How Data Makes or Breaks Pivots and How Group Buying for Fresh Produce Increases Household Productivity with Bakool CEO Ivan Darmawan and COO Stephanie Wongsoredjo (Call #115)

On Call with Insignia Ventures

What makes a pivot meaningful for a business? Pivots are part and parcel of a startup’s journey but some are more effective than others. Go behind the scenes of how a business evolved by following the data and their customers in this call with Bakool founders Ivan Darmawan (CEO) and Stephanie Wongsoredjo (COO). Not only do they share learnings from their company’s pivot from quick commerce to social commerce for fresh produce, but how their current approach is increasing household productivity for tier-two and tier-three cities in Indonesia. More recently Bakool announced raising an undisclosed seed round from Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater, Insignia Ventures, Global Brain, former minister of Indonesia Mari Elka Pangestu, and others.

Timestamps

(00:43) Ivan and Stephanie introduce themselves;

(03:19) What’s in a Pivot: How Radius evolved into Bakool;

(05:56) Perks of Building Outside of Tier-One Cities (Competition, Market Opportunity, Margins);

(08:55) How Group Buying for Fresh Produce Increases Household Productivity;

(10:36) How Data Makes Pivots Meaningful;

(14:00) #MinuteMasterclass: Making Meaningful Pivots;

(15:40) #RapidFireRound;

About our guests

Ivan Darmawan and Stephanie Wongsoredjo have been friends for more than 15 years. They went to junior high school and studied abroad together and came back here to Indonesia with one vision: increasing the productivity of rural Indonesia. Both of their families came from tier-two cities, so they know how painful it is for people living in these areas to buy their grocery needs, and saw that they could improve the productivity of these people and also improve their quality of life.

Ivan Darmawan is the CEO of Bakool. Ivan previously graduated from the University of Southern California with a major in Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a focus on supply chain and logistics management. He also has 15 plus years of experience in farming, retail and tech, and previously worked in Southeast Asia unicorns handling the growth of three different markets.

Stephanie Wongsoredjo is the COO of Bakool. graduated from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Growing up she had been helping her family retail businesses for more than 15 years. They had been doing this family business focusing on rural areas across Indonesia, managing more than 150 retail stores. She used to manage and expand large-scale teams and operations and also experienced running a huge supply chain across Indonesia.

Music:

Neo Soul Hip Hop by Infraction

Trash Taste Background Music (Extended)

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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