Lodgify, Chief Growth Officer
Company background
Lodgify is a fast-growing SaaS platform providing property management software to vacation rental owners and small property managers globally. Founded to help hosts become less reliant on online travel agencies, the business has evolved into an all-in-one solution spanning website building, booking management and payments.
With c.€30m ARR and ~35% YoY growth, Lodgify is on an ambitious trajectory to scale to €100m revenue, with a strong product-led growth model and a highly efficient inbound acquisition engine at its core.
At this stage, the business required a Chief Growth Officer to unify marketing, sales and product-led growth, and to accelerate international expansion and revenue scale.
The approach
The Up Group was engaged to identify a Chief Growth Officer capable of driving end-to-end growth across acquisition, conversion and retention. The brief required a leader with deep experience in PLG SaaS, strong commercial acumen and a proven ability to scale high-performing, cross-functional growth teams.
We conducted a targeted, international search with a particular focus on Barcelona-based and European talent, mapping senior growth leaders across SaaS, marketplaces and consumer technology businesses.
Our process was highly collaborative, working closely with Lodgify’s CEO and leadership team to ensure alignment on both technical capability and cultural fit, and delivering a strong, diverse pipeline of high-calibre candidates.
The impact
The search resulted in the appointment of Yara Paoli as Chief Growth Officer, bringing extensive experience from companies including Skyscanner, Preply and Oda, where she held senior global growth leadership roles.
Yara has a proven track record of scaling international businesses, including growing revenue to €250m, expanding into multiple markets and building high-performing growth organisations.
Her appointment positions Lodgify to accelerate its next phase of growth, strengthening its product-led acquisition engine, optimising conversion and retention, and driving progress towards its long-term ambition of becoming a global leader in vacation rental software.
