Back
Kevin Aluwi
CEO & Co-Founder, Gojek

What was former Gojek CEO, Kevin Aluwi, most impact product management tip?

🎥 Apr 03, 2023 📺 End Game Ken ⏱ 1m 👁 94 views
During this interview on Lenny's Newsletter, by Lenny Rachitsky, he interviews the co-founder and former CEO of Gojek, the ...
Watch on YouTube

About Kevin Aluwi

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.

Source: AI-verified profile updated from Kevin Aluwi's recent appearances. Browse all interviews →

Transcript (4 segments)
N
Narrator0:03
This is taken from an interview on Lenny's newsletter of Kevin Aluwi, the co-founder and former CEO of Gojek. We loved it so much we made a short video about it.
I
Interviewer0:14
What's something you've recently changed, or that you've heard of someone in code review recently changed in their product development process, that was maybe minor but had a tremendous impact on the team's ability to execute?
K
Kevin Aluwi0:30
One relatively minor thing that I thought had a lot of impact on execution is being very clear that whoever is accountable for the result should also be the decider. I found that a lot of literature out there says that product teams should be this communal group where the best ideas come from everywhere, 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. And I think when we switched to making it really clear who was the decider for any kind of product development process, I think our execution definitely improved significantly.
N
Narrator1:09
Check out the whole video. Link in the description.