Creating a world-class product team at Kargo
By: Eric Chen
Published Nov 11, 2020
Kargo is a technology-driven startup. We believe that technology will introduce tremendous innovation to the Indonesian logistics industry, which is traditionally fragmented and inefficient.
Building a world-class product starts with a world-class team. Over the past 2 years, Kargo has invested in a strong foundation that provides the structure, processes, and culture to ensure success. While Indonesia has no shortage of fast-growing startups, there are a few reasons I believe Kargo stands out among the pack:
1. Intense focus on the user
What makes B2B logistics unique is the large number of stakeholders required to complete a shipment. Large enterprise merchants (for example, Coca-Cola) have multiple layers of leadership, on-the-ground warehouse personnel, and a finance team. On the other side, trucking companies have their own team of finance admin, operational coordinators, and drivers. Each of these stakeholders then has their own set of responsibilities and processes.
In order to build products that users love, Kargo gives extreme importance to user experience. Our team of product managers, product designers, and UX researchers has multiple user meetings every single week. We treat users as our most beloved ally, seeking to understand their painpoints and also test every design before building.
Kargo’s user-centered approach extends beyond just the product team. To ensure that the whole company has an understanding of our users, we invite engineers and other Kargo team members to participate in user research. To keep the whole company aimed in the same direction, Kargo also sets Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a key company-wide OKR.
2. Experiments and data-driven decisions
At Kargo, we iterate and fail fast. We understand that results never match expectations, and so we ground our strategy and product roadmap based on the data. For each product, we break down the user journey to understand funnel conversion rates and variation between segments. When we launch new features, we track specific success metrics to measure if we hit our goals. This data-driven approach helps our team to base decisions in reality, uncover insights, and pivot when necessary.
Furthermore, we understand that building features is a slow way to collect data. When possible, we test out ideas through WhatsApp or Clevertap experiments. This way, we can iterate in a matter of days and not weeks, allowing us to build products with high conviction.
3. Deep collaboration between the tech and business teams
With an operationally intensive business like Kargo, it can be easy for teams to exist in silos. Certainly, in the early days, Kargo struggled to build products at the same speed as our evolving operational model.
Over the past year, Kargo has made top-to-bottom changes that ensure our teams work together as one cohesive unit. From the top, Kargo follows company-wide OKRs to ensure all teams have a clear and aligned strategy. From the bottom, we hold regular cross-functional meetings for each product, involving engineers, product, operations, and customer success.
Building a team we are all proud of
The culture of a team can create a harmonious cycle — individuals on the team influence the culture, and at the same time, the culture of the team influences the individuals. For me personally, this has certainly been true. Over my time at Kargo, I have learned a lot from Kargo’s strong product culture. As we build new features, I often remind myself to revisit our core tenets, such as being user-focused and experiment-driven. At the same time, I have supported the team in the ways that I can, such as conducting more sophisticated data analysis. By recognizing that great products start from great teams, Kargo has built a culture that myself and all our team members can be proud of.
