CEO

Polarsteps is reinventing how people travel with an app that can inspire, plan, track, and let travelers relive trips together. The scale-up is ready to accelerate its growth while maintaining its inspiring company culture. The CEO will drive its growth strategy, expand the team, and raise the necessary financing.

About Polarsteps

By enabling travelers to plan, track, share, and relive their trips, Polarsteps ignites the spirit of adventure. The all-in-one app offers the complete travel experience: from an easy-to-use travel tracker and tip-filled guides to expertly crafted, hardcover travel books that can be made with the press of a button. Whether it’s a six-month backpacking adventure in South America or a weekend-long canoe trip, travelers can use Polarsteps to share routes, updates, notes, real-time locations, and photos with everyone at home. It automatically tracks routes which means travelers can keep their phones in their pockets and their eyes on the world around them.

Polarsteps was founded and is managed by four passionate travelers. They are explorers at heart and the company culture reflects their sense of adventure. The forty-five-person team represent fifteen nationalities and is highly dedicated, down-to-earth, quality-driven, and authentic.

This shared mindset forms the foundation for Polarsteps’ international success. In The Netherlands, its early market, Polarsteps has already become the most downloaded travel app. Meanwhile in France, Germany, and most other Western European countries, it is steadily gaining traction towards the top.

” Polarsteps was born not behind a desk, but on a catamaran halfway across the Atlantic Ocean. As we expanded, we’ve managed to keep that adventurous, open, and curious spirit alive. That has resulted in an amazing employee NPS score – over 81 – and a record low attrition. ” – Max Neustadt, co-founder of Polarsteps 

Polarsteps is backed by some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs in The Netherlands, as well as the reputable VC-fund INKEF. With their financial support, Polarsteps has tripled in size each year while relying entirely on organic growth, which means with no marketing or customer acquisition costs. The company now has a community of more than five million users. Based on its proven growth potential, Polarsteps can be accelerated even more by scaling up marketing and expanding its product and tech teams. By 2025, the company aims to grow their team to more than 150 people and become one of the top three most downloaded travel apps worldwide.

Vacancy: CEO

The new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will accelerate Polarsteps’ growth sustainably and achieve its ambitious targets for revenue, global presence, user base, and team development. The CEO will strengthen the leadership team, structure the organization, and work closely with the co-founders to take Polarsteps to the next level: from an inspiring product with impressive organic growth to a world-leading app-based travel company. This requires a CEO with experience scaling a company in a leadership position (eg, CEO, COO, or CFO) in the fifty to 150 FTE range. In all their efforts, this role will adopt a long-term vision, as is expressed by their eligibility for equity-based remuneration.

” We are looking for someone to help us take the next step. Someone who knows first-hand how to scale a company, raise capital, and advance the organization from an early-stage scale-up into a mature company. Someone who can propel us forward to rival the AirBnbs and Booking.coms in terms of brand name and user base.”  – Koen Droste, co-founder

To help Polarsteps reach the next step in its development, the CEO will develop the strategy with the co-founders, and drive its execution. They will lead the company and implement a scalable organization structure, including lean, efficient processes and optimal corporate governance. While the main goal for the CEO is to stimulate growth, they will need to balance that with an open, low ego, and adventurous mindset while the company expands. It’s not just about growing fast. It’s about growing fast in a healthy and sustainable way for their employees, community, and the planet.

People management is an essential component of the position. The CEO will build the team by hiring the right senior people and coaching, developing, and retaining Polarsteps’ talent. They will also rally teams company-wide with their strategic vision and inspire them to achieve their best and boost each other. Additionally, the CEO will champion the company culture, increasing the already very strong employee engagement and team spirit. That is why the CEO should be a people-oriented and charismatic leader whose mindset and values ​​match Polarsteps’ culture.

The ideal candidate is an experienced entrepreneur with a background in consumer tech who knows how to scale a company and work with VCs. They should recognize the long-term potential of Polarsteps and be excited to grow a committed team and take the lead in creating a globally embraced travel business.

Interested?

Polarsteps is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Marlies Hoogvliet at marlies.hoogvliet@topofminds.com .