Di event Jakarta Ventures Night malam ini, Tasterous, startup yang sangat diantisipasi oleh banyak kalangan akan diluncurkan oleh foundernya Ronald Ishak dan Deche Pangestu. Tasterous merupakan startup sharing foto yang dikhususkan untuk para pecinta makanan, dimana nanti ada yang dinamakan “food check-in” untuk para penggunanya. Dari sini mungkin anda bisa melihat siapa saja yang memiliki kegemaran yang sama dalam hal makanan, teman yang cocok untuk diajak jalan-jalan, makan-makan, dan foto-foto (of course).
Namun selain pengumuman peluncuran startup-nya ini, Ronald dan Deche juga mengumumkan bergabungnya dua orang rockstar di industri teknologi terutama di komunitas startup menjadi anggota Board of Director Tasterous. Kedua orang ini yaitu Selina Limman (CEO Urbanesia) dan juga Ken Dean Lawadinata (CEO Kaskus Networks), yang namanya sudah sama sekali tidak asing (apalagi jika anda sering membaca DailySocial).
Co-founder dan Engineer Deche Pangestu sendiri sebelumnya juga pernah bekerja bersama Selina di Urbanesia sebelum akhirnya hengkang untuk memulai Tasterous, jadi hubungan Selina-Deche memang terjalin sudah lama. Sedangkan Ken, Selina dan Ronald juga berteman sejak lama namun ketika Ronald menunjukkan grand-plan yang dimilikinya untuk Tasterous, Selina dan Ken langsung tertarik.
“Sure there are many apps with objective to share food photos. I know Deche has a particular interest in food. I was skeptical about this app cos I thought it was going to be something similar to other food photo sharing apps. But the food check-ins has a more solid concept that runs on top the photo sharing feature. I love the idea of finding out current trending food.”, kata Selina menurut email yang dikirimnya.
Berikut pernyataan dari Ken seputar keterlibatannya dengan Tasterous :
Well apparently Ron’s a good friend of mine and I know that his vision is different then any other startups that I’ve met. Having him as the founder for Tasterous is one of the crucial selling point for me to join them, been wanting to collaborate with him all this time. His understanding in internet users needs and behavior is rare amongst the internet players in Indonesia.
Secondly the technology and concept of the product itself is great, very different than the startups that I’ve met. It’s fresh, and they aim big. They have great team and there’s not much convincing was done. I was sold as soon as I saw the product. 🙂
Wah dibilang rockstar.. Jadi malu.. :$
Since I get questions about my involvement in Tasterous and how this would effect Urbanesia, I just want to clarify that I’m still running Urbanesia 24/7 and will not be involved in Tasterous on a day to day basis (well they don’t need me to 🙂 I’m excited to contribute to the company strategic directions.
So see you at Tasterous and Urbanesia! Add me!