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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Miing and Agum Gumelar..
I've just recently found out that they are brothers... hahaha... notice the resemblance?


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Sutiyoso for president.....

He is planning to step up for the presidency battle. Would he get your vote?

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Monday, October 30, 2006

.... and we're back!

After a successful month of fasting where I lost 4kg, I have managed to hold back during eid al fitr and gained just 3kg! :p

Of course the week-long holiday came after and I had to brutally face off all of the cravings and gained only 1kg.

Well that's that... A month of fasting erased by a week of holiday...

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Monday, October 23, 2006

Against All Odds!

Wow! We won the contract!

A roller coaster ride filled with luck, a bit of cheating, and financial strategy.

About 1 year ago, there was a tender we joined half-heartedly because we found out that it was supposed to be "rigged". It turns out the "winner-to-be" bid much too high over the proposed budget. The client then decides to use a MS Excell based application which was free. This was a legit and proven application. What happened next could only be considered as luck.

Someone close to upper management saw the Excell-based application and thought that the users developed an Excell application for their work. He then spread the word and it reached upper management, specifically the IT department. The IT department boss was furious and want a "real application". Thus a couple of months ago we were suddenly called and given a RFP. Another surprise was that they wanted the source code, thus tripling the project value than what we expected last year.

At this point we decided to go for broke and spent time to develop what was wanted in the RFP. It was risky but proved to be a key move because other vendors showed up with their version of the application and explained their concept of what would need to be revised and modified. We showed up in the initial clarification of the RFP with our version of the application and when it was time for a demo the next week, our application had a complete makeover in accordance to the RFP. This gave an excellent impression on the judges that:
1. We were serious and want this project.
2. Our application is robust shown by the major changes done in a week.

The grading was normal; 70% technical, 30% financial. As expected, from the technical aspect we got the highest score. This was classified information so it was hard enough to find out the standings and we didn't get info on the points. During this time, we also snooped around to find out the budget and how the financial aspect would be graded. We got the budget value although at the time the info wasnt 100% reliable. We also found out the habit of the financial person in charge. It was to be a bidding war.

As we got ready for the financial bidding, we were a bit down because we had underbid below the budget informed (about -5%). Another stroke of luck came our way because there was a slight change of scope:
1. Add modems to the bid
2. Legal aspects of the source code. They wanted exclusivity and we would not be allowed to resell the software elsewhere.

Although the second point is easily evaded in software practices, we thought it was the perfect chance to raise the bid. We then bid 37% higher than the budget informed. This is part of our financial strategy. This is so we can freefall the bid in the bidding war. To get a view on how much we changed the budget: If the budget was 500mil, we went from 475mil to 685mil! very significant. As expected, the competitors bid around 15% over the budget. With the above example, it would be 575mil.

Then came the day of the bidding war. The rules were simple:
1. Vendors were given 15minutes to write their bid on a paper and hand it to the panel.
2. If any vendor bid within the budget, the bidding will be stopped and the total points will be counted. If the vendor that bid within the budget had the highest technical points, then the bid is over and the vendor wins. If the vendor does not have the highest technical point, then the top two vendors (tech+finance) moves on to the final round.
3. If no vendor bid within the budget, there will be another round of bidding.

We all sat in a round table and of course i chose the seat closest to the judge. he had scribbled on a piece of paper and i pretended to focus on my Mac whereas my eyes squinted at the paper (skills learned from my cheating days). I saw three numbers: 52, 34, 16. My brain started clicking and i guessed those were the technical scores! yey we got a 52 out of 70! That means a maximum score of 82, 64, and 46! The third vendor is out of contention as our points is 52. I had to get a maximum 65 points or 13 out of the last 30. That would be easy.

Bidding wars usually happen by vendors cutting costs little by little. This is quite dangerous because opponents can guess how low you are willing to go.. And just as expected, the other vendors cut about -5% of their initial bid. As for me, I dropped -37% and went for the contract value limit. Since we had the highest technical points, the bidding session ended with the other vendors going home empty handed =)

The euphoria is still felt and it feels GOOOOOD.... hehehe...

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Can You Maintain JuraganBuku?

juraganbuku.com is doing excellent! with minimum (almost zero) marketing, we have more buyers than we expected. our account credit never makes it past halfway into the month and we have to keep on circulating the money. we plan to open links to amazon.de and japan very soon. amazon has offered to develop an integrated system for us to make it easier to maintain buyers, orders, and payments. we already have a solid customer base and several customers (especially corporate buyers) pledging spendings of tens of thousand USDs.

so what's the problem? there's no one that focuses purely on maintaining juraganbuku. in the beginning we thought sales would be mediocre and myself and several others could manage it. with orders off the roof, its getting out of control because we have to manage communication with amazon, with the customers, we have to maintain the system, upgrade the system, maintain the website, financial management, and the list goes on and on..

with a major contract deal for avevo only a signing away, my time for juraganbuku will be evermore divided. so im planning to rent an apartment or house as a base in jakarta (we currently still do not have a base in jakarta at the moment) and hire someone to maintain juraganbuku. the jobdesc would be but not limited to:
1. Marketing and promoting the site on the web
2. Maintain communication with amazon.com
3. maintain communication with customers
4. monitor the financials

since its launch, ive found that the most satisfying part of juraganbuku would probably be:
1. customers notifying their gratitude and satisfaction of the service.
2. old friends buzzing me on ym saying things like: "hey! i heard the juraganbuku site from my professor at XYZ university. isn't the site yours? wow i cant believe the owner of juraganbuku is a friend of mine!"

okay the last part does bloat up my head, but i cant help putting a wide grin on my face and feel lifted when that happens.

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Death dreams..

Since three weeks ago, ending on last week, had been quite scary.
I keep on having death dreams. every day.
Not of me, but I see people die in my dreams.
Sometimes its just one person dying normally, and other times its a gruesome death of tens of people in a traffic accident at a major highway in Central Jakarta. The scary part of the dream is that I dont just witness their deaths, but i can feel their deaths. i can feel the pain and suffering they faced just before dying. And as always with dreams like these, i wake and pray that they are just dreams and not another premonition.

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Sleep and Drive

A definite no-no. But i do it so regularly that its very scary.
I actually sleep when i drive at night. Ive slept on the freeway from Pancoran till close to grogol once. The latest? I slept while passing a busy 10pm saturday nite ITC Permata Hijau crossroad. I woke up right at the middle of the crossroad and stepped on the brakes. The light was luckily green and i stepped on the gas again. how lucky can u be?

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