gojek

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Kevin Aluwi is the co-founder and former CEO of Gojek. With over 2.7 million drivers and over 3 billion orders completed, Gojek is the biggest startup in Indonesia and all of Southeast Asia. In today’s podcast, Kevin shares the story of how Gojek overcame endless obstacles—including being underfunded, being unable to send drivers payment, and the local motorcycle mafia coming after their drivers. We cover the importance of brand, the value of doing the hard things, how to be super-scrappy, and helpful tips on building a tech company outside of Silicon Valley.

Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/taxi-mafias-cash-vaults-and-100-mom-growth-the-story-behind-southeast-asias-biggest-startup-kevin-aluwi-gojek/#transcript

Where to find Kevin Aluwi:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaluwi

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaluwi/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

Referenced:

• Gojek: https://www.gojek.com/en-id/

• WeChat: https://www.wechat.com/

• Sequoia: https://www.sequoiacap.com/

• eFishery: https://efishery.com/en/

• What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture: https://www.amazon.com/What-You-Do-Who-Are/dp/0062871331

• How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know: https://www.amazon.com/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/0195573560/

• The Menu on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/movies/the-menu

• Cyberpunk Edgerunners on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81054853

• Arc: https://arc.net/

• Steam Deck: https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Kevin’s background

(05:00) How Gojek got started and the current scale

(08:35) Some of the services that Gojek currently offers or has offered

(09:37) Kevin’s thoughts on super-apps

(15:36) The importance of brand

(23:08) How to create branding with consistency across copy and design

(26:53) Challenges Gojek had in the early days that required scrappiness

(33:03) Why Kevin doesn’t believe in moats as a durable solution, and the value of doing hard things

(37:30) How Gojek hired private security to keep their drivers safe

(39:38) The value of founders doing and understanding multiple roles within the company

(44:12) How Kevin’s failed finance career led him to take a bet on building tech in Indonesia

(47:30) Tips on building a tech company outside of Silicon Valley 

(52:09) What the market is like in Indonesia 

(55:42) What’s next for Kevin

(57:41) Lightning round

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

You don’t need lots of employees to achieve impressive growth—but you do need a unique approach to hiring and structuring your team, and accurately measuring your growth efforts. Crystal Widjaja has used scrappy tactics to unlock massive success for Gojek (a wildly successful ride-share app in South East Asia) and is currently the Chief Product Officer at Kumu. In this episode, she shares the exact strategies she’s used as a product leader to hack growth, hire the best, and perfect data collection. Join us.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-scrappily-hire-for-measure-and-unlock-growth-crystal-widjaja-gojek-and-kumu/#transcript

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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:

• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/

• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny

• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/

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Where to find Crystal:

• Website: https://www.crissyw.com/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/crystalwidjaja

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalwidjaja/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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Referenced:

• Generation Girl: https://www.generationgirl.org/

• Experiment Design Question Example: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tSrEGpvg19OMKrRg45HGvsZBGz8BkeVc/edit#gid=1841057518

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In this episode, we cover:

[00:00] Crystal’s path to product

[09:40] How Crystal decided to join a risky startup 

[11:31] Why haven't super apps emerged in the U.S.? 

[13:15] What startups in the U.S. can learn from companies in Asia

[16:35] How to get intentionally scrappier in your organization

[18:28] How to get and utilize scrappy and small data sets 

[21:26] How to increase retention

[22:28] What does and doesn't work in growth?

[25:01] The conversion rates Crytsal looks for to determine viability and success

[28:03] How founders should think about approaching growth

[32:44] Figuring out how to grow and the resources you have at your disposal

[34:53] Optimizing the funnel to make growth happen faster

[37:40] Crystal's biggest lessons on unlocking growth

[40:07] Why most analytics efforts fail and how to avoid failure

[44:24] Signs your organization is getting analytics wrong

[46:17] The best resources for figuring out how to do analytics right

[47:05] Crystal's recommendations for metric tracking stacks.

[48:37] How you should set up your growth team originally

[51:38] Integrating growth teams or separating them?

[52:43] Who should be the first growth hire?

[53:55] How to hire a great growth person for your organization

[56:55] How to help women and young girls get into STEM (a non-profit that you started)

[1:02:07] Where to reach Crystal 

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe