the rural market and low-end mobile devices [2]? You need to find a certain segment of the population, a certain direction to take your business, and say ‘Yes! I’m going there!’

3. Bring the right equipment – If you’re going into a jungle you better make sure you’re geared up. Most important, you need to make sure your product is ready right from the start. If it isn’t suited to the local market, don’t come. Bigger companies have more resources, says Andy, and it will be hard to compete with them and sustain your business if you aren’t immediately ready. 4. Get a native guide – Here Andy compares two different approaches to tackling the dangers in a jungle. You could load up on guns [3] and get ready for a shootout. Or you could take a wiser approach and enlist the help of a native guide who can help you talk to the big dangerous tigers you are likely to encounter on your adventure.

5. Got enough food? – Again, preparation is key here, and you may want to increase your team and funding size before entering the Indonesian market if you can. If you’re not fully prepped you may not get a second chance, Andy says. It’s important to keep in mind that while Andy points out the many potential dangers of the Indonesian mobile market, he is clear to note that it can also be a paradise too, full of opportunity. He cites a number of fascinating success stories like Mig33, TMG’s Kotagames, and 8villages – of of which cater very well to local wants and needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Indonesian market, do be sure to follow Andy on Twitter. And be sure to stay tuned for our Startup Asia event which kicks off tomorrow, where we hope to bring you more insights about what’s happening here in Indonesia. Stay tuned for coverage of Startup Asia Jakarta 2012, our startup event running on June 8 and 9. You can follow along on Twitter at @startupasia, on our Facebook page, on Google Plus, or via RSS.

1. Andy noted that while the country has 240,000,000 mobile users, since many people use multiple sim cards, there are actually more subscriptions than users. 2. Andy notes that the majority of Indonesia’s mobile devices are low-budget, sub-$200 phones. Only about 25 percent of handsets are 3G or better. So you probably don’t want to be testing your service on an expensive phone here, because that’s not really representative of how this market will consume it.

3. Was that a Nirvana lyric? How did that get there… Need more coffee.