From Silicon Valley To GetYourGuide - Welcoming our New CTO

We’re delighted to welcome our new CTO, Gaurav Agarwal, to the leadership team.

In this interview with our co-founder and Principal Engineer, Tobias Rein, you’ll discover what Gaurav looks forward to in his new role, his past experiences, his dream travel destination, and much more. The conversation is adapted from the Tech organization’s monthly All Hands meeting, where all team members come together to hear relevant business updates, explore new projects in play, and meet new colleagues.

First, here’s a little background on Tobi. He grew up in greater Zurich and studied Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich before helping to establish GetYourGuide in 2009 alongside his fellow students. Of this group, Johannes, Tao, and Martin are still at GetYourGuide today. 

As Principal Engineer, he’s at the forefront of all things tech. Naturally, he was very excited to introduce Gaurav to the whole team by way of a tell-all Q&A session.

Hi Gaurav! Can you tell us a little about your background?

I grew up in India, living in several cities with my parents, until being offered the chance to study in Singapore. Going there was incredible, and I spent the next four years getting the traveling bug while completing my studies.

Then, I got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to the US after being offered a role at Meta. Fresh out of university, it was an exciting place to be, and everyone in tech wanted to work there at the time. Later, I went on to work for Netflix. I’ve learned so much, and I feel very grateful to have had great opportunities to see what makes a company hugely successful and be a part of their work at the cutting edge of tech.

What made you decide to come to GetYourGuide?

I have actually used GetYourGuide in the past when I was traveling and was reintroduced to the brand when looking for my next opportunity. I love traveling, and I also love building excellent consumer products. This rare opportunity gave me a chance to bring both of my passions together.

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Which Guiding Principle resonates with you the most?

It seems I’ve arrived at a pivotal point in GetYourGuide’s journey, coinciding with the rollout of the new Guiding Principles. This is great for me because we all get to adopt and work with them together.

“Many of the principles resonate deeply. It’s very hard to pick one per se. But if I had to, I’d go with the ‘We act customer-first.’ For me, building a delightful product and a successful business always starts by understanding our customers’ needs and winning their trust. We must keep them at the center and design products that meet them where they are. Everything else is secondary.”

What do you think the most significant opportunity ahead of us might be?

“Our product already works well when our customers know exactly what they want. However, there is room for us to take it forward. I envision a future where, whenever someone opens our app, it evokes an emotion, a ‘wow’ moment, a delight factor. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you opened the app and, amongst all the experiences, it could recommend something tailor-made for you? I want to build that.”

To achieve this, a range of complex engineering, data, and UX problems must be tackled simultaneously. From understanding user intent to managing the unstructured nature of activities in our marketplace to getting more suppliers on board to delivering a seamless experience when someone is on their trip. It all needs to come together, and I can’t wait to dive in and leverage technology to achieve this.

What’s the next travel destination on your list?

Tenerife. After our family holiday there was canceled because of COVID-19, we can’t wait to rebook and discover this beautiful island. Sun, sea, and sand, please! 🏖️

Are you excited to get started?

Of course. I can’t wait to work together to build a new path towards a customer-focused, travel-fueled future. Let’s revolutionize how people experience the world. 

“I’m just very excited, very grateful, very privileged. Thank you for having me and for giving me this opportunity.”

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We are thrilled to welcome our new CTO and start working together to lay the groundwork for new ideas in tech. Enhancing our customer journey so that we can present data-informed experiences on the app as soon as the user lands in a new city – or even at the point when they have just booked their trip – is a thoroughly exciting prospect full of untapped potential.

We can’t wait to see what the future holds, and we wish Gaurav the best on his new journey with us.

Calling all engineers: want to play a role in the next phase of the travel and experience sector? Check out our open roles. Who knows where we might take you…