This morning, i was watching a video post on Techcrunch about startups valuation featuring Ron Conway, Marc Andressen and David Hornik. In that post, i saw Blippy.com. A startup which i've never heard about before, so i give Blippy a visit just to see what's the fuss about it. Apparently, it's very similar to Twitter. It's basically a microblogging service for buyers. So, if Twitter ask you "What's Happening?", Blippy would ask you "What Are You Buying? And How Much?".
To make it even more intriguing, i was once involved in a web project very similar to Blippy. I don't think i can mention the website, but i was involved half the way before it was finally cancelled due to a some crucial problems. When i think of it, the idea was really awesome and was well-planned. Creative side was very cool, and they even have a business model. But some issue (i'm guessing lack funding to be one of the problems) forced the project to freeze until today. I was involved since over a year ago.
This proves that Indonesian creative thinkers are still in the same level (innovation and idea wise) as any other creative thinker around the globe. In 2005 Indonesian entrepreneur sold Moodmill.com to a US company. Moodmill is a microblogging service, they haven't even invented the term "microblogging" back in the days. This is how good we are.
So, what is holding us from creating a world-changing services?
Funding is a serious issue, especially for small entrepreneur that doesn't have access to investors. And the irony is lots of investors doesn't know what startups to invest to. This gap has been lingering (and haunting) Indonesian creative thinkers, leaving them penniless to develop their idea into a solid product and service.
Fantastic ideas are important, but you can't execute your ideas without a few crucial things : good funding and a solid team. Ideas are cheap, but executing your idea, converting your idea into a real product is expensive.
