Natali Ardianto

Digital thinker

NATALI ARDIANTO DESCRIBES himself as a web entrepreneur, futurist and technologist. The 36-year-old techpreneur is a cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of Tiket.com, Urbanesia.com and Golfnesia. com, and describes himself as an initiator of #StartupLokal community. Tiket.com bills itself on the Apple store as “the first and the most complete online travel agent in Indonesia that meets your travelling needs from flight ticket, train, hotel booking, events and car rental”.

Ardianto earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s in Information Technology from University of Indonesia. “I’m a professional technologist in the field of digital marketing and branding with a vast knowledge of the digital industries,” he says. “I’m one of the few thinkers in the Indonesia e-business, with over 25 years of experience in programming and 16 years’ experience in the web industry. I have loved the technology world since I was nine years old. In sixth grade, I coded my first computer programme. From then on, my passion has been to create products using codes. I learned several programming languages and was in TOKI ( Indonesia’s Computer Olympic Team) when I was in senior high school. I made my first professional website when I was 16. I’m lucky to have found my passion at such an early age.”

The techpreneur says a great entrepreneur must develop a strong soft skill set if they want to succeed. “The biggest challenge for me in running an online business is not the technology, but rather the human resources,” he admits. “A typical tech entrepreneur thinks the world is all about ones and zeros. They need to sharpen their soft skills to be able to understand people and influence them to go in the same direction that they envision for their business.”