Outdoorsy Holdings announced that Han Yuan has joined the company as chief technology officer (CTO).
The move comes on the heels of what has been another record year for Outdoorsy. This year alone, the company experienced skyrocketing growth from its proprietary insurtech, Roamly, and launched Outdoorsy Stays in California, Texas and Colorado. It also launched campground properties in California and Colorado and a glamping retreat in the Texas Hill Country.
With an impressive tenure leading engineering and product teams across marketplaces, e-commerce, Saas and consumer internet, Yuan has guided high-profile tech companies into periods of rapid development and growth including Upwork’s successful IPO in 2018, Outdoorsy said. In 2024, Yuan will lead Outdoorsy’s ambitious vision to elevate the platform to new heights as it works to further open up access to unique outdoor experiences and become an established household name in the travel and hospitality industry, it said.
Outdoorsy, which achieved profitability in 2023, is on pace to exceed $3 billion in transactions in 2024.
Yuan will also lead technology innovation for Outdoorsy’s proprietary insurtech Roamly as it continues its rapid growth and expands into new markets, adding services and technologies to support the company’s multi-faceted ecosystem.
Outdoorsy, which achieved profitability in 2023, is currently pacing at a 175% multi-year growth rate and on pace to exceed $3 billion in transactions in 2024. The company recently celebrated 1 million trips – and over 7 million booked travel days – in June. Roamly is currently growing more than 100% YoY, with over $54 million in written premium on its platform. Roamly recently launched Roamly RAC, its open API platform to power marketplaces, enterprises, RV and boat dealerships and insurance carriers who seek a fully digital insurance product suite to bring to their consumer markets.
“Han is a seasoned consumer tech executive who will add to the advancement of our developing ecosystem as we lead into market expansion and the upward trajectory of the open platform we’ve brought to market with Roamly,” said Outdoorsy’s CEO Jeff Cavins.
Prior to joining Outdoorsy, Yuan served as the chief product and technology officer at Recharge, a subscription commerce engine for the Shopify platform. He previously led engineering at Upwork, where he managed a 300-plus engineering team through the company’s IPO in 2018. He has also led engineering and product teams at both early-stage and Fortune 500 companies such as Netflix and eBay. Yuan’s tenure as group CTO and director of mobile product and engineering at eBay and as director of mobile product and engineering at Netflix was spent on the launch and innovation of mobile applications and services that have come to define eBay and Netflix, and have generated billions of dollars in transactions and billions of hours of customer engagement.
“It’s an exciting moment in time to join Outdoorsy and I’m looking forward to building solutions that bridge the gap between its digital and physical domains,” said Yuan. “As a leader in tech, it’s critical to believe in the unlocked and unseen potential of the product you’re building. It’s equally as important to have a strong support system, as I do from the Outdoorsy engineering team, to test, fail, learn and thrive in our pursuit to bring ambitious projects to life.”
“Under Han’s leadership, we will invest in accelerating our innovation through cross-platform applications and services and mobile product development,” Cavins said. “I am confident that Han’s vision and experience will bring out the best work in our team and deliver exceptional experiences to our guests and partners.”
