CEO & Co-Founder, Gojek
Search every verified Kevin Aluwi interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kevin Aluwi, co-founder and former CEO of Gojek, has been reflecting on the company's growth and product strategy in recent interviews. He discussed the challenges of building a super app, noting that while services like ride-hailing, food delivery, and grocery delivery shared a unifying concept for users, other services without that connection did not perform as well. Aluwi cited a mobile top-up product that 95% of customers needed but only 40% knew existed, saying that such benefits often "don't pan out" in reality. He also emphasized the importance of clear decision-making in product development, stating that execution improved when the person accountable for a result was also the decider. Aluwi has spoken about Gojek's early struggles, including resistance from motorcycle taxi mafias who physically assaulted drivers, leading the company to hire private security. He described the company's rapid growth, with over 100% month-over-month growth for the first 16 to 18 months. Regarding the 2021 merger with Tokopedia to form GoTo, Aluwi said the combination aimed to increase the company's ability to process consumer data and provide financial services, with a short-term goal of enabling partners and Indonesians to become shareholders. He has also addressed the broader impact of technology, stating that while it is a double-edged sword, its benefits can outweigh risks when used wisely to support local entrepreneurs.
“One relatively minor thing that I thought had a lot of impact with execution is being very clear that whoever is accountable for the result should also be the decider.”
“A lot of literature out there says that product teams should be this communal 'best ideas come from everywhere' group — which I think is well-intentioned and absolutely everyone should contribute ideas, but I think not having it be super clear who is accountable and who is deciding often slows down execution a lot.”
“When we switched to making it really clear that who was the decider for any kind of product development process, I think our execution definitely improved significantly.”
“It sounds really great on a strategy deck but in reality a lot of those benefits don't pan out.”
“We had a product which was a Mobile Top-Up product — a product that 95 plus percent of our customers need and only about 40 percent of our customers knew that this product existed.”
“The engagement we had for our ride-hailing and delivery services was super high — the insight we got here was that there kind of needs to be a unifying concept across all of your services within the app for your users to be able to think about your product in a sensible way.”
“When we went from ride-hailing to package delivery to food delivery to grocery delivery, customers really understood that — it makes sense that the person that picks me up for a ride can also send groceries to me.”
“But then when you start doing other things that don't have that unifying factor, it starts breaking down.”
“In the early days of Gojek, there was a lot of resistance to our services, the most common form of that resistance was actually by motorcycle taxi mafias, so you would have these areas that are essentially controlled through violence by specific area mafias.”
“We actually hired private security so we actually work with private security companies to help our drivers in those situations, to help kind of like extract them out of these sticky situations.”
“We grew more than a hundred percent month on month for the first 16 to 18 months.”
“I am kind of annoyed at how much it's being mentioned these days, it's really popular in VC consultant analyst circles because it sounds really great on a strategy deck.”
“I think a big reason why we survived was that we built a great brand for our consumers, for our drivers, and for our merchants.”
“If you order GoFood and pay with GoPay it looks like it's free sometimes — I thought it would just top up itself. Remember when it got viral that Amanda Manopo had 253 million in GoFood transactions in a year?”
“Seeing Indonesia's potential and the rising use of apps and smartphones, I believed the potential was there — that these applications would become very influential.”
During this interview on Lenny's Newsletter, by Lenny Rachitsky, he interviews the co-founder and former CEO of Gojek, the ...
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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. — Brought to you by Coda—Meet th…
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Meninggalkan ego demi meraih potensi yang lebih besar, Kevin Aluwi (CEO Gojek) dan William Tanuwijaya (CEO Tokopedia) ...
Kevin Aluwi, CEO - of Gojek, returned to his alma mater to give a speech at this year's commencement ceremony. Watching him talk about his journey from USC to Gojek!
Meninggalkan ego demi meraih potensi yang lebih besar, Kevin Aluwi (CEO Gojek) dan William Tanuwijaya (CEO Tokopedia) ...
Meninggalkan ego demi meraih potensi yang lebih besar, Kevin Aluwi (CEO Gojek) dan William Tanuwijaya (CEO Tokopedia) melahirkan GoTo perusahaan merger terbesar se-Asia Tenggara yang murni didirikan melalui komunikasi virtual. Kemiripan visi, misi, kepercayaan, dan konsistensi menjadi landasan penggabungan dua layanan platform raksasa nasional ini. Berawal dari niat membuka peluang yang sama untuk setiap orang, mereka berhasil mendapatkan kepercayaan dari masyarakat. Bagi Kevin Aluwi, penting untuk meluruskan persepsi yang keliru, tentang ojek di mata investor, mitra, dan pengguna dengan…
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