The Gardata UI team consisting of three UI students, namely Gracella Jovita (Actuarial 2018), Emelia Sekarwati (Economics 2018), and Veniena Suhrie Hakim (Statistics 2019), won first place in the 2021 Funding Frenzy national competition, a start-up business competition held by The Founders Laboratory, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) on January 29-February 20, 2021.
Gardata is a technology-based start-up that is committed to supporting the development of research in Indonesia by providing various data research services, such as respondent search, data analysis, transcripts, and others. “Gardata works as a third-party that connects researchers and their research support needs. Currently, we have helped various clients from students, organizations, market research, and others,” said Gracella as the head of the Gardata team.
Gardata, which has been running since September 2020, won a funding prize of IDR 6,000,000 in this competition. According to Emelia, the consistency of business execution is one of the keys to the Gardata team’s victory in this event. “Execution will always be the best portfolio to prove. Another thing that is our advantage is the unique selling idea, where we simplify the consultation process using an Artificial Intelligence-based chatbot system on LINE, so that our clients get a product that is not only useful, but also easy and simple,” said Emelia, a team member.
UI Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Prof. Dr. rer. Nat. Abdul Haris, was also proud of the achievement. “At UI, there are many researches that continue to be developed as a contribution to the country. These innovations include those originating from the critical thinking of our students for the benefit of society, such as that carried out by the Gardata team. We appreciate their victory and encourage them to always make breakthroughs in their scientific fields,” said Prof. Abdul Haris.
Funding Frenzy is an event held by The Founders Laboratory of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). The Founders is a Semi-Autonomous Body (BSO) of ITB engaged in innovation incubation with the main goal of building a startup ecosystem among Indonesian students. In this competition, participants are invited to compete in a business pitching competition to startup founders, investors, mentors, and venture capitals who act as judges. Pitching is a term in the startup world that can be interpreted as a verbal presentation of a business plan to prospective investors.
The main challenge in the pitching process is how to convince investors of the business idea presented in a relatively short time. In this event, after going through several stages, only the six best teams will pitch in the final stage, namely the Grand Pitching which is attended by renowned judges such as Achmad Zaky (Founder of Bukalapak), Karaniya Dharmasaputra (President of OVO), Eka Ginting (Tech Start-Up Investor), Wesley Harjono (Managing Director of Plug and Play), and Sir Voon Yee Ho (CEO of TechBridge Ventures). All stages of the activity are carried out online via Zoom media provided by the committee.
According to Grace, in this event the most important things are three things, namely market knowledge, business knowledge, and the desire to continue learning (growth mindset). Knowledge of how big the market is, and how easy it is to enter the market is part of the market knowledge needed to create a good pitch.
In terms of business management, knowledge of operational mechanisms, financial projections, and business sustainability are things that every member must understand. “The last thing that I think is most important is to have a growth mindset and humility to learn. When we come to this competition, we come not only to win, but also to learn. This encourages us to always listen, criticize, and be better at doing business,” said Grace.
