According to the latest FT 1000, Tooploox is the 30th fastest growing company in Europe!
Between 2013 and 2016, our revenue grew by 2,942%. It’s safe to say our hard work is paying off. In fact, according to the Financial Times, which lists the 1,000 fastest growing businesses across 31 different countries, we’re also the second fastest growing company in our home country of Poland!
But what does growth mean for us? It’s not about numbers. It’s about working with our partners on new, exciting products and expanding our team to explore new technologies and areas of interest. That’s what makes working at Tooploox exhilarating.
“Growth is important to us at Tooploox, but we do it with good reason. We’re seeking new challenges and learning experiences. Our team has done an amazing job building products for our partners. Our inclusion on this list shows we’re doing something right!” – Pawel Solyga
Our History
Tooploox was only founded in 2012, so we’ve come a long way to end up on such a prestigious list.
Our history started when Pawel and Damian Walczak met in high school, along with Tomek (who would later become their first employee).
However, it wasn’t until New Year’s Eve in 2011 that things started to take form. Pawel was inspired by game applications of the time and had an idea to create an innovative product of his own, leaving his job to pursue this idea full time.
Damian and Krzysiek Tarnowski joined shortly after and this project came to be known as Quizzpy – it’s still very much underway and you will hear more about it soon!
It’s working on this product that lead to official formation of Tooploox in 2012.
Independent Growth
One quick decision made very early on was that Tooploox will grow by its own merits. This meant internal funding was needed so, rather than rely on investors, we undertook various projects and grew as a result of our successes.
In the early days, the team was very small. We started by hiring five interns – four of which are still part of Tooploox today – and worked in a small office on Hercena street in Wroclaw. Desk space was very limited and we had nowhere to grow!
(Our first office, back in 2012.)
This changed in 2015, when Pawel came back from a U.S business trip to find there was simply no space for him to work! With such an obvious sign, the company soon moved to offices on Tęczowa street, where we still work today.
(Our Tęczowa office, before we decorated and moved in.)
(The Tooploox team in 2015)
During this time, the whole of Tooploox was coding, including Damian, Krzysztof and Pawel, and it wasn’t until January 2016 that they took a step back and focused on the important challenge of running the company. This was a big turning point for us, as we realized we needed to diversify into specialist roles. Scrum masters, recruiters, marketing experts and even bizdevs all suddenly came aboard, making 2016 a very big year for us!
(The Tooploox team in 2016)
Naturally, the office has gotten a little larger since then. In what hopefully isn’t becoming a recurring theme, Pawel returned from another U.S business trip to find there wasn’t any space available, so we’ve expanded our office here at Tęczowa.
(The Tooploox team in 2017)
Around this time, we’ve also opened offices in Warsaw, Gdansk and even Berlin, with plenty of remote members working from places all over.
Our Journey So Far
So, what have we achieved during these few years?
Back in 2012, we started with just native mobile app development (iOS & Android) and, over the years, we’ve managed to grow our competencies in other areas. Today, our teams have a wide range of expertise in Data Science, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Web (Backend, Frontend and Platform Services) applications and Product Design.
This puts us in a unique position to support complex product requirements so we can really focus on helping build great products for our partners around the world.
Oh and let’s not forget about Leon The Cat, who has been supporting our growth along the way 🙂
Growing Forward
Being the 30th fastest growing company in Europe is fantastic, but what’s next? Fortunately, Tooploox has no plans on slowing down. We are expanding our existing engineering & product teams and building new ones in the field of robotics and blockchain technology!
(The Tooploox team in 2018)
Right now, we’re a team of over 100, but there’s always room for the right people…
In fact, we have a range of available jobs for new Plooxies to join the team! (Pawel’s desk is just waiting to be stolen – third time’s the charm!):
- C++ Engineer (with Computer Vision)
- Front-end Typescript / React / Redux Engineer (Senior)
- iOS Engineer (Senior)
- Full-stack Python / JavaScript Engineer
So, what’s our secret for success? A core strength of Tooploox is providing an environment where failure is acceptable and where we learn from our own mistakes. It’s through learning that we gain intuitive knowledge of technology, which only fuels us to make amazing products and apps!
There’s no such thing as perfect growth, everything has a learning curve, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
