An Interview with Moladin CPO Praz Perkasa about how they're achieving growth

Moladin is growing fast. As Indonesia’s leading used car marketplace, Moladin’s omnichannel platform allows agents and micro-dealers to simplify the transaction process and create a better customer experience.

In January this year, Moladin raised $42 million in Series A Funding co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Northstar Group. In May, Moladin announced they had secured Series B funding of $95 million led by global internet investment firm DST Global with participation from East Ventures, Northstar Group and Sequoia Capital India.

Talon.One’s APAC Sales Director Laurent Billieres spoke to Moladin CPO, Praz Perkasa about which promotions Moladin have used to drive this massive growth, the details of their marketing technology stack and what marketing channels they’re leveraging for growth and retention.

Hello, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your business?‍

Hello, my name is Praz Perkasa, and I'm currently the CPO in Moladin. I majored in Quantitative Economics and Finance, so being in Product Management was a delightful surprise. Aside from work, I am a huge foodie and always on the lookout for new restaurants and speakeasy bars. 

Moladin, founded in 2017, is a used car platform powered by an extensive network of agents. We believe that most used-car buyers and sellers still need the assurance and human element that only agents can provide. We empower our agent network through our tech-enabled platform, making their transactions more efficient. 

Because we cannot avoid a COVID question, do you see this as a drawback or opportunity?‍

I am a glass-half-full person, so I always see COVID as a blessing in disguise. COVID forces us to re-think and question the current social and professional norms, which often leads to a better way of working and living. For example, this pandemic offers a long-term opportunity for us to adapt how we work remotely, leading to higher productivity. I have seen myself and other colleagues write and communicate more efficiently in the past two years. As we are working remotely, we are incentivized to over-communicate, leading to better collaboration and output. 

‍What channels are you leveraging for growth and retention at the moment? (discount, coupons, referral, loyalty, gamification)‍

One key pillar for Moladin is our agents' gamification and incentive framework. When creating an extensive network of sales agents, motivation is a huge factor, highly driven by an incentive system. We see gamification as a vessel to help us guide our agents in doing behaviors to reach specific milestones. 

Other channels include referral programs for agent acquisition and leveling system to increase retention and productivity further. 

‍How important is it for you to be able to iterate and run experiments on promotions?‍

Extremely important. I view experimentation as a critical weapon in the arsenal for building impactful products. The world of product is the world of continuous discovery, learning, feedback, and optimization - and there is no end. Experimentation is the only way to methodically and structurally get product-market fit (PMF). Once the product achieves PMF, experimentation is still needed to optimize and maintain PMF - as there will always be ever-changing dynamics within the various users of the product's ecosystem. 

‍Can you tell us a bit about your marketing technology stack? How do they fit together?‍

Looking into our marketing technology stack, we structure it into three key pillars: acquisition, activation, and retention. Each of these pillars requires different sets of technology and tools. For example, for activation, we utilize a CRM tool to automate an end-to-end activation journey for our agents.

One underlying technology that spans the three pillars is a reward/promotional engine to power the gamification framework. Each pillar has its north star metrics and end goal, and we can utilize gamification to motivate agents to reach that goal. 

‍How do you balance cost, features, building your own tools & future use cases for your marketing strategy?‍

There are three key factors to consider: problem, resources, and cost. First, we start with the problem we want to solve. Here, we need to have a clear understanding of the context of the problem, the level of urgency, and the goals that we want to accomplish. Being problem-focused helps us assess the various solutions more objectively and holistically. 

Next, we assess the current state of resources at our disposal and decide what we need to build/implement to achieve our short-term and long-term goals. Finally, we list the cost of developing in-house vs. utilizing a third-party solution. 

In our case, time is always of the essence. So as much as possible, we usually assess the fastest way to implement the short-term solution - taking into account future roadmaps of the feature. 

How important is support from those providers? ‍

Support from providers is necessary because it is a proxy for reliability. Without a reliable support function from providers, it will be risky to integrate critical functions of the tech stack. 

‍What's your biggest challenge at the moment?‍

One of our biggest challenges is developing generic micro-services and the platform team to support our hyper-growth. Creating an effective platform team is critical in providing a solid foundation for our next growth phase. 

‍Is there any strategic project you're looking forward to?‍

I am very much looking forward to seeing how we can integrate the various product offerings within our ecosystem. Through this robust integration, we can further unlock synergies and network effects. 

Talon.One powers the gamification Moladin use to motivate their agents. Since adopting Talon.One and implementing gamification they have seen individual agent productivity grow by 250%.

To find out more about how Moladin used Talon.One to create effective, future-proof gamification in just six week, check out our new case study.