Founder Spotlight: Yan Putra of 4Doctor

Founder Spotlight: Yan Putra of 4Doctor

Providing convenience to specialists that took care of us

By Jean De Ramon

 

The past few years have been very favorable sales-wise for the pharmaceutical industry of Indonesia. From 2009 up to mid-2016, their market has maintained the double-digit percent growth—last year, sales reached up to $ 7 billion.  A recent study¹ by GlobalData, a research and consulting firm in UK, showed that it is expected to increase up to $ 12.6 billion by 2020 due to economic and healthcare augmentation. With this continual growth, there is a need for the health sector to continually find ways to innovate their services so that status quo will be maintained. 

Linking doctors to the pharmaceutical market

4Doctor is a multi-purpose platform that doctors can use in Indonesia. It was inspired from M3 Japan which was an online medical-service platform. The difference is that 4Doctor was localized and customized to fit the needs of the doctors who will be using it. Its main purpose is to link doctors with the pharmaceutical companies. This platform will serve as a database for all doctors where they can conveniently communicate with pharmaceutical salesmen—with the very demanding schedule of doctors, it would be difficult for them to really find time to meet with the pharmaceutical sector. “This digital marketing platform will help both sides to understand each one’s needs and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing activation,” shared Yan Putra, developer of 4Doctor’s business model, with TechShake.

 

Yan’s team consisted of 4 IT engineers, 1 sales expert with 20 years of experience as medical representative for a pharmacy, and 1 advisor from Indonesia National Doctor Association—who helped with linking the communication from both the pharmaceutical sector and doctor’s side. Together, they work together in maintaining 4Doctor’s purpose of becoming a marketing platform that will be beneficial to all.

 

Learning through experience

Yan shared with us that moving from one place to another since he was a child taught him a lot about how to handle business as an entrepreneur. Managing a LAWSON convenience store taught him a lot about management which he now applies in a bigger business. “I learned the 3 most important things that should be well-managed, whether a small business or a company, is: “person”, “asset”, and “money”” tells Yan. It may be a really basic aspect of business but for him, it was an important thing that helped him a lot in managing his team. He also shares that, “I learned how to market store brand and product awareness.”

Aside from the fact that the government of Indonesia is not yet that disposed to support start-ups, Yan tells TechShake that one of the challenges that 4Doctor currently faces are understanding the market and managing the team vision. He said that one of the things that they always keep in mind is whether the market ready or not. “It will be the battle between the speed and the readiness of market. Whether we create the market soon enough with perfect timing or we wait till the market ready. It’s quite difficult to grab the balance as a first time entrepreneur.” he said. For them, timing is a very important aspect. 4Doctor wants to move in sync with the happenings in the market because if they cannot match the movement of the market, it would not only incur costs in terms of money but also wasted opportunities.

Working with 4Doctors also taught Yan that improving his research and management skills is a necessity. He wants to bring success to his team and to do that, self-improvement is needed. “Especially with regards on how to maintain my team motivation and creativity; this is the difference of 4Doctor compared to other start-ups,” Yan adds.

Working together is the key

Working as a team is a very important aspect for Yan. Synergy accomplishes more and it yields into better outcome because of collaboration. He tells us that an entrepreneur’s ideas and willingness will be nothing if a person doesn’t know how to properly communicate with a team. It is hard to be an entrepreneur but it will get easier when there are people around who would believe and help you in making those ideas into realization.

When the “person”, “asset and “money” are well managed, everything else will be easier to solve. But Yan tells us that, “The most important one for me is the “person”. You need to be able to manage not just your team as a “person” but also the needs and desires to be a “person” that is to be acknowledged by their family and the society. How well company is will depend on how well you build your team. When you have a great team, even a bad idea will become something fruitful.”

Have a good business partner and research a lot. This is the advice that Yan wanted to stress out to those that would want to begin a start-up in Indonesia. “Do a research about the Indonesian market; almost all start-ups in Indonesia find themselves limited to the operation just around Java or Bali Island because the other islands have quite different needs and opportunities,” Yan shares with TechShake.

 

Reference:

¹Indonesia’s Pharmaceutical Market Will Continue Rapid Growth to $ 12.6 Billion by 2020, says GlobalData. (2016, February 26). http://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/indonesia-s-pharmaceutical-market-will-continue-rapid-growth-to-12-6-billion-by-2020-says

 

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