Tech Icon Spotlight:
Johannes Reck
Co-founder/CEO, GetYourGuide
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Johannes Reck never planned to transform the travel industry. As a biochemistry and computer science student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Reck was deeply immersed in the impact of protein modifications on brain function. But during a trip to Beijing in 2009, Reck found himself wanting to explore the city but unable to find a tour guide he could book online.
“We just saw Airbnb take off, but no one was doing it for experiences, so we saw a big opportunity. Why not make a website? I thought I’d just do this for a year and then go back to my PhD program,” Reck said. “My grandmother said, ‘Complete your PhD at some point so you have something serious you can fall back on.’”
What began as a simple idea turned into a 15-year journey building GetYourGuide, an online global marketplace that has sold more than 200 million tickets for activities in 12,000 cities. Reck spoke with Riviera Partners to reflect on scaling GetYourGuide from side project to global travel platform, leading through crisis, and learning when to let go.
Hire the right people for the right stage
For the first few years, Reck and his co-founders bootstrapped the business. When the company got its first major round of funding, GetYourGuide was able to go on its first hiring spree, allowing it to attract senior executives from major tech firms. That’s when it all nearly fell apart.
“We hired people that just didn’t fit the stage of the company,” Reck said. “They were smart people, but not the right people to drive the business forward at that stage.”
As the company began to burn through its cash, Reck faced one of his first pivotal moments as a leader: learning when to cut losses. “I had to lay off almost half the company to make the cash bleeding stop, including all those senior folks, and refocus on the entrepreneurial roots that had gotten us there.”
“My grandmother said, ‘Complete your PhD at some point so you have something serious you can fall back on.’”
A 10-year crash course
Shortly afterward, Reck got an unsolicited call from Kees Koolen, the founder and former CEO of Booking.com. “I got the call from him on Friday night, and he wanted to meet Saturday morning to do due diligence for investing in the company.”
After a long day of going through the numbers, discussing strategy, and negotiating the valuation, Koolen asked a question that revealed what would be required to take GetYourGuide to the next level: “He said, ‘How many hours do you work per week? When I said 70 or 80, he asked, ‘Can you do that for 10 years?’ In hindsight, that was a great question because that’s what ended up happening. Having that intensity for ten years was the litmus test.”
With Koolen’s mentorship, Reck received the business education he didn’t get in school: “He taught me how to run a management team, how to hire the right people, what to look for, how to set KPIs, how to turn strategy into execution across the organization. He taught me how to focus on the few things that truly matter, cut all the rest out, and then drive incredibly hard on those couple of things.”
We hired people that just didn’t fit the stage of the company. They were smart people, but not the right people to drive the business forward at that stage.”
Responding to crisis with clarity
Reck’s knowledge was put to the test in 2020 when the travel industry collapsed overnight, and along with it GetYourGuide’s revenue. “We went from being a high-growth, very successful company to a company with zero revenue for multiple quarters. It was absolutely devastating.”
With no idea of how long the global shutdowns would last, Reck had to act quickly. “There is a famous saying: cut early and cut deep. But we didn’t want to lose the team we’d built. Instead, we built a ‘shares for salary’ plan to delay that decision until we had better visibility on what the crisis would be and how it might play out.”
In order to secure buy-in, Reck was radically transparent with his team. “When we proposed this to the team, we shared the numbers. ‘If you reduce your salary by so much, you can give us three years, which will be sufficient in any scenario.’ With radical transparency, people really bought into it. And it was a smart move in hindsight; they all stuck around after the pandemic when competition was red hot for talent because they were now heavily incentivized by their shares.”
He said, ‘How many hours do you work per week? When I said 70 or 80, he asked, ‘Can you do that for 10 years?’”
Sheer drive only gets you so far
Coming out of the pandemic, Reck recognized that GetYourGuide needed a different style of leadership than the one that had gotten it through the early years. “I had run the business with brute force for a decade,” he said. “At some point, you have to give up a bit of control in order to empower the next generation of leaders. You lead more through inspiration and vision, and not just through brute force.”
Rather than hiring purely strategic or functional leaders, Reck looks for leaders who can blend both. “You want people who can plan not just for the next quarter, but for the next two to three years, but at the same time have a tremendous sense of urgency and can navigate with agility.”
“I wouldn’t hire myself for any role in the company anymore because I’m not a functional specialist,” he said. “We look for leaders who can break the broader vision down to their function and then level their learnings back up so they can shape the bigger roadmap as well.”
I had run the business with brute force for a decade. At some point, you have to give up a bit of control in order to empower the next generation of leaders.”
About Riviera Partners
Riviera Partners is a global executive search firm specializing in placing top talent in cybersecurity, AI, data, engineering, product management, and more. With a focus on understanding the unique needs of tech companies, we match organizations with leaders who can drive innovation and security in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. Contact us here.