A Hargapedia booth at Tech in Asia Jakarta

12 Oct 2019Career3 min read

Three of us took Hargapedia to the Tech in Asia Conference in Jakarta this week, my first trip since taking on the CTO role.

Back from Jakarta. Three of us went for the Tech in Asia Conference this week, our CEO, a colleague and me, two days at the Jakarta Convention Center. My second time in Jakarta… the first was in 2011, for the UI/UX training we ran for Nokia.

Some news first. I’ve taken on the CTO role, which means ramping up on our entire architecture and getting my hands dirty with backend coding. I’d rather be doing frontend, but I’ll just have to pick it up and learn as we go along.

A selfie outside the Jakarta Convention Center, in a blue Hargapedia tee with a conference lanyard, the entrance and a row of flags behind — Outside the Jakarta Convention Center.

This is Tech in Asia’s one big conference for the year, thousands of people over the two days and talks on four stages. We had a booth in the Startup Factory, under Intrack, and we went in as a big data company, because that’s what Hargapedia is… years of grocery price points we collected ourselves, and with that much data we can spot trends and see how people shop.

The Hargapedia booth in the Startup Factory: a colleague in a Hargapedia tee talking to a visitor with an orange backpack, under a card reading Intrack Market Services Sdn Bhd (Hargapedia), Malaysia's leading grocery price comparison app, industry Big Data — Our booth in the Startup Factory.

Day one I wore a blazer over the Hargapedia tee, to look presentable. Hardly anyone was wearing a jacket… ditched it on day two.

A selfie in a hotel room, in a dark blazer over the blue Hargapedia tee — The blazer.

The main stage in a dark hall, the screen reading Tech in Asia Conference, October 8 to 9, 2019, Jakarta Convention Center — The main stage.

I didn’t expect to see Rotimatic here. I’ve watched them on YouTube before, so it was a nice surprise when Pranoti Nagarkar came on the Beta Stage to talk about the future of kitchens. She’s the CEO of Zimplistic, the Singapore company that makes it. Rotimatic is a robot that makes roti. You fill it with flour, water and oil, pick how thick and how soft you want them, and it makes the dough, flattens it and cooks it, a fresh roti about every minute. It’s been on sale since 2016, for about US$999, in the US, the UK, Australia and a lot of other countries. I sat through their demo and was impressed.

Pranoti Nagarkar speaking on the Beta Stage beside a slide reading The Future of Kitchens — The Future of Kitchens, on the Beta Stage.

I also took a photo of the food menu at the hall, out of habit, and to remember how expensive it was. Nasi goreng for Rp 105,000, about RM31.