Setting up shop in Indonesia: On Call with RateS Head of Strategy Albert Ho

On Call with Insignia Ventures

We've shared the stories of many founders and companies that thrived on having local DNA. In this episode, we flip the script and hear from a Singaporean who went on the ground in Indonesia to tap into the market's social commerce opportunity.

Albert Ho, Chief Strategy Officer at RateS, the cross-border social commerce platform enabling Indonesians to thrive as resellers and microentrepreneurs, talks about what it's like to build an SG headquartered and Indonesia focused company and develop that company culture on the ground in a relatively unfamiliar market.

This call was recorded 3rd of November 2020.

Timestamps

1:21 Outlining Albert's role as Head of Strategy at RateS;

3:17 Initial experience having to expand operations to Indonesia;

4:34 Biggest learning from exploring Indonesia startup landscape;

6:03 Developing culture in Indonesian team;

8:07 Hiring and talent retention best practices in Indonesia;

11:04 Advice for foreign founders looking to set up in Indonesia;

14:35 Advantage being a foreign founder focusing on Indonesia;

16:41 Rapid-fire Questions: Recommended books, ways to learn Bahasa Indonesia, place to travel in Southeast Asia, etc.;

About our guest

Albert Ho is Chief Strategy Officer at RateS, the cross-border social commerce platform enabling Indonesians to thrive as resellers and microentrepreneurs. His past professional experiences lie in consulting, venture capital, and startups in New York, Singapore, and Jakarta. Thanks to these experiences, he is also an active thought leader on startup growth and e-commerce. Nowadays he has been driving growth for RateS in Indonesia, and personally also has been diving deeper into the local market and culture.

Music

Business As Usual by Causmic

Manhattan by Dyalla c/o Youtube Studio

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only, should not be taken as legal, tax, or business advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security, and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any Insignia Ventures fund.

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