Here's what's been happening with SITTI

You may remember that a few days ago we sent an email to SITTI about how it's been doing since the last time we heard from them. It took them a couple of days since the team is focusing on its pitch for Global Entrepreneurship Program - Indonesia (GEP-I) which will be held in next week but we did get our questions replied.

We asked SITTI CEO Andy Sjarif about his opinion on the local technology industry as well as the startup ecosystem. He said that, "we are in a state of what I call "growth stuck," meaning that the industry needs the support of many investment firms that are willing to pour funds to drive growth. While there have been a number of local investment companies moving into this space, he said that they're not moving fast enough.

Interesting that he said that because while the number of startups certainly is quite large, after seeing several pitching sessions and discussing with other players in the industry, most local startups are simply not ready to receive the kind of investment that he's expecting investors to hand out.

He also said that products need to be disruptive. While there's nothing wrong with imitating existing products, there would be little point to develop further if the product doesn't disrupt the market. He gave an example of Google's own AdWords which was essentially a clone of Overture but in the end Google won thanks to adding a formula that kicks out ineffective ads that had little response.

Read on for the full interview

We are in a state of what I call "growth stuck". It's a personal term without scientific basis. In simple terms the growth of this industry cannot be supported by organic growth alone. The other side must catch up. That is the investment side. Yes it is true that there is a growing number of local VC's and incubators. But I do not think it is fast enough and they do not invest in large enough size to support the mushrooming of tech companies. It would benefit everyone if large local players started to shift some of their investment dollars into technology. Here's the big question; how long until we have a tech company valued at US$1billion? Without large and sustainable ecosystem of tech investment, it's never going to happen.

My position is always to add one more term, should you go with the mantra "observe, imitate, modify". That term is 'disruptive'. Wasn’t Google's own AdWords an imitation of overture? But their modification is so disruptive that it destroyed Overture. So my position, if we are going to imitate and modify anything, let's be sure to be so disruptive to the competitive ecosystem".

We're still a start up. We still like to drink Teh Botol. But we are growing at the right pace.

We are a cockroach compare to Google's being an oversize mammoth. To say Google is our competition is like saying Superman can sleep on a bed of kryptonite. We want them here to teach us the right way of doing things. They will push us to the breaking point. But in the end, users will benefit because there are two options out there; them and us. The idea of us beating Google is almost ridiculous in its conceptual root. Will we try? You bet. :)

No, but we are trying to hire Megan Fox to be the spokesperson for SITTI :).