Tech Founder: From 0 to 15 Million Users. Here's What We Learned
Beyond Coding31 Heinä 2025

Tech Founder: From 0 to 15 Million Users. Here's What We Learned

Maximiliano Neustadt, CTO and co-founder of Polarsteps, shares the incredible journey of building a travel app from 5 people to over 15 million users.

From surviving as a travel company during the worst possible timing to scaling without hustle culture, Maxi reveals the key decisions, hiring practices, and leadership lessons that drove their success.

Learn how they built strong company values, made tough product choices, and why they spend a full day with every hiring candidate as part of the interview.


Connect with Maximiliano Neustadt:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximiliano-neustadt-90137b2

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/3ZLmpggjcUY

Beyond Coding Podcast with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Powered by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!


OUTLINE00:00:00 - Introducing Maximiliano Neustadt, CTO of Polarsteps00:00:46 - The founding story of Polarsteps00:03:21 - The early days and first key hires00:05:48 - The unique Polarsteps hiring process00:15:15 - Transitioning from CTO to CEO during COVID-1900:19:37 - Rejecting startup hustle culture00:22:51 - Balancing employee freedom and company direction00:29:05 - Polarsteps' five core company values00:33:04 - Balancing user data and intuition in decision making00:38:24 - The approach to adopting new tech like AI00:44:13 - How Polarsteps fosters innovation

Jaksot(238)

The Software Developer Community with Brian Vermeer

The Software Developer Community with Brian Vermeer

One of my favourite things as a software developer is interacting with the community. It's a community that's about learning, sharing, collaborating, and paying it forward. All you have to do to be pa...

13 Loka 202139min

Growing an Idea into a Product with Erwin de Gier

Growing an Idea into a Product with Erwin de Gier

It takes great skill to turn an idea into a product. Especially when you're starting from scratch. Erwin did just that, and shares how he and his team built an app that could improve how kids are trea...

6 Loka 202144min

How to become a great Tech Lead with Mahdi Fanidisfani

How to become a great Tech Lead with Mahdi Fanidisfani

One of the key takeaways from this conversation is that we should favour progress over perfection. Especially as software developers, perfection is something that'll never come. Instead we should focu...

29 Syys 202150min

Personal Risk and Online Security with Jeroen Willemsen and Nanne Baars

Personal Risk and Online Security with Jeroen Willemsen and Nanne Baars

Are you comfortable with what you're doing and the problems that might arise from that? In a way, that's what security and personal risk is all about. Jeroen and Nanne provide some useful tips you ca...

22 Syys 202152min

How to be a good leader in tech Robby Coelho

How to be a good leader in tech Robby Coelho

Robby shares how he used to clash with leadership when he was a software engineer. Which lead to a lot of frustration. He didn't really understand why they clashed, but after freelancing for a while, ...

15 Syys 20211h 6min

Going the extra mile with Juan Manuel Perafan

Going the extra mile with Juan Manuel Perafan

Some people have trouble starting, but that’s not Juan. Instead, he looks further ahead at his goal to become great at what he does. Currently that’s analytics engineering, which fills the gap between...

8 Syys 202157min

What it takes to be great at Sales with Richard Kelsey

What it takes to be great at Sales with Richard Kelsey

I was sceptical about Sales at first, but I love the way Richard lays it out: You’re facilitating the buying process, and it should lead to a win-win. It’s not a transaction. It’s knowing your product...

1 Syys 202148min

The next big disruption in tech and software with Kevlin Henney

The next big disruption in tech and software with Kevlin Henney

Kevlin Henney shares his vision on the next big disruption in tech and software. And the funny thing is, the next big thing might already be out there, it’s just unevenly distributed.

25 Elo 202153min