Kevin Aluwi

Co-Founder & Former CEO at Gojek

Kevin Aluwi is the co-founder and former CEO of Gojek, one of the first and most successful super apps in the world and the biggest startup in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Gojek grew to 2.7 million drivers, 3 billion orders per year, and 15 million merchants, culminating in Indonesia's largest IPO of all time at a $27-28 billion valuation.

The Growth Architect The Operator

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 85%

Execution & Craft 80%

Data & Experimentation 50%

Growth & Distribution 85%

Team & Leadership 70%

User Empathy & Research 75%

Key Themes

building a super app scrappy operations at scale motorcycle taxi mafia challenges Southeast Asian startup ecosystem protecting drivers with private security emerging market growth strategies

Episode Summary

Kevin Aluwi shares the extraordinary story of building Gojek from a motorcycle taxi service into Southeast Asia's largest super app, facing challenges most founders never encounter — including motorcycle taxi mafias physically assaulting drivers. He reveals how Gojek's scrappy operations, willingness to take responsibility for driver safety, and focus on a uniquely local problem grew into 2.7 million drivers, 3 billion annual orders, and Indonesia's largest IPO.

Leadership Principles

→ When third-party contractors face physical violence, take responsibility rather than saying they should sort it out themselves
→ Start with a uniquely local problem — motorcycle taxis in Indonesia — then expand into a general on-demand super app
→ The scale of emerging markets is consistently underappreciated — 3 billion orders per year from a region most people overlook

Notable Quotes

"The most common form of resistance was by motorcycle taxi mafia. They would physically assault our drivers with bricks, knives, and machetes. It would've been easy to say they're contractors, let them sort it out. Instead, we hired private security to help extract our drivers from sticky situations."
— On the extreme physical challenges of building a ride-hailing service in Indonesia

"We started with a very local problem — millions of motorcycle taxi drivers in Indonesian urban centers — and evolved into a general on-demand consumer super app with car drivers, grocery deliveries, payments, and financial services."
— On how Gojek grew from a local solution into one of the world's first super apps

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