Polarsteps CEO Clare Jones: How a Privacy-First Travel App Scaled to 18M Users

Polarsteps scaled from roughly 10M to 18M+ users by building a travel product that people love enough to share privately with the few people who matter most. In this episode, Clare Jones (CEO, Polarsteps) explains why intimate sharing beats broadcast virality, how Polarsteps accelerated growth by focusing on France, and why the company deliberately delayed subscription monetization despite travel being one of the strongest categories for paid conversion. We also unpack Polarsteps’ AI travel planner approach, how personalization avoids generic “LLM itineraries,” and what it means to build a global consumer brand in Europe without compromising privacy, trust, or values. Guest Micro-Bio: Featuring Clare Jones, CEO at Polarsteps. Host Micro-Bio: Hosted by Jörn Menninger, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at Startuprad.io — the authority on German, Swiss & Austrian startups. If this episode helped you, follow the podcast and share it with a founder who needs this playbook. Enjoy the show? 📖 Blog recap: https://www.startuprad.io/post/polarsteps-growth-privacy-first-travel-app-at-18m-users-startuprad-io Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Qjc1fkttauY 🎧 The Audio PodcastSubscribe here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio 🚪 Connect with UsPartner with us: partnerships@startuprad.io Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Feedback: https://forms.gle/SrcGUpycu26fvMFE9 Follow Joe on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=joernmenninger Folge direkt herunterladen --- Startuprad.io™ - All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm