Machiel Schepers is a Start-Up and Growth Advisor based in San Francisco.
As an early employee at Airbnb, Machiel has been actively involved in the growth of the company. He was one of the founders of the Guest and Host Growth teams, and led the Growth Search team during the time Airbnb went public.
Before Airbnb, Machiel was the Country Manager for Unister in Germany, where he led the internationalization of several travel portals, and later became the country manager for the Belgian and Dutch markets.
He is also an ex-professional athlete who competed in the German Handball Bundesliga, won several titles and represented his country internationally.
Because of his experience, Machiel knows exactly what it is like to be coached and mentored, how to achieve goals as a team and make the most out of yourself, which he used to found 2 companies himself.
Airbnb
2012 – Current
With almost $5B in revenue in 2021, 150M users, and over 1B in stays, Airbnb is an international leader in the accommodations industry. At Airbnb, Machiel has been part of the Growth team. He started out as an online marketeer for the Nordic region, and currently leads Global Growth Marketing; directing the Search team as one of the most innovative teams in the space globally and hitting ambitious business goals.
Unister (Germany)
2010 – 2012
Unister was one of the biggest internet companies in Germany, running some of the biggest travel, retail, and financial portals. As a Country Manager Machiel internationalized several of these travel portals, hired a team of country managers, and ran the BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg") business.
Professional Sports
2006–2010
Starting at a very young age, Machiel has always been interested in sports. Initially competing in gymnastic and becoming top 10 for his age, he switched to handball during high school, and played it for almost 15 years. During these 15 years he won several titles and championships, competed in European top leagues, and represented the Netherlands internationally. During all of these years, Machiel had several outstanding mentors and coaches, teaching him the most effective ways to achieve highly ambitious goals, and making the most out of yourself.