VeloPlanner: one year in

The project keeps evolving: new features, new routes, new content. The community grows month after month.

And how's business going? Pretty well too. We work with a lot of great partners, and many of them are staying with us for another year. More and more people are also choosing the premium plan.

Why have premium at all if we have partners?

Because our main goal is to build a platform where cyclists can plan their adventures, and we want it to be accessible to everyone. That's why the free version of VeloPlanner is fully functional. Most of what you need, you get without paying. Premium adds some (very useful) extras: weather along the route, satellite maps, offline mode in the app, and no ads.

The fact that we can offer such a comprehensive free version without bombarding you with ads at every turn is thanks to our partners. Without them, VeloPlanner would be a completely different product.

A few words about money

VeloPlanner doesn't have an investor. So far I've been financing it out of my own savings. I couldn't pay myself a salary until eight months into the work.

There was supposed to be an investor. Someone from the industry who understood our mission and wanted to help. We talked for several months. Everything was already agreed on and we even had a notary booked. Then an internal dispute on the investors' side brought it all to a halt at the last moment.

It was quite a shock for me. But I sat down with a spreadsheet, crunched what I could, and decided to keep developing the product. I even hired the first person full-time. Looking back, it turned out for the best. VeloPlanner is growing on its own terms. We listen to the community, and the community rewards us with their engagement.

The team

Thanks to the support of the community and our partners, we managed to build a team. Right now four people are working on VeloPlanner:

Me and Marta, full-time. Marta is my right hand, helping with running the company and developing the product.

Ada (part time) handles content, moderation, and marketing. Marlena (part time) takes care of UI/UX.

What's next?

Things can get stressful, but I'm looking at the future with optimism. Right now we're focused on developing the mobile app, further growth in Poland, and building our presence in Germany.

There's a lot of work ahead. This first year has shown that what we're doing makes sense and that there are more and more cyclists who use VeloPlanner more and more often.

VeloPlanner in numbers

• 58,000 registered users
• 450,000 unique website visitors in 2026
• 60,000 mobile app downloads
• 4 people on the team