An Exercise in Intuitive Agility: Logiwa’s Path to Growth

Until Logiwa CEO Erhan Musaoglu hired employee No. 140, he interviewed every candidate himself, seeking the perfect fit for Logiwa’s ascension in the cloud-based market. 

“As we scaled, I realized I can’t interview every single candidate,” he said. “I have to trust the process we’ve created and the team we’ve hired.”

This simple change is illustrative of Musaoglu’s approach to the art of agility — intuitive and grounded in trust for the company he’s built. 

When Musaoglu founded Logiwa in 2004 as LA Software, it was born out of the need for top-tier supply chain management solutions in Turkey. But as the company progressed, Musaoglu saw the opportunity to get more granular. 

On the horizon, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer businesses were booming, and a clear gap in the market emerged. 

“We decided to develop our own fulfillment management solution to solve the supply-chain problem directly,” Musaoglu remembered. 

The product elevated the company to the status of market leader in Turkey. Musaoglu and his cofounders set their sights on the United States. In 2016, Musaoglu set foot in Chicago, catalyzing Logiwa’s next move: the cloud. 

In 2017, Logiwa emerged as it is today, a subscription- and cloud-based fulfillment software provider, steeped for over a decade in the high-volume direct-to-consumer landscape. 

 

 

The company’s early success was rooted in a tailored approach for each customer, but Musaoglu sensed another looming barrier to growth. 

“You cannot scale by solving each and every problem in the market,” he said. “Instead, we focused on creating a best-of-breed solution for direct-to-consumer e-commerce.” 

Now, Musaoglu describes Logiwa as a product-led organization in which time-to-value is key. Asked to pinpoint the crux of the company’s growth, Musaoglu highlights a willingness to embrace agility in the name of innovation. 

Musaoglu has adjusted his vision multiple times in the last 15 years, he said. The result has been exponential scale.

“We’re almost doubling Logiwa every year,” Musaoglu said. “Companies are facing pressure to optimize supply chains — we’re a sustainable solution.” 

 

 

 

‘Momentum Over Perfection’ 

Parallel to the burgeoning scale of Logiwa’s solutions is its sweeping campaign for internal expansion. 

CMO Elizabeth Walsh is a seasoned veteran of technology marketing, with career accolades spanning the likes of Accenture and Oracle. Even with her rich experience, Logiwa’s marketing growth has been a notable spectacle, Walsh said. 

“In just eight months, we’ve nearly tripled our team,” she said. “We’ve seen tremendous growth as we scale our personnel to meet evolving market needs.” 

In the trenches of customer-centric teams, Walsh seeks out professionals with agile sensibilities — those who are able to be responsive in dynamic, market-facing roles. 

“Momentum over perfection is the mantra,” she said.  

Logiwa’s scaling efforts, which reach across nearly every team in the company, are supported by the arms of its robust onboarding program. 

Walsh describes the onboarding process as turnkey. New hires are immediately greeted with a support network of check-ins, mentorship and accessible resources. 

“It’s something new team members can get their arms around, own and feel like they’re immediately part of the team,” Walsh said. “I just had somebody that started three weeks ago, and she’s already hit the ground running.”

The program was nurtured by Musaoglu’s hands-on approach to onboarding his earliest hires. 

“I hired so many fresh graduates, and I trained them myself,” Musaoglu explained. “Now, they’re team leaders, paying it forward to newcomers.” 

 

 

 

‘We Serve With Heart’ 

In his decade with the company, VP of Research and Development Muammer Akgün has come to see trust as the cornerstone of Logiwa’s evolution. 

“At all levels, we empower our employees to take ownership of their desks,” Akgün noted. “With that comes respect for the risks they take.”

A culture of learning underpins Logiwa’s psychological safety net. In the judgment-free space, team members are encouraged to learn from their mistakes and those of their colleagues, Akgün said. 

 

“At all levels, we empower our employees to take ownership of their desks.”

 

“Team members respect the value of each contribution, perspective and difference,” he added “We serve with heart.” 

Walsh agrees, citing Logiwa’s mores of transparency as a guiding force. 

“Erhan is incredibly open in our town hall meetings,” she said. “Everyone feels like they are a part of something bigger.” 

Logiwa’s singular transparency has evolved organically, Walsh said. She noted that Musaoglu utilizes the same slide deck in both board and town hall meetings. 

“It’s clear that leadership is conscientious of sustaining the passion here,” she said. “It takes effort to stay true to culture, but people have a stake in company success when they understand why decisions are being made.

“It’s special — the entire team hears the vision straight from Erhan,” she added. 

 

 

‘This Is What We’ve Built’

In February of 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook southern and central Turkey to its core. In its wake, Musaoglu avidly checked on his impacted team members, whom Logiwa had helped to flee from the earthquake zone.  

When Musaoglu noticed a flurry of green check marks flooding the task manager of affected team members, he questioned his colleagues on why those team members were working amidst the crisis. He quickly learned that the impacted employees were not working, but that other team members were stepping in — unsolicited and unheralded — and covering their efforts. 

“I get emotional telling this story,” Musaoglu said with emotion in his voice. “This is what we’ve built in these past 20 years: accountability and togetherness.” 

As CEO, Musaoglu knows the culture lies with him.

“No matter how much we grow, I will respond to my employees at all hours of the day for anyone who needs me,” he said. “This is my loyalty to Logiwa.”