How I got here.
Working since I was thirteen, mostly the hard way. Some of it worked. The parts that didn't taught me the most.
“I don't just chase ideas. I test, fix, rebuild and improve until things actually work.”
- 2015
Junior high. First paid work.
Video editing for esports teams, Team nxl> and Recca Esports, from a bedroom in Indonesia. I learned deadlines, clients and craft before I learned algebra properly.
- 2017–19
High school. Freelancing.
Fiverr and Upwork, 3D and design, then at 17 a remote job with a US company that paid about US$1,000 a month. That money started Elkiya.
- 2019–21
Elkiya, the agency.
Design and video for international clients, then social, then paid ads. Retainers over projects: a few clients stayed four years. I learned ads, funnels and analytics through necessity, not theory.
- 2021
The first brand.
A struggling pet-portrait store, taken over and rebuilt with Indonesian artists. It grew into customers across 30+ countries, with no outside money.
- 2022–24
More brands. Honest results.
Supplements, clothing, home goods, dropshipping stores. Some sold, some closed, some paused, some failed from my own mistakes. I kept a full-time job as a safety net the whole time.
- 2023–24
Away from the desk.
IISMA, a fully funded scholarship to the University of California, Davis. Young Leaders for Indonesia by McKinsey & Company, Wave 17. Co-authored a peer-reviewed paper on buy-now-pay-later adoption.
- 2025
All in.
I let go of the safety net and went full-time on the businesses. It turned out the job was the thing stopping me from focusing.
- 2026
Elkiya Group and Pixel & Profits.
Closed Elkiya Digital, joined Faisal and Aditya as a partner at Pixel & Profits, and turned Elkiya into a group: own brands, systems, and the founders we back.
