In his first interview with Tech in Asia after he became the CEO of ecommerce giant Bukalapak, Rachmat Kaimuddin pledged to make the company IPO-ready.
Around a year and a half later, he fulfilled his promise by taking Bukalapak public, becoming the first Indonesian unicorn to list on the country’s stock exchange. The company raised around US$1.5 billion in its initial public offering – the biggest in the bourse’s history.
“I called it a trailblazing journey. It’s intense, but I learned a lot,” said Kaimuddin during this year’s Tech in Asia Conference.
Bukalapak CEO Rachmat Kaimuddin / Photo credit: Bukalapak
Not long after he replaced Bukalapak’s founder Achmad Zaky as CEO, the Covid-19 pandemic spread in Indonesia, leaving Kaimuddin to question the company’s IPO prospects. However, he decided that it was still feasible to pursue the listing.
It resulted in an adrenaline-filled process, according to Kaimuddin. There were some high points, such as when the company got effective statement from the Indonesian Financial Service Authority to start the book-building process, and when Bukalapak’s stock price hit the upper limit in the first two days. However, it was not all happy moments for the CEO.
“On the third day when the stock price went down, it’s kind of a low point for me,” Kaimuddin explained.
He found that the dip was just a part of a market process, something that he can’t directly control. Thus, the company realized that it was a “new world,” and it needed to communicate in order to gain the trust from investors again.
“We have set the best structure prior to the IPO, such as arranging the lock-up period. We managed to limit the volatility, but [at] the end of the day, it’s just a market process,” he added.
Evolve brick by brick
Kaimuddin also talked about how Bukalapak was able to successfully transition the company’s leadership from the founding team to professional executives. According to the CEO, having professionals in the company can bring years of experience and perspective from other organizations. However, they will not have the same level of detailed knowledge about the company as the founders.
“The decision in Bukalapak is [that] we want to be managed professionally, but the process is staggered,” Kaimuddin said.
In 2016, Bukalapak hired Willix Halim, the former vice president of growth at Australia-based startup Freelancer. Two years later, the company onboarded Teddy Oetomo and Natalia Firmansyah, followed by Kaimuddin in early 2020.
The Bukalapak CEO also gave advice to other founders who are eyeing an IPO as an exit strategy, saying that the situation will be different, especially with the attention from regulators and investors. Kaimuddin added that the company’s every move will be judged immediately, so it needs to continue working and improving amid that type of environment.
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