Lenny Rachitsky | Lenny’s Podcast – The story behind Southeast Asia’s biggest startup: Kevin Aluwi (Gojek)
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.
The value proposition
- In challenging environments, it’s important for businesses to take proactive measures to ensure safety and success.
- Building a strong brand goes beyond just creating a great product as it creates a sense of identity and loyalty among customers. Businesses should invest in brand building across multiple areas for long-term success.
- Super apps may not always deliver on their promised benefits of lower acquisition costs and increased retention. A clear and unifying concept is necessary for users to understand the product sensibly and prevent confusion when adding new services.
Brand consistency
Consistency in branding helps customers develop a positive perception of your business. It involves more than just a cool logo, and every touchpoint with customers should have a stable representation of your brand. To be relatable, your brand should be part of the culture.
Build the company
Building a company in an underdeveloped talent and funding ecosystem requires being scrappy and utilizing remote work. Focusing on unique solutions and understanding market dynamics are crucial for success, particularly in Southeast Asia’s rapidly growing market.
We had to be very scrappy and creative in how we solved problems. We didn’t have a lot of resources or talent or funding. We had to do things that didn’t scale
We had to learn from our mistakes and failures. We had to be humble and adaptable. We had to keep innovating and improving. We had to never give up.