Joining a B2B Marketplace Start-up Amid the Global Pandemic
Is joining an online B2B marketplace start-up a good decision to be made? We all want to be part of a great company, don’t we? I like Jack Ma’s advice, the founder of Alibaba Group, that he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos:
When you’re 20–30 years old, you should follow a good boss. Join a good company to learn how to do things properly.
I think that is great advice for the young generation; Looking for leaders and colleagues that we could learn from and learn with. However, finding such companies is hard, and getting in should be difficult.
How did I ‘end up’ in Ralali.com?
I am in my mid-twenties and currently working as a Software Engineer (Backend) in Ralali.com, a fast-growing Indonesia B2B marketplace start-up which closed a US$13-million Series-C funding round in 2019 and is expanding to Thailand[1]. In this article, I want to share my story about the reasons why I am joining the company, how the recruitment process was, and what it’s like being part of the company. I hope this story will give you some insight and help you in finding your new career journey.
Starting in September 2020, amid COVID-19 pandemic, I was actively seeking a new career path. I looked thoroughly to career portals such as LinkedIn, Kalibrr, and TechInAsia; Carefully and selectively chose the companies that matched my criteria in order to submit my application. I knew it’s not a zero-sum game, I could just submit my application to any companies to increase my chance to get the job, but I didn’t want to waste my time for the interviews that I wouldn’t even be excited to do and waste the recruiters’ time in scrutinizing my resume. Therefore, I just submitted my application only to the companies that I liked and I was qualified for, so then I would be excited to follow throughout the recruitment funnel.
I found a vacancy as a Backend Engineer at Ralali.com on TechInAsia’s Jobs. I had heard the company name before, but I didn’t quite know about the company. I just knew Ralali.com is an online marketplace. So, I gathered information and found out some interesting facts about the company.
While most online marketplace companies in Indonesia are B2C, for example, Blibli and JD.id, or B2C & C2C such as Tokopedia and Bukalapak; Ralali.com became the first online B2B marketplace. Being a B2B Marketplace is a good strategic positioning. Moreover, most procurements in Indonesia are conventional and lack transparency, which tends to lead towards bad things in business.
Ralali.com is also eyeing Indonesian MSMEs by becoming a business platform to help them connect with tens of thousands of suppliers including Unilever, EPSON, PaperOne, and P&G; financing their businesses; even selling and marketing their products. Helping to accelerate MSMEs’ digital transformation is a good deed and a strategic vision. Meanwhile, the Indonesian government is actively establishing MSMEs as a new strength of the national economy due to the fact that MSMEs account for 60 percent of Indonesia’s GDP and absorb 97 percent of domestic workforce [2]. In addition, by adopting digital technology, McKinsey & Company predicts that MSMEs can contribute US$140 billion to Indonesia’s GDP by the year 2030 [3], which is a huge market for Ralali.com.
Based on those facts, I thought Ralali.com has a unique business model, especially the value proposition, and great business strategy for the Indonesian market. Moreover, the company still continues to survive during the COVID-19 outbreak, which means the company is resilient and has an excellent risk-management strategy. Without any hesitation, I submitted my application via TechInAsia.
The Intriguing Interview Session
I applied in the middle of September. Just in one week I got an email from the recruiter to schedule a 2-hour Online Technical Interview. I got interviewed by an Engineering Manager and two Team Leaders. They were smart, professional, and highly experienced. The interview was interesting and I did it for 4 hours. It consisted of two sections, a Behavioral & Technical Questions and a 45-minute Technical Challenge using Go programming language. It truly assessed my knowledge, experience, and technical skills. I struggled with the technical challenge but the interviewers were very helpful as if I were getting help from my teammates.
At the end of the interview, the Engineering Manager asked about my availability and discussed the offer. The following day, I got an Offer Letter. I was surprised because of the quick recruitment process; It’s a good thing because all great start-up companies always move fast.
I accepted the offer. There were no reasons why I should walk away. It’s a good company and the recruitment process was great, especially the interview. I hoped this will be the kind of environment that I was looking for; an environment that can constantly challenge myself that will give me the most room to grow in my skills and experience.
Getting into ‘The Office’
I started working at Ralali.com as a Backend Engineer in the end of September 2020. On my first day, I got an induction from Human Capital, she was very humble; I got introduced to all teams; a tour of the workplace; and a lunch with my new colleagues, they were really nice and very welcoming.
Within the first week, as part of my onboarding process, I had to do 1-on-1 sessions with all Engineering Team Leaders, Product Managers, Engineering Managers (EMs), even the CTO, to understand the company as a whole and the organizational culture; They were very friendly, especially the EMs and the CTO. For the technical stuff, I had to learn about the company’s Scrum, Event-driven Architecture, and Microservices using Golang. Everything seems as I expected — I am surrounded by humble, smart, and talented people; I have a great team; A cool start-up office and free lunch, of course.
Today marks my three-month as a Ralalian. Everything is awesome and I’m still excited to face new challenges and learn a lot of things. I believe this will be the best place to grow, expand my horizons, and advance in my career. I hope indeed that Ralali.com will be one of the main companies that strengthen Indonesia’s Economy.
By the way, If you have an interest in joining Ralali.com, you can find the vacancies on https://careers.ralali.com Let’s build something awesome together.
