Polymarket taps ex-Uber and Bird exec Travis VanderZanden to boost growth
Quick TakePolymarket has hired blitzscaling veteran Travis VanderZanden as chief growth officer.VanderZanden is the founder of Bird, the electric scooter-sharing startup, and a former executive at Lyft and Uber. Polymarket has hired Travis VanderZanden to serve as chief growth officer, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan announced on Wednesday. VanderZanden is the founder of Bird, the electric scooter sharing startup, and a former executive at Lyft and Uber. Bird, Uber and Lyft were all part of the so-called “blitzscaling” trend that prioritized extremely rapid growth. Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh popularized the term blitzscaling to describe startups that raised and spent heavy amounts of venture capital to fund aggressive expansions while competing for market share. “From being [Travis Kalanick]s growth lead at Uber, to CRO of Yammer under [David] Sacks, to being founder and CEO of Bird (responsible for both my love of Paris and a couple bloody chins),” Coplan wrote. “When it comes to growing marketplaces, nobody does it better. This time with software instead of hardware. Welcome to the team.” Last year, Polymarket and its chief rival Kalshi saw neck-and-neck growth during the beginning phase of the prediction market expansion. In recent months, however, Kalshi has pulled ahead in terms of growth — largely driven