Hears
The boring product, reimagined as a hype brand.
$22M in 2025 · Saint Laurent & Pacha collabs
The boring product, made iconic.
Hears is the high-tech hearing-protection brand of Forbes 30 Under 30 founders Bob Verlaat and Nick Nijhof — designer earplugs that solve the two reasons people avoid them: unappealing design and distorted sound. Launched in 2024, it reached $22M in revenue in 2025, with collaborations from Saint Laurent Rive Droite to Pacha Ibiza.
From breakout to nine figures.
A brand this hot needs leaders who can keep pace — growth built to compound and finance built to hold — as Hears and its sister brand Dore & Rose push past €100M together. Hype is easy to spark and hard to steward; the founders came to The Quantum Club for the bench to do both.
A Head of Growth and a CFO.
The Quantum Club placed a Head of Growth and a CFO for the group — the leadership to carry Hears through its most crucial phase of scale, matched to a brand moving at the speed of culture.
Hype, engineered to last.
$22M in a year, a Saint Laurent collaboration, the official earplug of Pacha Ibiza, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 nod — Hears turned a 'boring' product into a hype brand. The Quantum Club placed the bench to make the next chapter bigger.
The engagement
The full brief.
Hears is the high-tech earplug brand of Forbes 30 Under 30 founders Bob Verlaat and Nick Nijhof — $22M in 2025, with collaborations from Saint Laurent to Pacha Ibiza. As they scaled it and sister brand Dore & Rose toward nine figures, The Quantum Club placed a Head of Growth and a CFO to lead the group through its most crucial phase.
The mandate
- Functions
- Growth & finance leadership
- Seniority
- Executive / C-level
- Geographies
- Amsterdam · Global
- Engaged
- 2025
Roles placed
- Head of Growth
- CFO
The approach
A discreet executive search for two founders scaling fast — growth and finance leaders matched to a Forbes 30 Under 30 brand group.
Verified outcomes
- $22M revenue in 2025 Forbes
- Saint Laurent + Pacha flagship collaborations
- Head of Growth + CFO placed to scale past €100M
The vault
The full breakdown is reserved.
The exact roles, the search process, the compensation context, and the unreleased footage from Hears live inside the Club — the rooms the open market never lists.
Verified members only
The houses our members move between
- Prada — Creative & merchandising, 4 placements
- Apple — Product & design, 3 placements
- Cartier — Maison leadership, 2 placements
- Louis Vuitton — Creative leadership, 5 placements
- Netflix — Content & product, 2 placements
- Rolex — Horology & retail, 2 placements
- Chanel — Maison leadership, 3 placements
- Google — Product & growth, 3 placements
- Van Cleef & Arpels — Haute joaillerie, 2 placements
- Dior — Creative leadership, 4 placements
- Tesla — Engineering & operations, 2 placements
- Audemars Piguet — Horology leadership, 2 placements
- Gucci — Creative leadership, 3 placements
- ASML — Deep-tech engineering, 2 placements
- Hermès — Métiers & retail, 2 placements
- Saint Laurent — Creative leadership, 2 placements
- Bottega Veneta — Creative & leather goods, 2 placements
- A. Lange & Söhne — Haute horlogerie, 2 placements
- Burberry — Creative & retail, 2 placements
- Balenciaga — Creative leadership, 2 placements
- Richemont — Group leadership, 2 placements
- Loewe — Creative leadership, 2 placements
- Nike — Brand & product, 3 placements
Frequently asked
What is Hears?
Hears is a high-tech hearing-protection brand — designer earplugs engineered to solve the two reasons people avoid them: unappealing design and distorted sound. Founded in 2024 by Bob Verlaat and Nick Nijhof, it reached $22M in revenue in 2025.
Who founded Hears?
Hears was founded by Bob Verlaat and Nick Nijhof, named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe (Retail & Ecommerce). They also founded the sleep-wellness brand Dore & Rose.
What brands has Hears collaborated with?
Hears has collaborated with Saint Laurent Rive Droite on limited-edition designer earplugs bearing the Cassandre logo, and is the official hearing-protection partner of Pacha Ibiza for the 2025 season, with earplugs carrying the iconic Pacha cherry logo.
How did The Quantum Club help Hears?
The Quantum Club placed a Head of Growth and a CFO for the founders' group — Hears and sister brand Dore & Rose — the executive bench to lead the most crucial phase of scaling the two brands toward nine figures.
