The character arc of William Tanuwijaya
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born 11 November 1981 in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, into a family of modest means who paid for his schooling. Between then and now sit long shifts minding an internet cafe to fund university, a degree in 2003, an idea in 2007, two years of investors turning him down, the launch of Tokopedia in February 2009, 1.1 billion dollars from Alibaba in 2017, and a change of ownership that took the company out of his hands. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is William Tanuwijaya?
Every investor said no for two years, and he kept asking.
He was born in 1981 in Pematang Siantar, a town in North Sumatra, into a family of middling means who backed his education as far as they could. He went to Jakarta for university, to study computer science at BINUS, and paid his own way by working in an internet cafe, twelve hours at a stretch. That job is the origin of everything: he was watching, for hours every day, what ordinary Indonesians actually did online, at a time when almost nobody in the country bought anything that way.
He graduated in 2003, worked as a software and game developer, and in 2007 began building Tokopedia with Leontinus Alpha Edison, an online marketplace where anybody could open a shop. That year his father was diagnosed with cancer. By his own repeated account he then spent two years being turned down by investors, who told him he had no wealthy family behind him and no record of building anything, which in Indonesian venture capital at the time was close to disqualifying.
Tokopedia launched on 6 February 2009. It took another five years for the money to arrive properly: a hundred million dollars from SoftBank and Sequoia in October 2014, then 1.1 billion dollars from Alibaba on 17 August 2017. In 2021 Tokopedia merged with Gojek to form GoTo, one of the largest technology groups in Southeast Asia. In early 2024 TikTok acquired control of Tokopedia in a transaction reported at about 1.5 billion dollars, and his term on the GoTo board ended that June. His line is worth reading because the two years of being told no are the part he talks about, not the billion.
The moments
William Tanuwijaya's timeline.
The 1990s
Nights in an internet cafe
Everyday, and it changed everything. Twelve hour shifts minding a room of computers, watching what Indonesians actually did online before anybody was selling to them.
The 2000s
A computer science degree
Milestone. The degree his family had stretched to support, paid for in part by the cafe.
The idea for Tokopedia
Milestone, and it changed everything. A marketplace where anybody in Indonesia could open a shop, in a country where almost nobody shopped online.
His father fell ill
Setback, and it changed everything. The same year he started, and the worst possible year to be earning nothing.
Two years of no
Setback, and it changed everything. Not the idea. Him. He was told he was the wrong sort of person to back, for two years.
Give up, or ask again
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: keep asking for money, taken, or take a salaried job. Tokopedia launched in February 2009, raised a hundred million dollars in 2014 and 1.1 billion from Alibaba in 2017.
Tokopedia launches
Milestone, and it changed everything. It went live after two years of rejection, with almost nothing behind it.
The 2010s
A hundred million dollars
Milestone, and it changed everything. Five years after launch, the money arrived, and at a size Indonesian technology had not seen.
Alibaba puts in a billion
Milestone, and it changed everything. The largest technology company in China putting a billion dollars into a business he had been told was unfundable.
The 2020s
Tokopedia and Gojek merge
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two of the biggest companies in Southeast Asia joined into one, and he sat on its board.
TikTok takes the company
Setback, and it changed everything. The thing he had been refused funding for, fifteen years earlier, was now worth buying outright.
He leaves the board
Setback, and it changed everything. Off the board of the company he founded, seventeen years after he started building it.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is ordinary across Indonesia: millions of small sellers with a shop they could not otherwise have had, opened by someone who was told he was not the right sort of founder.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His had two years where the only answer was no, and he asked again. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
William Tanuwijaya: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is William Tanuwijaya's character arc?
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What is Tokopedia, and when did William Tanuwijaya launch it?
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Where is William Tanuwijaya from?
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Sources
- William Tanuwijaya, English Wikipedia biography.
- Tokopedia, English Wikipedia.
- Profil William Tanuwijaya, Bisnis.com, May 2024.
- Pamit dari GoTo, Katadata, 2024.