Sidedoor Podcast: Mulyono Xu of Desty Page
The co-founder and CEO shares how Desty Page is helping Indonesian SME owners.
Mulyono Xu is the co-founder and CEO of Desty Page. They help Indonesian businesses digitize their businesses, most notably with their link in bio product, that connects to ecommerce platforms.
I spoke with Mulyono more than a year ago (sorry for the delay bro!). Some of the things we spoke about might be out of date based on their current business (I don’t know) but the lessons from my chat with Mulyono will stand the test of time.
Mulyono is not my first guest with VC/CEO experience, but it’s still a rare combination in Southeast Asia. I hope you enjoy this episode, if you’re crunched for time, here are the top lessons from the episode.
1. Start Simple: Nail One Product First
Desty began with its lightest product: Desty Page, a localized alternative to Linktree. The reason? It's a near-universal need for merchants, making it the perfect entry point to understand their pain points and build trust.
“We started with Desty Page because it’s the easiest product, and almost all merchants need a link-in-bio. It gave us wide coverage, low CAC, and early insight into merchant behavior.”
This allowed Desty to onboard thousands of merchants with minimal friction—and start building toward a larger platform.
2. Build Deeply Localized Products
Unlike many SaaS companies that adapt global tools, Desty is built from the ground up for Indonesia. That means integrations with local payment systems, language preferences, and merchant behavior.
“All of our features are developed specifically for the Indonesia market and local merchant behavior.”
This laser focus on local needs gave Desty a major edge against foreign competitors like Linktree or Shopify, which lacked tailored solutions for the region.
3. Think Bigger Than Tools: Build the OS
Mulyono’s long-term vision isn't just building standalone tools. Desty is building a merchant operating system—similar to Android—complete with native apps (chat, store, omnichannel tools) and eventually a marketplace for third-party services.
“Think of what we’re building like Android—we built the Chrome, Messages, Calendar, and now we’re preparing to launch the Play Store.”
This approach not only drives retention but positions Desty as critical infrastructure for Indonesia’s ecommerce ecosystem.
4. Indonesia is Entering E-Commerce 2.0
Mulyono believes Indonesia is moving from ecommerce “version 1.0” (market education) to “version 2.0” (scalable infrastructure and automation). The pandemic accelerated digitization, but the infrastructure still lags.
“Everyone is focused on B2C or the front-end, but no one is really serving merchants as merchants. We saw that gap and knew it was time.”
This inflection point is why Desty exists—to support the next phase of Indonesia’s digital economy with tools that enable real scale.
5. Consistency Beats Speed for Entrepreneurs
Mulyono’s advice for founders wasn’t about being first—it was about being consistent. He spent years in e-commerce at Alibaba, in venture capital, and in other startups. That deep domain experience gave him an unfair advantage when launching Desty.
“It’s not about starting a company young or old. What matters is building expertise—10,000 hours—whether through working or building. Stay focused on one domain.”
This is a reminder to new founders: don’t rush to launch. Spend time building mastery in your space first.