Vincent Putera on Hackathon and Pintails

Following AngelHack Jakarta, we caught up with Vincent Putera to talk a little bit about his new app Pintails and why he joined AngelHack. Among so many e-commerce models, Pintails seems quite unique. The app lets people to conduct trade among friends and close contacts only, leveraging the trust and relationship that have already been established to bypass the largest concerns regarding online commerce. The app relies on BlackBerry Messenger but will accommodate other networks eventually.

So, why did you decide to participate in AngelHack? What did you want to get out of it?

I wanted to keep myself sharp. I didn't decide to do AngelHack to win, but I just wanted to make sure I'm moving and improving.

Hackathon is always a good place to see if a certain team is fit to work together, if an idea is validated, if a person is qualified, et cetera. It's my way to do MVP. You get a team, a working prototype, a pocket of new friends, and sometimes, you get the top prize. And you only lose 30+ hours of sleep. I'd take that any day.

How did you get to know your team members and why did you pick them?

I met Radita (Liem) in BlackBerry JamHack Bangkok last year. We kept in touch, I initiated the contact about AngelHack. She's interested, and she brought in Asep (Priandana), who is a great new addition.

Victor (Koesoemadi) and Mike (Jaensen) are from the Soccer Ticker team.

Can you explain a little more about Pintails?

Pintails. It's a word play from "pinning" and "tailing".

Pinterest is pinning your interest to a digital canvas. Pintails has more of a social hint to it.

You pin things to people in your immediate circle. Tailing is like following, but in a more subtle and discreet way. I think that feel is definitely reflected in the features. You can "tail" your 2nd degree friends, and "pin" them to your first degree when it's in your interest to do so.

To pin means to attach, so when you say I'm gonna pin this friend to you, or this item to you, I'm attaching you to it.

So what's your plan now for Pintails?

Plan for now is just to ride this AngelHack momentum. I'm really looking forward to the 10-week session, and also the following "crunch" time in SF and Disrupt. The local 10-week program is gonna be a lot of fun. I get to learn from all these tried and proven people.

For the app itself though, I have a few more ideas I didn't get to elaborate during the hackathon, so I'm definitely looking forward to execute and to run those.

I got a lot on my plate, especially for Soccer Ticker. We're getting ready for a lot of things for the upcoming season - content, partnership, platform, team - just gonna be another fun ride. So, the immediate plan for Pintails is just to get the app done. You know, make it legit, let it go live. That should be done within 2 weeks. It was 80% finished yesterday anyway.

No big plans yet, I'll be forming those after the 10-week sessions with the local experts. All Jedis and Yodas in that bunch. I'd like to hear their take on it.