“We want to continue to double down on our commitment to Indonesia, by not just being a part of the first generation of unicorns, but also every subsequent generation of pathbreaking companies that are being born today as the ecosystem in the country starts to mature. But building a startup is hard. Early design choices can make or break companies and we want to help early-stage companies through this journey,” Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Sequoia India.

Indonesia’s digital economy, which was worth US$44 billion in 2020, is expected to hit US$125 billion by 2025. Over 70% of Indonesia’s 270 million-strong population are now connected to the Internet, and the country’s young, tech-savvy consumers and business owners are quickly adopting new products and services designed to elevate almost every aspect of their lives.  This is creating extraordinary opportunities for aspiring startup founders in every category and sector. We believe Indonesia’s startup ecosystem is on the cusp of a new phase of growth and innovation. 

Today we could not be more excited to announce a new partnership which doubles down on Surge’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of Indonesian entrepreneurs. We are collaborating with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology and Gerakan Nasional 1000 Startup Digital, an initiative by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, to build a roadmap for young entrepreneurs through university curriculum development and mentoring opportunities for students by successful local founders. 

The focus of our partnership is to equip a new generation of increasingly ambitious Indonesian entrepreneurs with the knowledge and mentorship needed to start and scale their businesses. We will be developing startup and entrepreneurship related topics into modules for university curriculums and providing mentorship for students who are looking to start their own businesses. 

This initiative will kick off with the Bahasa Indonesia launch of the Surge Founder Starter Pack: Company building essentials for early-stage startups. This 70-page book gives an overview of some of the key fundamentals founders should think about, even before day one, including their vision, business model, product and performance, as well as their pitch. This pack is the first Indonesian language publication from Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, and will be available to both students and startup founders across Indonesia. Topics include assessing market size and industry structure, getting to product market fit, refining your business model, understanding and tracking financial metrics and pitching to investors.

“With this book, we hope that young entrepreneurs can make the right design choices for their startups and build enduring companies which benefit society. With the spirit of building the country, let’s innovate and work together toward independent learning,” said Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.

“To establish an inclusive digital ecosystem, the government can’t do this alone. And so we welcome the initiative from Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, through Surge, to create a book that can be used as a guide for startup founders – the Founder Starter Pack. My hope is that more and more parties will collaborate together to advance Indonesia’s digital ecosystem,” Director General of Informatics Application, Semuel Abrijani explained.

Indonesia has seen rapid development and growth in talent, infrastructure and capital over the past few years, and the Indonesian government is taking further steps to nurture a path to entrepreneurship for young Indonesians. The launch of the Founder Starter Pack – which draws on years of global tribal knowledge from both Sequoia as well as its founders – is one of the first initiatives towards helping with this journey. 

The Bahasa Indonesia language edition is available for download at:

https://www.surgeahead.com/founder-starter-pack-indonesia/

The Ministry of Education and Culture is working in partnership with Gerakan Nasional 1000 Startup Digital to develop an entrepreneurship curriculum for university students across the country. Sequoia India and Southeast Asia will support this curriculum-building effort by providing the Founder Starter Pack as an educational aid to universities across Indonesia. Printed copies of the book will be distributed across more than a hundred universities nationwide with free e-books available to all students online. It will also be distributed in various communities and local government organizations.

Together with the ICT and the Education Ministry, we are excited to share insights on how to start, scale and build enduring companies with the next generation of young, aspiring founders who are going to help accelerate innovation in Indonesia.