Talk
Permission first, Process second
VibeConf 2026 · 6 October 2026 · Pathé Tuschinski, Amsterdam
A talk by Jim van der Waal — Head of Product, Polarsteps.
The question
What actually shapes whether a team builds things: the tools you give them, or the culture you create around them?
Grounded in
Jim’s own after-hours building, the rituals his product teams at Polarsteps set up to learn together, and the ways of working he had to reconsider along the way.
You leave with
A concrete sense of what to try out, what to make a routine, and what to challenge in your product processes.
About Jim
Jim van der Waal
Head of Product, Polarsteps
Leads product at Polarsteps, the travel app used by millions of travellers to plan, track and relive their trips. Spends the evenings he isn’t changing diapers building small, mostly unnecessary apps. Not an AI expert—just an enthusiastic builder with a day job in product.
Where this talk sits
This talk is part of the single-track VibeConf 2026 programme at Pathé Tuschinski on 6 October 2026. One room, six sessions, no competing tracks — see the full programme and the rest of the speakers.
The wider argument behind the day is set out in our guide to building products with AI, and the community that produced VibeConf keeps a public record of what people built together.
Keep reading
- Dream Machine or Co-Designer? →Damian Skotzke on where AI stops being a tool and starts acting like a collaborator in design.
- Building products with AI →A practical guide to defining the problem, building the smallest useful loop and knowing when production needs a team.
- Coding with AI, without becoming a developer →What non-developers can build, what they still have to judge, and when to involve an engineer.
Join us in Amsterdam
One room. One shared day.
Jim van der Waal speaks at VibeConf 2026 in Amsterdam. Every session comes from someone who has personally done the work.
€269+ VAT · Regular — Available until 15 September
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