Majoo looks beyond Jakarta for top tech talent in Indonesia
Published on September 6, 2022
It takes wonderful tech talent to build unique software-as-a-service (SaaS) for small and mid-sized enterprises.
A 2020 report titled “SaaS Wave in Indonesia” by Innovation Factory and Ravenry found that point-of-sale (POS) solutions made up the largest segment of SaaS products, followed by human resource management solutions and e-commerce tools.
With players like MokaPOS, Pawoon, and several others already in the game (competing for the best tech talent), the POS sector was already competitive in Indonesia when Majoo launched in 2019. Offering a customized UX and focusing on the user journey was already standard.
Majoo’s founding team knew they had to go beyond that to stand out. Their product had to truly realize the goal of helping the country’s millions of MSMEs in a unique way. As such, from the start, the company focused on providing a full suite of digital tools, offering a simple but sophisticated platform that runs everything from POS to business management, payroll, and more.
Since its launch, Majoo has acquired over 25,000 active merchants while maintaining strong user retention. It saw a 250% growth during the pandemic, demonstrating the market’s appetite for MSME SaaS. To date, the startup has processed over 100 million transactions worth overUS$600 million for MSMEs in more than 600 cities in Indonesia. Majoo serves a diverse range of businesses from micro F&B players to laundromats, convenience stores, and more.
On a recent episode of the Indonesia Digital Deconstructed hosted by Adrian Li of AC Ventures, Majoo founder and CEO Adi Wahyu Rahadi explored how the startup is managing to differentiate itself from competitors.
Scaling up with tech talent in Malang
When Adrian asked Adi what his team did differently to stand out and make a mark in a crowded industry, Adi explained that Majoo is more than just a POS startup, but it also benefits from a relatively untapped pool of great tech talent.
“Our proposition is different compared to even the closest players. We offer an entrepreneurial app with POS being just a small but of course important part of it. We offer a holistic solution for running and managing a business. To manage a business you need POS, sure, but you also need other features like inventory management, customer-employee communication platforms, and so on,” he said.
For companies like Majoo, it’s also important to understand that highly tech-savvy MSMEs in megacities like Jakarta are often not perfect representations of MSMEs across the country.
According to Adi, the small shops and warungs one can observe in Indonesia’s satellite cities are usually a more accurate portrayal of the enterprise customers Majoo aims to serve. In general, they are a bit less tech-savvy and are still discovering how SaaS can improve their business processes.
With a base in Malang, East Java, Majoo gets the benefit of perspective. The team is able to get a close-up look at the problems it is solving for non-urban MSMEs.
Adi went on to explain that Majoo also sets itself apart with a robust tech team. This, too, can be attributed to the startup being based outside of the nation’s capital.
“Our ability to create feature sets beyond the POS sets us apart and we are able to do so because we have teams of talented engineers based right here in Malang,” he said.
By virtue of being outside the country’s business hub, Majoo can avoid high overhead costs across the board, but also work with elite tech talent that might otherwise be out of reach in Jakarta.
Adi said, “I went to high school in Malang and one of our co-founders grew up here. We know a lot of talented local engineers who do not necessarily want to migrate to big cities like Jakarta or Surabaya. Many are also returning to Malang for family and better work-life balance.”
Enjoy the full episode on Spotify, Google, and Apple.
