Strong Ecosystems, Not Just Strong Founders, Build Great Companies

JAKARTA — Jakartaweekly.com. For years, startup success has been associated with visionary founders capable of transforming bold ideas into billion-dollar companies. But as global entrepreneurship evolves, business leaders and investors are increasingly recognizing that sustainable growth depends on something much broader: the strength of the ecosystem surrounding a company.

That view is supported by a growing body of research. A recent McKinsey & Company report on ecosystem building argues that organizations create greater resilience and long-term growth by developing interconnected networks of partners, universities, governments, investors, suppliers, and customers rather than operating independently. Businesses embedded in healthy ecosystems are better positioned to innovate, access new markets, and navigate economic uncertainty than those relying solely on their internal capabilities.

Entrepreneur, investor, and startup advisor Elisabeth Kurniawan believes the same principle applies to entrepreneurship.

“For a long time, I believed exceptional companies were built by exceptional founders,” Kurniawan told Jakarta Weekly. “After building companies, investing in startups, and advising entrepreneurs, I’ve come to believe something different. Sustainable success belongs to ecosystems.”

Great Ideas Need the Right Environment

Kurniawan believes one of entrepreneurship’s biggest misconceptions is that a brilliant idea combined with relentless execution is enough to build a successful company.

Instead, she has witnessed many talented founders struggle—not because they lacked intelligence or discipline—but because they were operating in environments filled with unnecessary friction.

“I’ve met brilliant founders who couldn’t scale,” she said. “Not because they lacked talent, but because the ecosystem around them wasn’t helping them succeed.”

Those barriers can range from limited access to funding and experienced talent to fragmented regulations, weak collaboration between universities and industry, or disconnected business networks that make innovation more difficult.

The importance of systems over individual effort is echoed in a recent Forbes Business Council analysis, which argues that sustainable growth is built on repeatable systems rather than short-term wins. According to the report, organizations that consistently outperform competitors focus on operational discipline, organizational alignment, and long-term capabilities instead of relying on extraordinary individual performance or temporary momentum.

For Kurniawan, founders often underestimate how much these invisible systems influence business outcomes.

“Administrative complexity, regulatory uncertainty, talent shortages, and funding gaps all consume energy that founders could otherwise spend building better businesses,” she said. “Every unnecessary obstacle becomes a hidden tax on innovation.”

Indonesia’s Startup Ecosystem Is Entering a New Phase

Indonesia has already demonstrated its ability to produce globally recognized technology companies.

Over the past decade, companies such as Gojek, Tokopedia, Traveloka, Bukalapak, J&T Express, Xendit, DANA, Akulaku, Ajaib, and Kopi Kenangan have shown that billion-dollar businesses can emerge from local innovation supported by strong domestic demand and growing regional investment.

However, industry observers believe the country’s startup ecosystem is now entering a more mature chapter.

According to the Indonesia Startup Report 2026 published by Foundry Collective, Indonesia is transitioning from an era defined by rapid fundraising and valuation growth toward one focused on sustainable business fundamentals. Startup funding has become more selective, with investors prioritizing profitability, capital efficiency, governance, and long-term resilience over aggressive expansion.

Rather than viewing lower investment activity as a sign of weakness, the report describes the current environment as a market recalibrating after years of exuberant growth. It argues that the ecosystem is becoming healthier as founders place greater emphasis on operational discipline, sustainable unit economics, and responsible scaling.

For Kurniawan, this represents a natural evolution.

“The conversation shouldn’t only be about creating more startups,” she said. “It should be about creating better environments where great companies can continue to emerge.”

She believes Indonesia’s next phase of innovation will depend less on producing individual unicorns and more on strengthening the institutions that consistently produce successful businesses.

“A mature ecosystem develops founders, attracts long-term investment, connects research with industry, and creates the conditions where companies can keep growing,” she said.

Ecosystems Are Becoming the New Competitive Advantage

Kurniawan believes ecosystem thinking should also be applied within organizations.

Too often, companies optimize individual departments rather than designing systems that enable every function to reinforce one another.

“Marketing is focused on one objective. Product is solving another problem. Operations has different priorities. Leadership is looking elsewhere,” she said.

“Everyone is working, but very little is compounding.”

According to her, alignment across people, teams, and processes has become one of the most overlooked competitive advantages in modern business.

This observation closely aligns with McKinsey’s findings that ecosystem-driven organizations outperform traditional operating models because they enable collaboration across multiple stakeholders instead of relying on isolated decision-making.

Building Systems That Last

Kurniawan also believes ecosystem thinking extends beyond business strategy and into personal leadership.

Drawing from her experience as a competitive figure skater, she says sustained performance is never created by one extraordinary moment.

“It comes from coaching, recovery, nutrition, discipline, technical practice, and consistent habits,” she said. “None of those things wins on its own. Together, they create excellence.”

She now asks founders a different question than she once did.

Instead of asking about their next fundraising round or product launch, she asks:

“What ecosystem are you building around yourself?”

That includes the mentors they learn from, the teams they assemble, the culture they nurture, the habits they maintain, and the systems that help them make better decisions over time.

“The strongest companies I’ve seen weren’t built because one founder carried everything alone,” she said. “They were built because the right people, the right systems, and the right environment reinforced one another over time.”

As Indonesia’s startup ecosystem continues to mature, Kurniawan believes the country’s long-term competitiveness will depend less on producing isolated success stories than on creating an environment where innovation can be repeated consistently across generations of entrepreneurs.

“Products evolve. Markets change. Technology advances,” she said. “But strong ecosystems continue creating opportunities long after individual ideas have changed.”

For Kurniawan, that is where sustainable competitive advantage ultimately lies—not in individual brilliance alone, but in the systems that allow great companies to emerge again and again.