Roby Widjaja and His First Startup Company

                                    

                                              
Roby Widjaja and His First Startup Company
                          
Roby Widjaja dan Perusahaan Rintisannya yang Pertama
                          


                          
Just about two months after Roby Widjaja was graduated from University in the year 1999, he founded his first startup company legally in Indonesia with his three friends who studied in the same university with him. The startup company developed its Enterprise Resource Planning ( E.R.P ) computer software and marketed it to local medium size companies in Indonesia.

                          
Hanya sekitar dua bulan setelah Roby Widjaja lulus dari pendidikan S-1 universitas di tahun 1999, ia mendirikan perusahaan rintisan pertamanya secara legal di Indonesia bersama tiga teman kuliahnya. Perusahaan rintisan tersebut mengembangkan perangkat lunak komputer Enterprise Resource Planning ( E.R.P ) miliknya sendiri dan memasarkannya ke perusahaan — perusahaan lokal di Indonesia berskala menengah.
                          
Passions, ambitions, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as his role models and idols, and hobby were in his blood when he founded, nurtured and grew that startup company, P.T. Adi Citra Teknologi Semesta ( P.T. ACTS ), with his three co-founders. He invested his 100% cash, from his 7 years saving, as equity capital for about 60% shares of the company. Not just money, he also has invested his whole personal life in it, his 10 to 15 hours a day daily including weekend and holiday building this company, his name and reputation, his friends and colleagues, ...almost everything that he had at that time, the intangible and tangible ones.

                          
Kesukaan — kesukaan, ambisi — ambisi, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates sebagai panutan hidup pribadinya dan idolanya, dan hobi mengalir di dalam darahnya ketika ia mendirikan, menumbuhkan, dan membesarkan perusahaan rintisan itu, P.T. Adi Citra Teknologi Semesta ( P.T. ACTS ), bersama tiga orang pendiri pendamping lainnya. Roby Widjaja menginvestasikan 100% uang tunainya, dari hasil menabung selama 7 tahun, sebagai modal saham untuk sekitar 60% saham perusahaan itu. Tidak hanya sekedar uang tunai, ia juga telah menginvestasikan keseluruhan hidup pribadinya ke dalam perusahaan itu, 10 sampai dengan 15 jam per hari setiap hari termasuk hari sabtu minggu dan hari libur bekerja membangun perusahaan tersebut, nama baik dan reputasinya, para relasinya,...Ya, hampir segala sesuatu yang ia miliki pada waktu itu, yang tidak terlihat maupun yang terlihat oleh mata manusia.

                          
In the first two years of the company, there was no solid organization structure in this company, although the organization structure was drawn on the paper orderly. So, everybody in the company worked for all positions, roles, and job descriptions in reality. Roby Widjaja worked as CEO, CFO, CMO, direct sales officer, accountant, administration officer, Chief Software Architect, software developer, computer hardware engineer, and including company's chauffeur and janitor. It happened because the company was founded with about IDR 60 million equity only. The company couldn't recruit and pay too many full-time employees at that time.

                          
Dalam dua tahun pertama berjalannya perusahaan, tidak ada struktur organisasi perusahaan yang solid dan teratur di dalam perusahaan, walaupun struktur organisasinya tergambar rapi dan teratur di atas kertas. Jadi kenyataannya, semua orang di perusahaan bekerja untuk semua posisi, peran, dan deskripsi pekerjaan. Roby Widjaja pada waktu itu terpaksa bekerja dengan multi jabatan dan multi peran sebagai Direktur Utama, Direktur Keuangan, Direktur Pemasaran, tenaga penjualan langsung keliling door-to-door, akuntan, pegawai administrasi, Kepala Arsitek Pengembangan Perangkat Lunak, programmer komputer, teknisi perangkat keras komputer, dan termasuk sebagai sopir mobil dan office boy perusahaan. Hal ini terjadi karena perusahaan didirikan hanya dengan modal saham sekitar IDR 60 juta. Perusahaan tidak bisa merekrut dan membayar gaji karyawan penuh waktu terlalu banyak pada waktu itu.

                          
Roby Widjaja was the first person who introduced ERP Software theories, concepts, and architecture to the company and his team in the company. He observed the Indonesian software market that there were no single one 100% Made-in-Indonesia ERP software in Indonesia at those years. For him, It was just like discovering a "giant gold mountain" at that time. That's why he forced his team to develop 100% made-in-Indonesia ERP Software instead of just accounting software. The ERP software was developed with Borland Delphi Visual Programming Language and Microsoft SQL Server. The complete modules of that software and its implementation service were sold about IDR 300 million for each client. It wasn't a bad income number for fresh graduates just like him and his friends, isn't it? The Indonesian minimum monthly salary standard was about IDR 750 thousand per month for full-time office workers at that time.