Michael Riady Many entrepreneurs are driven by a profound personal passion or by discerning unmet needs in the market, aiming to deliver solutions that align with their core values and resonate deeply with consumers. Entrepreneurial journeys are rarely straightforward and are often laced with difficult trials and abandoned aspirations. Regardless, this ethos is emblematic of the American dream, where individuals pursue opportunities to transform their visions into reality, honoring their roots and making their own way. Michael Riady’s entrepreneurial journey begins in Indonesia. The founder of INDOxyz was born into a fifth-generation Indonesian family. He spent part of his childhood in Singapore and later returned to Indonesia, growing up in an international school environment. This diverse upbringing shaped his identity as a proud Indonesian and an international citizen. Michael’s professional journey began when he joined the family commercial real estate business at 24. Despite being born into a family of successful entrepreneurs, Michael didn’t take the easy route to the top. Planting a seed for the future unbeknownst to him, Michael worked with hundreds of coffee shops during this time. Since high school, Michael has loved to drink healthy, natural based caffeine such as coffee — and Indonesia is the world’s fourth largest producer. Finding the coffee industry too boring and old, he was also inspired by global consumer brands. Michael wanted to build an exciting coffee (and lifestyle) brand akin to major energy drinks. This would also empower him to promote what Indonesia has to offer to the world. Before taking this jump and despite his previous professional accomplishments, he couldn’t shake a feeling of emptiness and yearned for something different. On a vacation to the Scotland countryside, Michael’s life vision transformed. While visiting whiskey distilleries, Michael was inspired by how whiskey and wine are marketed based on their regions of origin and founded by locals. He first questioned why coffee wasn’t marketed in this way more explicitly. Second, he thought Indonesia should own this angle with its rich coffee history and culture. Third, he realized this was a perfect opportunity to represent Indonesian culture in the US as it is an underrepresented ethnic group. Fourth, he knew that no one could market Indonesian coffee better than an Indonesian coffee lover like himself. Many consumers may not realize plenty of standard coffee terms in America owe their origin to Indonesia’s deep-rooted coffee history. In fact, many of these English terms are homages to specific islands in Indonesia, like Java, Sumatra, and Bali, making Michael’s region-based marketing idea for coffee all the more prescient. Recalling a seed that had been planted long ago by an extended family member who had envisioned an Indonesian coffee brand, but tragically lost his life in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, the idea seemed like destiny. Michael moved to the United States from Indonesia in 2017 to start a real estate private equity firm. Due to unforeseen circumstances, this venture was indefinitely postponed, and Michael started to work on his part-time coffee venture. However, the path to entrepreneurial success was far from smooth. Michael faced a few early failures. His first brand faltered, and his second one struggled, coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Discouraged by his lack of progress, he retreated to Bali during the pandemic to visit family and reconnect with his lifelong love for surfing, another iconic Indonesian pastime. At this time, in 2021, Michael was offered some surf-break real estate opportunities, which he acquired originally for a retirement home. However, Michael contemplated entering the hospitality industry to leverage his real estate knowledge and build a surf ecosystem. Ultimately, this experience would prove valuable once again later in Michael’s career. Fate intervened when Michael successfully raised substantial capital in a pre-seed round from friends and family in 2022. This reinvigorated him to try and rebrand again, this time with a branding agency with previous experience working with lifestyle brands, officially founding INDOxyz. Michael knew his coffee was world-class, but his branding needed some additional tweaks. Eventually, management was restructured, and Michael brought in co-founders Strider Wasilewski, a former professional surfer and current on-air analyst for the WSL, and Rizal Tandjung, a longtime professional surfer who won his first competition when he was 15 in Bali, to lead the new brand and venture. Strider Wasilewski Rizal Tandjung The name “INDOxyz” itself is a testament to all these influences. “Indo” nods to Michael’s Indonesian roots and commitment to honoring the nation’s coffee culture on a global scale. INDOxyz’s slogan, “Indo fuels your dreams,” encapsulates Michael’s journey and the brand’s purpose. INDOxyz and Indonesian coffee fueled Michael’s ability to achieve his American Dream in more ways than one. Now, he wants to pay it forward and help others fuel their dreams. As the first Indonesian lifestyle coffee product in the US founded by a fifth-generation Indonesian coffee enthusiast, INDOxyz is disrupting the saturated coffee market with a uniquely authentic product. The INDOxyz flagship premium cold brew coffee is USDA organic-certified, single-origin (no blends), smooth, and devoid of bitterness or acidity. Remarkably, Michael has heard positive reviews not just from people who typically add cream and sugar to their black coffee but also from non-coffee drinkers. The second product is the popular cocktail, the Espresso Martini, which is 10% alcohol vodka-based. The third product is a whole bean for coffee lovers who wish to grind and pour over at home or when traveling. Consumers can find INDOxyz in natural premium stores in Southern California and Las Vegas, like the highly popular and TikTok-famous Erewhon Market. In addition to Erewhon, INDOxyz can be found in Farm Shop, Vintage Grocers, Pavilions, Vons, Albertsons, Colony, Good Riddance, Pink Dot, LAX Southwest Terminal, UCLA, Resorts World Las Vegas, Aria Casino, Hilton, and Virgin Las Vegas. Moving forward, Michael hopes to make coffee exciting and interesting in addition to celebrating Indonesian coffee culture. As the second-largest commodity globally, coffee provides a canvas for Michael and his team to paint their vision from incorporating new products like espresso martinis and lattes to creatively leveraging Indonesia’s famous surf culture. To this point, Michael and INDOxyz recently announced a partnership with Rio Waida. Rio is a young and upcoming Indonesian professional surfer based in Bali, Indonesia. Recently, Waida qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 in Teahupoo through the ISA Surfing Competition. Despite Indonesia’s legendary surfing culture, the country has yet to produce a prominent WSL (World Surf League) professional surfer or champion. That is why Rio is not only an ideal fit as the brand ambassador for INDOxyz as an Indonesian professional surfer, but also because he genuinely drinks Indonesian coffee and not energy drinks while training. INDOxyz is a brand that fuels the dreams of individuals like Michael, Rio, and other ambitious, tireless, risk-taking individuals in the pursuit of their careers. Rio Waida Waida elaborates, “INDOxyz is everything I love—coffee, surfing, and Indonesia. So I was really stoked to collaborate with INDOxyz and Michael, because I felt like the brand represents my passions, and I think I can also represent the brand.” With a commitment to Indonesian coffee culture, a fifth-generation Indonesian founder, and an Indonesian professional surfer ambassador, INDOxyz is as authentic a representation of the country as it gets. Michael’s long-term vision extends to creating an INDOxyz ecosystem, complete with Indonesian surf hotels, surf events, and sponsored athletes equipped with INDOxyz products—inspired by some global brands. To this point, the first two INDOxyz surf hotels are set to break ground in the summer of 2024. Michael’s representation of Indonesian coffee and culture is sure to continue to make headlines as he expands the INDOxyz ecosystem domestically and internationally. For more information on INDOxyz, visit the brand’s website and Instagram. The post Michael Riady, Rizal Tandjung, Strider Wasilewski and INDOxyz Surf Brand: Fueling Dreams by Celebrating Indonesia’s Coffee and Surfing Cultures appeared first on LA Weekly.