GoJek Case Study - From 0 to $5B (local non-US market)

Nadiem Makarim is a guy who managed to create Indonesia’s first "unicorn" startup in just 6 years.

Here's how he did it:

1. From 2002 till 2009, he received education at Brown University (United States) and Harvard Business School.

2. In 2006, Nadiem began his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company + was CEO of an Indonesian business accelerator.

3. In 2010, with his own money, he founded a tiny call center "Go Jek" with only 20 motorcycle taxi drivers.

4. By 2013, for 3 years he was burning through his money having small slow organic growth + testing a bunch of other startup ideas.

5. In 2014, Uber's success created a wave of interest from local investors in Nadiem's business. One of them invested $50M.

6. In 2015, they created Uber-like mobile apps and lowered their prices to remove all competitors (this worked). The number of drivers increased to 800.

7. In August 2015, the media published exciting stories on how Go Jek motorcycle taxi drivers earn around $900/month. The demand exploded. Result: +16000 new drivers in a week.

8. In 2016, the explosive growth was noticed and Nadiem received $550 Million in funding at a valuation of $1.3 Billion.

9. From 2016 to 2018, Go Jek started to use his logistics for new markets: deliver food, goods, documents, boxes, medicine, massage, cleaning, hair stylist, nail care, waxing and facial service, auto care, car washing, emergency repair, pay bills, etc. They also acquired 3 e-wallet services.

10. In 2018, the company received funding of $1.5 Billion at a $5B valuation.

Now, Go Jek has over 1,000,000 drivers and has started international expansion.

Bonus