The Harsh Truth of SMEs
Over the past two weeks, I met The Marketing OG and the one and only Michella
@sajangmich, Founder
@skingameofc and MBA Graduate
@sbmitb junior of
@tirta_cipeng & my classmate
@mjupaka like myself at the Halo Connect Conference and ideafest Conference
Had little time to debate, so here you go
Almost all SME founder she meets is obsessed with building the “perfect system” way too early. Fancy Notion dashboards, custom ERP, detailed SOP for everything, even before they know if people actually want to buy the stuff. She said all that over-preparation feels safe, but in reality most of it just sits unused while the real fire is the bank balance dropping every day
She also noticed everyone is a constant FOMO mode, chasing whatever is hot this month (Reels, TikTok Shop live, new platform, new trend), copying the viral kid from last week without asking where they actually want the brand to be in two years. Speed feels like progress, but there’s no trajectory, just sprinting in circles
And research and development? Almost nobody does real R&D. They copy the bestseller on Shopee, change the packaging a little, pray while she spends proper time (and budget) testing formulas, scents, textures with actual focus groups because one small change can make repeat rate jump from 15 % to 40 %. That’s the part competitors can’t copy overnight
Last thing she kept repeating is the measurement of Return on Marketing Investment from the first rupiah you spend on ads. Not likes, not followers, not Joget TikTok, not how pretty the content is. Ask “how many rupiah came back for every rupiah I put in?” Most founders she meets still treat marketing as a cost, not an investment with a scorecard. Once you have that number every week, suddenly you stop guessing and the whole game becomes calmer
Anyway, nice finally knowing you in person. Keep grinding and giving away the scholarship.
Till the next conference
*late post due to scheduled post, per week