Stippl

All-in-One Travel Planner

Stippl is an all-in-one travel planning app used by over 300,000 travelers worldwide. It helps users organize their journeys from start to finish, budgeting, planning, journaling, and more. All in one beautifully integrated experience.

As the Senior Full Stack Developer, I led the architecture and development of key features across mobile, web, and backend. My work focused on building scalable infrastructure, crafting seamless user interactions, and delivering tools that transformed how people plan and document their trips. From interactive checklists to a dynamic scratch map, my contributions helped elevate Stippl into a global travel companion.

Location

Location

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Industry

Industry

Travel

Website

https://www.stippl.io/

Role

Role

Senior Full Stack Developer

Period

Period

Jan 2024 – Present

Challenge

Stippl set out to become the go-to platform for travelers to dream, plan, and organize their journeys in one place. With over 300,000 users across 50+ countries, the platform needed to scale quickly, both technically and experientially.

The challenge?

  • Unify web and mobile experiences

  • Build complex planning tools without compromising performance

  • Maintain rapid feature delivery while supporting global growth

Results & Impact

  • Enabled 500k+ active users to plan and document trips effortlessly

  • Improved app performance and load time through GraphQL optimization and frontend lazy loading

  • Boosted user retention by introducing engaging features like Journals and Checklists

  • Supported the company’s growth into
    50+ global markets with localized features and scalable architecture

50%

Improved onboarding process

65%

Increase in user retention

72%

Increase in time spent on app

My Role & Responsibilities

As the lead Full Stack Developer, I owned the architecture and implementation of Stippl’s core product, across mobile, web, and backend.

  • Mobile App (Expo & React Native):
    Delivered a cohesive cross-platform experience with rich, interactive features like:

    • Budget Tracker – Custom trip budgeting with real-time updates

    • Packing Checklist – Reusable and sharable packing lists

    • Scratch Map – Interactive visualization of countries visited

    • Travel Journal – Daily entries with photos and rich text

    • Notifications & Reminders – Trip updates, alerts, and scheduled prompts


  • Backend (Node.js & GraphQL):
    Designed and optimized APIs for data-heavy components like user trips, journal entries, budget breakdowns, and collaborative features. Implemented caching and rate-limiting to ensure reliability at scale.

  • Web Interface (ReactJS):
    Built and maintained responsive views for trip dashboards, profile management, and planner tools, mirroring the mobile app for consistency.

Stack

Stack

Stack

Key Takeaways

  • User-centric design and scalable backend systems go hand-in-hand

  • Cross-functional collaboration across product, design, and growth teams helped drive clarity and fast iteration

  • Building for travelers meant building for all devices, all use cases like offline planning, spontaneous edits, shared checklists, etc.