Traveloka is a leading online travel agency in Southeast Asia that has experienced rapid growth, scaling from 8 employees in 2012 to over 1500 employees in 2017. As the company has grown, its infrastructure has also expanded significantly. The document discusses lessons learned from scaling Traveloka's infrastructure and operations, including: embracing cloud technologies and microservices; prioritizing quality, security, and simplicity over speed; investing in developing talent and leadership as the company expands; and figuring out its own formula for success rather than imitating competitors.

1. Growing Pains
...or what I’ve learned about scaling a successful startup

2. About me: Serhiy (Sergei) Shvetsov
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● 1981 - Born and raised in Ukraine (ex-USSR)
● 1999 - Immigrated to Canada
● 2004 - B.C.Sc. (Honours): Co-op Option w/ Management Minor
● 2010 - Moved to Indonesia
● Been doing IT since 2000: from web design and tech support to backend
development, sysops, system integration, pre/post-sales and product
management
● Visited 23 countries, flown 14 times around the Earth, worked with clients
on all continents (except Antarctica)
● Favorite hobby: Latin dancing
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sshvetsov

3. About Traveloka
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Traveloka is a leading tech start-up based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Founded in 2012 by ex-Silicon Valley engineers, Traveloka aims to revolutionize
human mobility through technology.
We build large impact consumer products and services, real time and big data
systems and platforms, also devise creative solutions to business and
engineering problems, derive insights from massive amount of data, and
transform markets with technology.

4. About Traveloka
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● Leading Online Travel Agent in Southeast Asia
● Partners w/ 100 domestic and international airlines
● Serving more than 200,000 routes worldwide
● Largest direct accommodation inventory (hotels, apartments, guest
houses, homestays, to villas and resorts)
● 40 payment options for consumers in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines
● 24/7 assistance from local customer service in their native languages
● 20 million mobile app downloads
https://press.traveloka.com/about/

5. How we’ve grown...
Early 2012:
September 2015:
September 2017:
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company is formed with eight (8) people
~600 people, ~100 engineers
~1500 people, ~300 engineers

6. How our infra has grown...
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September 2015 September 2017
EC2 390 1900
ELB 1 350
ElastiCache 1 225
RDS 4 170
Elasticsearch 0 85

7. Architect for the cloud
...and stay up to date
● Make use of elasticity
● Plan for failure
● Stateless hamburgers
● Be ready to decentralize
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8. Don’t try to do it all
...it won’t be cheaper
● Why re-invent the wheel?
● Max. value in shortest time
● Be weary of marketing
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9. Ownership and
accountability
...with constant sharing of
knowledge
● Embrace micro services
● You build it, you run it
● REALLY analyse your failures
● Share knowledge, not infra
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10. Do NOT sacrifice
quality and security
...in the name of velocity
● No, you will NOT “fix it later”
● Improve and refactor
● Don’t be “clever”, simplify
● 8 people may become 300
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11. Invest in your people
...you WILL need their help
● Finding talent is REALLY HARD
● Grow your leaders
● Need for “big picture”
● Teach the skills
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12. ● So what if … is doing it?
● Everyone is different
● Ask “Why?”, A LOT
Figure out your own
formula
...imitation of ≠ success
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