Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim sees success from trusting the numbers, hyper-experimenting and luck
- The 34-year old Go-Jek founder says as a millennial he is ’comfortable not having all the answers’
- Indonesia’s most valuable tech start-up is ramping up its Southeast Asia expansion to include Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand
Nadiem Makarim, the 34-year-old founder and chief executive of Indonesian ride-hailing company Go-Jek, said that as a millennial he is “comfortable not having all the answers” amid his multibillion-dollar start-up’s expansion drive across Southeast Asia.
“Thinking that you do know all the answers has very dire consequences,” Makarim said in an interview with Bloomberg at the New Economy Forum in Singapore on Wednesday.
“In technology, it’s more important to understand and not believe too much in what you think you know. Instead, trust the numbers, trust the data and hyper-experiment the hell out of everything you do.”
His comments come in the middle of Go-Jek’s move to build up operations outside Indonesia, where it started as a motorcycle ride-hailing service in 2010. The company now offers everything from meal deliveries to over-the-counter medicine and massage services on-demand through its super app, which follows the way China’s major internet companies have built online platforms that host multiple services to bring greater convenience to consumers.
Jakarta-based Go-Jek, whose current backers include Tencent Holdings and Temasek Holdings, is poised to launch ride-hailing operations in Singapore this month, making the city state its second international market after expanding into Vietnam in September. The company also plans to introduce its services in Thailand and the Philippines.