Kaskus, an Indonesian internet forum site, was founded by Andrew Darwis, Ronald Stephanus, and Budi Dharmawan when they were students studying in Seattle, Washington.
Claiming to be the largest Indonesian online community, the name "Kaskus" itself is an abbreviation of the word "Kasak-Kusuk". The forum started small, dedicated to hobbyists, before growing fast becoming a massive community accessed by millions of active members.
When founded, it was intended to be an informal forum for Indonesian students studying abroad. At that time, Kaskus wasn't aiming for money, and it still didn't have a proper business model or legality.
It was in 2008 that Darwis was convinced by Ken Dean Lawadinata to create a proper business out of Kaskus. Ken joined Kaskus as an investor and its CEO. A parent company PT Darta Media Indonesia was then created to house Kaskus.
Kaskus was voted as The Best Indonesian community by PC Magazine Indonesia in August 2005 and September 2006.
In 2008, Kaskus became the largest local website in Indonesia by reaching its first 1 million user milestone. In 2012, the site grew to more than 4 million registered users with more than 650 million posts.