How SHINTA VR Founded – A Flashback Series #1

In this era of digitalization, many immersive technologies have emerged that provide various benefits to our lives. Technology facilitates the survival of humankind in carrying out their daily routines. One of these technologies is Virtual Reality which is currently popular in Indonesian society. Andes Rizky is an Indonesian citizen interested in Virtual Reality long before the technology became massive.

Growing up in an environment that prioritizes education from an early age, Andes Rizky is someone who has a high interest in science and art. After graduating from high school, Andes decided to continue his university studies in a field closely related to these two aspects. That was the reason why he entered the Department of Physics, University of Indonesia.

Physics may be a challenging and annoying field of science for some people. Andes thought otherwise. For him, this world has so many abstract problems, and the existence of physics can help us in unravelling these abstract problems. “Physics is the most artistic science,” Andes concluded when he recalled his college experience. In other words, physics—in this case, science—is as essential as art.

Andes spent his youth on campus pursuing hobbies in theatre, music, and film. If science gives him a logical perspective, then art makes him more sensitive to aesthetically seeing the life around him. The field that contains both of these is technology. So, after college, Andes realized his interest in technology. At that time, Andes had a solid vision to realize his dream in the realm of technology: a lifetime of serving in the technology profession.

Andes’s passion and high curiosity for technology increased as the years went by. Once after graduating from college, Andes worked in a particular company; still, he diligently sought more information about technological developments. In 2014, he discovered Virtual Reality, which wasn’t widespread in Indonesia. Since then, Andes decided to buy one of the variants of the Virtual Reality tool, namely Oculus Quest Dev. Kit 1 and Dev Kit 2. 

That was the moment Andes had been waiting. “This is what I was looking for, a combination between art and technology—it will be useful for people,” admitted Andes enthusiastically. To him, Virtual Reality technology is perfect for business plans. The main reason he figured out is that at that time, only a few companies provided this kind of technology in Indonesia. So Andes can measure his business opportunity, a business based on his love of technology.

Andes knows that he is not alone. His wife, Jelita, was the first person who listened to his dream that he would spend his entire life. Jelita did not laugh at Andes’ dream because she knew her partner was a nerd and risk taker. Jelita gave her full support and consideration of practical consequences. After getting his motivation from Jelita, Andes began meeting new friends with the same passion as him.

The first obstacle Andes experienced was that not many people understood information about Virtual Reality, except for enthusiastic people familiar with technological developments or those who are actively and insightful on computer stuff. So, the first thing Andes did was to connect his perceptions about Virtual Reality technology and its business opportunities with his close friend.

As a person who always determines scientific matters, every decision that Andes will take must go through a process of combining data with risks. One way to measure it, Andes used the Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat (SWOT) method to manifest his dream. 

“I saw the potential of VR when it was the easiest to scale in terms of business,” Andes said. Andes proved his statement by telling his friends about his dream to pioneer a technology company. He started a business plan presentation in front of the entrepreneur association. 

At the same time, Andes actively wrote some essays about Virtual Reality on KasKus platform. Although people’s enthusiasm was relatively low, several responses prompted Andes and his new friends to initiate, namely to form a group on Facebook called INDONESIA VR COMMUNITY. At the end of the day, that group brought him to catch up with several people with the same interest as him in technology.

Become an admin of INDONESIA VR COMMUNITY, Andes met with a partner who accompanied him in pioneering SHINTA VR. In other words, the dream came true in 2015 as Andes knew that a beautiful dream was still a dream, so he tried to manifest it through technology. (To be continued)

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