2015 flew so fast yet after reviewing the first half of 2015, the second half got even crazier. I traveled to several countries and so much more. Some of the highlights:
- Started the second half of the year with a blast. Pitched and won Tech in Asia Tour to Tokyo in Jakarta.
- Had a break-fasting dinner with the Talenta team
- Flew to Hong Kong for RISE EXPO 2015 and had an awesome weekend at LKF
- Pitched and won again at GMIC Jakarta 2015
- Announced our bridging round led by Fenox Venture Capital, followed by East Ventures.
- TOKYO! Had so much fun at the city with my dear friend Benny Liputra
- MET AND TOOK A SELFIE with Ben Horowitz
- Had some fun doing reunion BBQ dinner with my Korean best friends
- Went to Korea for the nth time. Always fun, never boring.
- SAN FRANSISCO! Thank you so much for my cousin Erlin and her family to host me, yet again.
- Proud to say that I have pitched and exhibited at the heart of the startup universe, Silicon Valley.
- First time in a Tesla – Watched SF Giants
- Moved to our new office – people gave rave reviews
- Attended Tech in Asia Jakarta 2015 and hosted a panel of Startup vs Corporate
- Sponsored Forbes Indonesia event. Another milestone for a small but growing startup like us.
- Talenta inside Forbes magazine! Can’t believe I can say this.
- Watched Jack U and Axwell Ingrosso live at DWP 2015
- Celebrated New Year 2016 with awesome peeps in Singapore.
While that highlight reel seems like really awesome, in reality there are tons of hardships and pure grunt work while building the company that is Talenta. I am beyond blessed to have such friends, teammates, family, and investors, that is supporting my journey.
2016 is going to be the best year yet, I believe, as (some might believe, some might not) it is the year of Monkey (I am born in the year of Money, I mean Monkey). So, despite me not achieving most of my resolution last year, I’m going to keep it simple this year:
- Work harder for Talenta. Harder doesn’t equal just putting hours in front of my laptop but it means how can I set a higher bar for myself and the team and push even harder. With this I believe we can raise our A and B round. So far we have grown to a team of 30 and I believe that it’s possible to double it again by the end of this year.
- Write more and read more. This is something that has always been in my mind. In fact, it can be my life motto. By writing you can be a better storyteller and by reading you can discover so much more in the world vs watching a drama.
- Travel more. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be traveling to Europe for the first time (yay!) and hopefully also watch the Euro 2016 final. Other than that I’d also be traveling to Taiwan for my sisters’ graduation. Hopefully I can go to one more new destination!
- Earn more money, spend less of it. I’ve been pondering on a few small passive income projects and I really love creating and producing. The problem is, I also love/tend to spend more. I hope to spend less by decreasing my visits to the night clubs and also on shopping.
- Simply be happy. One’s purpose of life can simply “be happy” – in fact a friend of mine recently told me so. Despite me being negative about it, I’ll try to embrace this and be more thankful of who I am and what I can do/have.
I do hope that instead of quantifying the resolutions, we can relatively achieve the goals that we have in this new year. It’s going to be another roller coaster ride, but I do hope that we can enjoy both the highs and the lows.