Diana Krieger is the new CEO at GoodUp. She takes over daily operations from founders Bart Lacroix and Anna Chojnacka, who will take on a position in the scale-up’s Advisory Board.
“After a long period of high growth and outstanding results, GoodUp has entered a new maturity phase” says Bart Lacroix. “This new phase requires someone with experience in internationally scaling tech companies. We believe we have found that someone in Diana Krieger. With her, GoodUp is ready to grow even further and to internationalise in the direction of our BHAG; to engage one billion people to live up to their purpose by 2030.”
Transforming purpose into action
GoodUp delivers a purpose engagement platform, where employees and other stakeholders collaborate on initiatives that contribute to their personal purpose. They use their personal skills to fulfill a corporate’s purpose, bottom-up.
Anna Chojnacka: “We are piggybacking on an unprecedented commitment to purpose that corporates and their employees show. Businesses with a strong culture of purpose are top performers in terms of employee engagement, customer loyalty, and financial rankings. That’s why the topic is hot. More and more companies are defining their purpose, but their traditional top-down communications processes do not lead to a significant change. With the help of GoodUp they succeed in implementing their purpose and translating it into a positive societal impact. Hence our positive growth results.”
The transition to international scale-up
GoodUp is going through a high paced transition. Bart Lacroix: “We are the first European company that’s found a scalable way of connecting a corporate purpose to the personal purpose of its employees. With this scalable solution in place, it’s time to work towards our first horizon: to become the biggest purpose engagement platform for corporates in the world.
After seeing the big corporate customers (like Unilever, DSM, Accenture, Booking, Transavia and Deloitte) that GoodUp is quickly engaging employees on it’s platforms, Forbes decided to feature an interview with GoodUp.
New phase requires new leadership
For the GoodUp founders Bart and Anna, this was a natural moment to take a step back. Bart Lacroix: “Now that GoodUp is on the verge of making a big leap to being an international scale-up, its leadership style needs to change along. At the end of last year Anna and I informed the team about our decision and started the search for our successor. We’re both convinced that this is the perfect time to transform from a founder-led organisation tot a growth-led organisation.”
Anna Chojnacka: “We’re happy with GoodUp’s current traction and growth. And with the fact that we’ve been able to find someone with experience in scaling tech companies. Diana complements Bart and myself. We feel that there is a personal connection but moreover, her ambition and skills are what GoodUp needs in its next step towards our societal mission. We are the first foundation that has successfully transformed into a social venture in the Netherlands. It’s Diana’s time to conquer the world.”
International expansion
New CEO Diana Krieger, who does a management buy-in, has experience in scaling tech companies like Monsterboard.nl, TDC Lighthouse and Savision.
Diana Krieger: “Working together with founders is an incredibly inspiring experience. Founders have the unique capacity to bring an organisation from zero to one. My experience is mainly in the phase after that; starting at one and expanding from there. GoodUp has a fantastic foundation for growth. They already have a professional team and a working process that follows the Rockefeller Habits. This is how they’ve come to the point they’re currently at.”
“My personal purpose revolves around connecting people and facilitating collaboration. Also, I always look to use the power of technology; tech for good. For me the choice for GoodUp was a natural one.”
The purpose revolution
Bart Lacroix: “We are proud of our achievement of putting GoodUp on the map as a successful social venture. We see GoodUp’s success as a sign that purpose engagement is now becoming a mature market that companies and employees need to seriously consider implementing. The worldwide purpose revolution has begun.”