Why Entrepreneurs Are Like Poker Players

Jason Calacanis likes poker. Playing poker makes your heart race, as you must make the best decision with so limited information. The same challenge you’ll also find in entrepreneurship.

Indonesian entrepreneurs in some way are like this. They’re clueless on what to do in this emerging market, where things are so
underdeveloped, young and immature.

Entrepreneur Andy Zainexplained two years ago a lot of local companies in Indonesia are started by bootstrapping because there’re very few venture capitalists. Here people often have their side jobs. Indonesian entrepreneurs also have side projects aside from their own startups. So it’s very challenging for them to start up but every chance is still open.

But the downside is Indonesian entrepreneurs lack information, just like poker players. Thus, when it comes to scouring information, they go to international sites and blogs. They still rely much on foreign media such as TechCrunch.com, Pando.com, TheNextWeb.com, etc. They can find the hottest projects in the US or any other parts of the globe.

This lack of information only lets them to copy what is successful in other markets. For instance, when Groupon became hyped, Indonesian entrepreneurs were inclined to copy this success and apply that to the domestic market. The results are various level of success.

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