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My take on entrepreneurship for young Indonesians

A lot of people feel cynical about startups in Indonesia now.

Fair enough. We’ve seen too many bad cases. Failed startups. Fraud. Investment bubbles bursting.

A decade ago, everything felt different. Gojek, Tokopedia, foreign money, big optimism. It felt like Indonesian tech was finally taking off.

That version of the story is weaker now.

But I don’t think that means this is a bad time to build. I actually think it can still be a very good time, especially if you are young and based in Indonesia.

AI alone already creates a lot of new surface area. There are still many things to build on top of it. And Indonesian Gen Z is entering the workforce now. They are more tech-native, more online, and more comfortable trying new tools than the previous generation.

The other important part is cost.

If you live in Indonesia and keep your lifestyle simple, your downside is not that high. A university student living alone decently might only need around $500 a month.

That changes the math a lot.

If you build a B2B product with $50 in monthly profit per customer, you only need 10 customers to survive. That can already put you well above regional minimum wage.

Compare that to someone in the US or Europe. Their cost of living is much higher. Their survival line is much higher too. They may need 50 or 60 customers just to create the same breathing room.

The same goes for older professionals. If someone is already making $100K a year, the opportunity cost of building is huge. For a young person in Indonesia, the risk can actually be much lower.

So yes, the startup ecosystem here looks worse than before.

But if you are an Indonesian student or fresh graduate, this might still be one of the best times to try. The cost of failure is relatively low. The upside is meaningful. And you do not need to build a giant company.

You might only need to close 10 companies. That is already enough to buy yourself time.

And time is everything when you are building.