At some point in building The Entrepreneurs Society, I realized that the most interesting game wasn't building one great company. It was building the conditions under which many great companies could grow — including mine.
That shift in thinking — from business builder to ecosystem builder — is the most consequential strategic move I've made. And I believe it's the next frontier for ambitious Indonesian founders.
What Is an Ecosystem, Actually?
An ecosystem is a network of interconnected entities that create more value together than they could separately.
In nature: trees, fungi, insects, animals — each playing a role, each benefiting from the others. In business: the TES universe — community, training, media, marketing, consulting, tax and legal services — each vertical supporting and feeding the others.
The key word is interconnected. An ecosystem is not a holding company. It's not a portfolio of separate businesses. It's a system where each part makes the other parts stronger.
A TES community member who needs brand strategy goes to HMM360. One who needs corporate training goes to BoldWorks. One who needs tax compliance goes to Aurelion. Each of those businesses benefits from the community — and the community benefits from having those services available to its members.
Why Single-Business Thinking Has Limits
Most founders are trained to think in single-business terms: pick a market, build a product, scale the product, exit or IPO. This model works — but it has a fundamental ceiling.
A single business is dependent on a single value proposition in a single market at a single point in time. If that market shifts, the business is exposed. If a competitor out-executes you on that one value proposition, you lose.
An ecosystem is more resilient, because value is distributed across multiple touchpoints. It's also more defensible — the switching cost for a customer embedded in an ecosystem is much higher than for a customer who just uses one product.
And it's more valuable: the combined worth of a well-built ecosystem is dramatically higher than the sum of its parts, because each part amplifies the others.
The TES Experiment: What We Learned
TES started in 2017 as a single community. Over nine years, it evolved into an ecosystem with six major verticals: community (TES), corporate training (BoldWorks), marketing (HMM360), tax and legal consulting (Aurelion), business consulting (KlinikBisnis.TES), and media (TEStify). Plus the leadership circle (ELITES) and several specialized programs.
What I learned:
The community is the flywheel
Every other part of the ecosystem was made easier by the community. When we launched BoldWorks, we had an immediate pipeline of corporate clients who trusted TES. When HMM360 launched, we had credibility and case studies from day one. The community is the asset that de-risks everything else.
Shared identity matters more than shared ownership
Not everything in the TES ecosystem is directly owned by TES. Some ventures are partnerships, some are independent businesses run by ELITES members who are aligned with the TES mission. What makes it an ecosystem is shared identity and shared values, not legal ownership structures.
The transition from operator to curator is hard
Building an ecosystem means letting go of the illusion of control over every part. You become a curator of talent, of partners, of culture — not a hands-on operator of every function. That transition is psychologically difficult for most founders. It requires deep trust and the ability to hold a vision without executing every detail yourself.
How to Start Thinking in Ecosystems
You don't need to build TES to apply ecosystem thinking. Start with these questions:
- What is the core asset that could anchor an ecosystem? For TES, it was the community. For you, it might be a customer base, a data set, a distribution channel, or a brand.
- What are the adjacent problems your customers face? Your current product solves one problem. What are the two or three adjacent problems the same customer has?
- Who are the natural partners who could solve those adjacent problems — and whose customers are your natural audience?
- What would make your core asset more valuable as a result of each new piece?
The goal is to create a system where each addition strengthens the whole, and where the customer who enters through any door eventually finds value across the entire ecosystem.
"Build something people want to be part of — not just something they want to buy."
The Long Game
Ecosystem building is a 10-year game, not a 2-year game. The compounding effects take time. The trust required to build the partnerships takes time. The brand equity that makes each new vertical easier to launch takes time.
But the founders who play this game — who think beyond their first or second business into the conditions they want to create in their industry or community — build things that outlast any single product cycle. They build legacies.
That's what I'm building. And if you're reading this, I suspect it's what you want to build too.
Thinking About Building an Ecosystem?
Klemens works with founders on ecosystem strategy, community design, and brand architecture. If you're playing the long game — let's think through it together.
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