MalesBanget and Valadoo Looking to Engage Users with Romantic Travel Videos

Boss of the Day: Jebraw (pictured below) looks super fun as the host of travel video series Jalan-Jalan Men. The guy earns money by travelling for pete's sakes. #respect #envy

A couple of days ago Indonesian humor site MalesBanget and online travel service Valadoo launched the second season of their video travel series called “Jalan-Jalan Men” (which roughly means “let’s travel guys!”). Claimed to be the first Indonesian travel web series in Indonesia, I spoke with MalesBanget’s Christian Sugiono (yep, the one and only!) and Valadoo’s Jaka Wiradisuria about how those videos help their startups’ endeavors.

The first season - which has four episodes - received a total of 312,000 views on YouTube. The series’ second season is now supported by telco Simpati and airline AirAsia. What's in it for everyone? Simpati and AirAsia get branding boost, MalesBanget showcases its video making prowess to the world, and Valadoo gets to increase its sales. How? Because all of the travel destinations seen on the video will be offered by the travel site, smart.

But if you feel like traveling on your own, you can do so with the Google Maps spots offered on the Jalan-Jalan Men website. That alone can definitely help attract a few travel enthusiasts to check out the videos for travel ideas.

Non Indonesian speakers out there, fret not! During the conference, the team said that they have English subtitles readied for each video. The subtitles will definitely be handy for Valadoo's plans to attract foreigners by rolling out English version of its site later this year. The videos are being used to engage with users too by dishing out quizzes and ask them which places they would like the team to venture to next.

And as mentioned, MalesBanget is also one of the folks behind the video creation. The startup has the most popular local YouTube channel in Indonesia, and with Indonesian actor Christian as video producer, the video looks very well made and it is entertaining too (teaser below). He said that MalesBanget now has 56,000 YouTube subscribers and a total of 400,000 video views every month. The site itself now records 401,000 monthly unique visitors with a total of three million pageviews served every month. The team is taking on the content industry very seriously, especially on the video content side.

All in all, kudos to the video initiatives carried out by all the parties involved. The team hopes the videos will help local people to appreciate and travel inside their country more. And drama lovers out there might want to check the videos too as it is being spiced up with a little bit of romantic plot and spots! XD

Article is made in collaboration with Elisa Effendi.

Startup Asia Jakarta 2012: Startup Arena!!!! (Part 1)

Startup Asia Jakarta 2012!
My first ever tech event, it's a very BIG one I must say
How did I come to this? I was the audio visual guy located at the back of the room.
So if you heard (or did not hear) music playing and saw something you didn't like, I'm the guy to blame
Oh yeah, if you asked for the wifi password to the guy at the back, then most probably it's me again

Enough about me, now let's talk about the coolest thing happened there: ARENA!!!
Cuz I was the tech guy, I had to watch people practicing the pitches, must say I was impressed
It is a competition where tech people pitch their ideas to the judges, get scores, and maybe win $10.000
WHOA! $10.000!?!?!? Yoi brader. The finals came from India, Nepal, Philliphines, Singapore, and Indo!!
Who were the judges? Some expert guys in some fields, like mobile phones, investments, and stuff

But this week, the bosses are not the judges... they are... THE PARTICIPANTS!

First up: HARPOEN!!
Digital tagging app for smartphones, it's like making graffiti in digital world
With the app, you can also see other people's tags in that specific location. Much like twitter, but location based.
Function: nostalgic stuff to remember things, or to get people reviews before entering a restaurant because they have put their tags there, awesome!!

I can see people using it they way they use twitter and stuff, and for nostalgic moments and shit
But what happens when in a location there's like 1 million tags? If Harpoen can handle such thing, then I'm rooting for their app!
Too bad don't have smartphones so can't use. It's already available at itunes btw, cekidot if you're interested
BossToday verdict: Coooool apppp!!!! If only I have smartphones t.t

Next stop: GREPSR!! from Nepal
Catchy name, good services... pricey though - $129 per project fee, so it's not for small medium enterprises on the budget
Though I'd say that it's gonna be worthwhile for your research stuff - it's like having a secretary to do your research, but this time it is for $129 only!

Will it work? Sure, they already have 300 customers already. Good number considering they are still very new in the market.
BossToday verdict: nice one, automating research stuff for big businesses, wish them the best

It's Indonesia's turn! GOBANNNNNNNN!!! (means 50.000 for Chinese people)
The problem they presented - Indonesian people do not have jobs! This is a good way to provide jobs for them
Hmmm... I'd say maybe it can work for middle class people who just want to have fun... for upper class? No way in hell they want to sell their service for only goban... unless goban is only for preview or sample or something

Would it solve low class unemployment problem? Most probably not. Low class don't have internet access to showcase their skills to the website, they only open facebook and twitter lol.
Another big problem is how Gobann monetize this... they connect sellers and buyers and then will take commission out of the job...
How in heck can they make sure that the sellers and buyers would secure a deal in Gobann website? When they can deal on facebook and be free from the commission fee?

BossToday verdict: potential... but still lots of loopholes to cover

Very interesting brand name! Payroll Hero from the Philliphines!!
Employers would LOVE them, employees would HATE them!
Who are the villains? The ghost worker, the buddy puncher and stuff.
It has something to do with employees not optimized enough in their job - they sometimes skip some hours or days from the company but still getting the same paychecks.
If I were an employee, I would hate this company. Skipping some productive hours are fun mind you.

But hey! their business makes a lot of sense. If I were an evil employer who would want to squish my employees as much as I can... sure I'll give payroll hero a try.
So is payroll hero really a hero? They look more like the villains for employees if you ask me.
BossToday verdict: they got 2nd place in the Arena, congrats! Cool brand, cool name, can't say if I would be happy though if my company uses it.


That's all for now, 4 startups with great ideas. More to follow...

Abrakadabra! Food to die for!

So I was watching TV, changing channels here and there when I stumbled upon a nice episode of Masterchef Australia... featuring BOSS OF THE WEEK as Celebrity Chef... Heston Blumenthal!! Heston Who? Heston Abrakadabra Blumenthal!

Abrakadabra! Today you are birds, tomorrow you are soup!

Abrakadabra is definitely the perfect word for him... some other people call him "The Mad Scientist", "The Magician", or "The Culinary Alchemist" I'd prefer to call him "Abrakadabra".

I am no annoying orange, but I speak Mandarin

Why Abrakadabra? You see, he does not become Abrakadabra just because he is a doctorate freakin graduate in culinary science. He becomes abrakadabra because he can transform the juicy fruits above into ...

You got me; I can't speak Mandarin... I'm not even orange you see

Boom! Fruits thy will become meat! Wait what? Yes! The fruits are not fruits... THEY ARE MEAT! Mindblowing! Even the shock was enough to get me up from my bed when watching the episode. Daaamn bro!

Is it tasty? Well I guess so... His restaurant in England, The Fat Duck is lauded as one of the best in the world. Top 5 in the last five years. It has three Michelin Stars (I don't know what it means, but it sounds cool).
And oh yeah, he got a doctorate degree in culinary too... not that it helps. Last but not least, the chef is THE Abra-freakin-kadabra!!

Listening to iPod has never been this hip

Want more? Then behold! Sound of the Sea! Wait what? Yes, the food's name is "Sound of the Sea". It's a bit long, so we'll call it seapod instead.
You buy this dish, and they'll let you borrow their sea-shell ipod to listen to while eating seapod. Why? So it would enhance the tasting pleasure they say... or just to give you an excuse not to listen to your noisy spouse or friends I guess... genius!

Yummy! or Yuck?

What? We're supposed to eat that!? Yuck! What is that?
I know right? Well it turns out it is so yummy, it is called "Legendary Dish" by a lot of food experts. The dish is made of seafood (duh!) and edible seaweed. It is to portray as if you are eating the beach itself.
Magic right? First was eating meat fruits, now it is eating beaches, what sorcery is this!?
(Yes, they say you can eat all that except the sand underneath it... and the glass... and the seapod on that matter.)

But my oh my! Really a blast for the senses!
They say that one customer even fell into tears while eating and listening to the music... either the experience was so mindblowing and beautiful for that woman... or she cried because the food was too expensive for its taste lol.

Sure, I've failed once or twice, don't care! Cuz I'm still 10.000x richer than you baby!!!

But despite all that, Abrakadabra is still human. It is awesome to still see him humbled when presenting his new dishes to revamp "Little Chef" Restaurant as a Celebrity Chef there.
What happened after that? Heard the project failed and Little Chef had to fire a lot of people. But still, we are all human in everything we do. That's why I love Abrakadabra; he is not yet a God hahaha.

How much is it to dine at his restaurant by the way? Only a meager €250 per head, or equivalent to a return Air Asia ticket from Indonesia to any asian countries you desire, or half an iPad, or 36 yummy Stuffed Crust PHD Pizzas.
Wooooh definitely food to die for! Especially if you can't afford it lol

Eat without paying? I'll make a duck soup out of you Mhuahahahahahahaha

Drive puts stiff face syndrome on the map

At the time of writing, this movie has SOLID scores on movie reviews that matter.
IMDB = 8.2 from 66K votes
RottenTomatoes = 93% on TomatoMeter and 79% audience liked it
What could possibly go wrong? Well, BOSS OF THE WEEK happened:

Stiff face 2.0

Ryan Gosling as drama star? Maybe..
Ryan Gosling as action star? Heck no!!
Simply put, he is the Kirsten Stewart of male action star!His face is soooo stiff and expressionless in THE ENTIRE FREAKIN MOVIE that he manages to motivate all people in the world that we could also be an action star like him
Maybe that's where the good rating comes in, people are encouraged to be the next Ryan Gosling = the Stiff Face movie star lol

His face is soo flat, that if he used a mask throughout the entire movie it wouldn't make a difference

Acting has never been easier
He drives, stiff face
He got punked, stiff face
He threatens and kicks people's asses, stiff face
He got stabbed and shot and almost bleed to death, stiff face
He kills people with hammer, with blood splattered all over his face... yea you guessed it, stiff face

Let me b*tchslap that stiff face out of you

This guy, where have I seen him before? Ah yes, Sons of Anarchy!!
Ron was awesome, he owns the scene everytime he shows up
There are funny moments, there are brutal moments, the bad guy we love to hate
Wished he got more screen time though, at least much better than the stiff face *sshole

Oh la la, then Christine Hendricks happened
Cleavage rating = none, why no boobs lah? This movie is for mature audience, think we can cope with some cleavages from Christine Hendricks. Would definitely make the whole movie MUCH BETTER
She was okay in the movie, not enough screen time and booby review tho

Carey, your son may have been contracted with a syndrome

Christine Hendricks is way much hotter than... this girl, Carey Mulligan
But I have to agree, Carey makes much better partner for Ryan in the movie, why? She has stiff face syndrome too lol
Carey in love, stiff face
Carey shocked, stiff face
Carey happy, stiff face
Carey Carey, a mask would also suit her just fine in the entire movie
Again, no cleavage rating (why director? WHY???)

Stiff face syndrome? I can cover that!

Lesson learned = if you are a stiff face actor, be sure to hire a SUPER COMPETENT DIRECTOR to cover you up.
That is what teams are for, to cover for each other. I can imagine how mindf*cked the director was when he realized that his two stars have stiff face syndrome.
For a movie titled drive, it has a driving scene of about 15 minutes out of 120 minutes!?@!#@!$!#@$#@
The action part you see from the trailer? Yeah, that was 50% of action for the whole movie already
Maybe that's where the director covered up Ryan's *ss?   "Ryan for action movie? OH HELL NO, let's just make a drama movie out of it and emphasizes the actionness in the trailer"
Make no mistake, even if the ratings are that high, this movie has serious potential to still make you doze off

Yeap, I don't drive that much

Starting a blog?

WHOOAAAAA!!! I've been meaning... intending... wanting... to start a blog for a looooong time... finally... that time is today!

Why only now? Because at long last I found more solid reasons why I should start a blog. This was inspired by watching a video on Youtube!! So let me present you with the BOSS OF THE WEEK:

BOSS NIGANIHA!!!!

What are the reasons to start a blog? My reasons are thesee!!

1. Money ($.$) - Niganiha is one of top bookmarked person on youtube, he gets money by raking lots of views on his videos... his videos have online ads (like from adsense), another video on youtube once calculated that niganiha earns roughly $450 each day from only his videos... that is $12000 per month... and $140000 per year. Daaaamn! I wanna get money too!

2. For World Peace (ahem!) @#E!$@#$@%  OKE, I admit, I do it mainly for money, but if by any chance my blog could save the world, I'd definitely take ALL the credit by saying "Sure, I meant to do it all along, the idea of money never even crossed my mind... never..."


So what do I need to do to earn like a boss with blog?

1. Write some stuff that could benefit the readers in a way, either through humor, or through useful information or something else... the goal is to get people to READ... well the goal is to get people to OPEN my blog and CLICK on the FUTURE ADS, even better if you SHARE my blog (a must!). Don't care if you don't read, just help me get rich Goddammit.

2. Write with PICTURES, any will do to help them understand your point

Umm... just make sure the picture helps the readers understand your point better, not to confuse them even more... but the puppy is sooo damn cuuute!! Had to put the picture up... rite? rite?

3. Routine makes lazy and tired... but need to do it somehow... need to get regular traffic. Why? Because traffic = people open blog = $. That's why!


I know I know, niganiha is on videos, and blogs are well... blogs, but the idea is still the same = attract attention = ads = money. I'll try to find more relevant bosses next time, but niganiha got a lazy ass like me to start a blog, need to give some prop to him. Any attention you can get through any media, you can get money out of it, niganiha chose videos... I choose blogs and websites for now.


Oh yeah, while I'm still at it, please do open my super cool website BelajarOn.com. It is a free educational website for Indonesian people, it's still in progress, but would really appreciate your support. Why I built BelajarOn? Why of course it's because I just want to contribute to world peace, a boss gotta do what a boss gotta do rite? The idea of money never even crossed my mind...never...