Iris Wermescher | Democratizing the Outdoors with Better Route Planning | Komoot

Pod22 Travel Podcast

Iris Wermescher is an outdoor enthusiast and the Business Development Director of Travel at Komoot. Born in Austria, Iris’s love for nature comes in part from her dad, an avid mountain guide. She rediscovered her love for the outdoors while studying business and tourism in Innsbruck - a city known for its love for mountains, no matter the season.

Like many of her student peers, Iris dreamed of working at the Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO). After completing her Master’s, she landed an internship with the ANTO in Copenhagen, and then a full-time position at their Berlin office. Despite 7 great years with ANTO, Iris wanted to push her boundaries and engage into a new venture that would satiate her hunger for adventure and nature. And in 2016, something magical happened: she joined a small German startup called Komoot.

Komoot is an outdoor route-planning app. It helps users better prepare for their next hike, road cycling or mountain biking adventure by combining steps that best suit their needs. Being part of such an impact-driven company motivated Iris to push her own objectives to new levels. And the results soon followed: Komoot went from 2,7 million registered users in 2016 to 16,5 million today. They have created a community-generated database of routes and curated highlights to satisfy the needs of all different types of outdoor-enthusiasts: from the fast-pace road biker to the occasional sightseeing hiker.

If you'd like to get into contact with Iris or talk partnerships with Komoot, you can contact her by email: [e-mail]