Since its inception in Bali in 2005, Remco Lupker together with his partner Arnold Egg had been successful in building Tokobagus to be one of Indonesia’s e-commerce powerhouses. That’s why the industry was shocked when the two announced their resignations from Tokobagus not long after launching their nation-wide TV commercial. DailySocial got to talk to Remco Lupker about his experience in Tokobagus and his future plans in Indonesia
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What are the important lessons you get during your time in Tokobagus?
I have been very privileged having been in the position where I was in Tokobagus because during that period I’ve experienced and learned numerous things. Learning to know the local business community, talking with interested investors, the legal aspects, building a team and learning to run a business and do business in Indonesia, are just a few of the things I learned or improved. I guess my biggest lesson or experience has to do with the sheer scale of Tokobagus. I guess before I never thought I would be responsible for multiple TV campaigns, airing it during the World Cup and executing one of the largest online marketing campaigns in the region. That has been a hell of a ride and extremely valuable for my future plans.
Another important lesson I learned is being a team player and let other people work independently. I used to be a control freak up to the point where I would basically do everything myself which is a classic mistake of startup entrepreneurs and managers. I guess the scale of Tokobagus forced me to have a different approach and for my personal development that has been maybe the most valuable lesson.
What do you wish you can do differently for TokoBagus?
Actually nothing, which doesn’t mean I always did everything right. But looking at the large picture, I’m extremely proud of what Arno, the team, and I did with Tokobagus. Starting as a small classified site in Bali with a team of maybe 10 growing to become a leader in the market while still staying loyal to our company culture is something which still makes me proud. Also I guess part of our success is that we just tried a lot of things and even though lots of things we tried failed I think just the fact that we kept trying is one of the factors that made us successful.
What’s the next plan?
For starters, I intend to stay in Indonesia and start one business I will run myself and do a few small “hands-off” investments. Like a lot of investors and entrepreneurs I’m looking into several market opportunities such as travel, fashion, and the advertising space. I’m looking into some new opportunities and it’s definitely not mandatory that it has to be e-commerce related, even though that’s what people seem to expect. For sure I won’t start another classifieds or auction site since I dislike repeating myself and still feel I’m a part of Tokobagus.
I can already say that I’m doing an investment in a local fashion company, meaning a brand that designs and manufactures fashion items in Indonesia and is going to conquer the world 🙂 Since this is still in process I can’t tell much more about it at this time but will be able to tell more within two months.
For the rest I think I can make an impact on the Indonesian digital space at least one more time, but still too early to share any details.
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Remco has been blogging more frequently about the digital industry, e-commerce, girls, and whatever things he’s fascinated by on his personal blog SangatPedas (literally, “very spicy”). Being a controversial guy that he is, in one of his pieces on e-commerce Remco posted a very controversial statement: “E-commerce is a tool in business, it’s not a business itself“.
Would you agree?
