Indra Gunawan: CEO & Co-founder of Bobobox Doubles Down Expansion, Raising $30M

As the CEO and co-founder of Bobobox, I've navigated entrepreneurship's ups and downs, from pivoting to solve a crisis to discovering new opportunities, and now I'm excited to share my journey with like-minded professionals.

1. Indra Gunawan is the CEO and co-founder of Bobobox, a next-generation sleeping lifestyle company.
2. The company offers two products: Bobobox Pods for frequent budget travelers and Bobo Cabins for nature lovers.
3. Both products are tech-enabled and modular, making them easy to assemble.
4. Bobobox has more than 1 million registered users and has raised over $30 million in funding.
5. The company is expanding in Indonesia and beyond.
6. Indra Gunawan started his career as a nerd who loved studying and wanted to become a lawyer.
7. However, a family emergency forced him to drop his law ambitions and take over the family printing business at the age of 19.
8. He managed to turn around the business by obtaining ISO certifications and attracting big companies as clients.
9. After that, he spotted an opportunity in the tech landscape and set up a game studio, which was later acquired.
10. Indra Gunawan then went on to work as a consultant but got bored quickly.
11. He decided to start another startup with his partner after reading an article about creating legendary products that tap into everyone's lifestyle.
12. They discovered that sleep is a big part of everyone's lifestyle and saw an opportunity in the growing number of budget travelers in Indonesia.
13. Indra Gunawan traveled to different countries to try capsule hotels and found that they all had high occupancy rates.
14. He realized that the product-market fit was there, but the challenge was to scale the business without owning property.
15. That's when he came up with the idea of creating modular capsules that could be assembled in any type of building.
16. He bootstrapped the project and converted one room in his sister's hotel into a capsule, which had a 99% occupancy rate for that month.
17. The company received funding and built the first capsule hotel, which went viral and had an occupancy rate of over 85% across all locations before Covid-19.
18. When the pandemic hit, the company's occupancy rate declined rapidly, but Indra Gunawan refused to downsize the company.
19. Instead, he discovered a new opportunity in the trend of people going outdoors after being cooped up at home for months.
20. He created a lodging solution in a forest area and found that it had a 100% occupancy rate on weekends.
21. The company then launched Bobo Cabins, which were sold out for the whole month within three hours of being listed on Instagram.
22. The growth of cabins matched the growth of pods in just two years, allowing the company to sustain its employees and expand.
23. Indra Gunawan believes that empathy is an essential quality for leaders, especially during difficult times.
24. He emphasizes the importance of figuring out what matters most and practicing self-control as a leader, even when faced with many opportunities and distractions.

Source: EO via YouTube

❓ What do you think? What is one lesson or insight that you gained from your entrepreneurial journey, and how has it shaped your approach to leadership and decision-making? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!