Jamal Whorms-MonDesir at WayFare
Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
In 2009, I moved to Manchester from Miami to finish my degree in Advertising and Brand Management. Been here ever since. Being in arm's reach of so many foreign destinations but having to balance the cost of that with trips home really frustrated my travel experiences. It wasn't always affordable to do both and many times I couldn't afford either. Being an expat also meant that I didn't have access to credit until years after I moved here. Even after I had two credit cards and an overdraft I found myself squarely in the 85% demographic of millennials that don't use them. I ended up missing my brother's wedding in Puerto Rico because of it. I was meant to be the best man. That's how WayFare was born.
In the wild, I can be spotted rocking a wild pair of shorts and dancing just about anywhere but don't let that fool you, I'm a prolific thinker. My undergraduate thesis is published in the British Library which even surprises me sometimes. Right out of uni I founded my first startup, MAD Foundry, which filled the skills gap between university and the creative sector. We went on to get the backing of UK Trade & Investment through their international Sirius Programme. Apart from that I'm an incurable explorer, ad-hoc DJ, olympic weightlifter (not an Olympian, just the sport), and an Analyst at Monzo.
Tell us about what you're doing with Wayfare?
Our vision with WayFare is to help everyone explore, adventure, and foster human connections in ways that are profound and nourishing. The irony of being so digitally connected is that we're seeing the world becoming evermore isolated. Choosing to view our global neighbours through the lens of unsavoury news sources rather than just getting on Facebook and starting a chat with them to understand the true nature of their realities and experiences. Travel is our best tool for changing that but my god is travel expensive! So that's our starting point offering a credit-free monthly payment option for flights. We release the boarding pass after the final payment making it easy for wanderlusts to slay their bucket lists. In a nutshell, it's 'layaway for airfare'.
Tell us the differences between a standard travel service and your app?
The most well-known existing solution to our offer is travel agencies but they rarely offer the option for monthly payments on flight-only deals, which means if you had your heart set on a really swish Airbnb with your friends you're going to have a bad time. Travel agencies also aren't very popular with millennials and, unlike the UK, in the US they're pretty much non-existent on the high street. There are a few FinTech startups focussing on affordable travel but where we differ is in our outlook; WayFare is a TravelTech with a FinTech service. We understand that affordability only opens Pandora's Box of travel troubles. For instance, I was once denied boarding at the gate because of an unfamiliar law to do with passport expiry dates. It was an issue that could have been flagged and resolved long before the point that I was about to board the plane. So our broader ambition is really around understanding where tech isn't solving the numerous hurdles customers might face in the travel process. Booking is certainly the lowest hanging fruit but the numbers show us there's many more.
What are your favourite FinTech innovations?
As an expat I have to say TransferWise. The simple idea behind what makes it work is so genius that it's hard to believe that it didn't exist before. I'm sure it works differently now but even still I'm still wowed by it. A close second is Monzo's instant push notifications. Putting my full geekiness on show, I'm fascinated by the level of complexity that goes into delivering such a simple feature but also the UX/UI consequences. In the milliseconds between using your card and seeing that notification, hundreds of things happen across multiple actors. This was never designed for the customer to see at such a speed. Historically, you'd only see this the following month when you opened your statement and by then everything's usually settled. The other side to this is that after that notification the process is still ongoing. Naturally, everyone thinks it's done and dusted at that point. So when technical quirks happen in the payment process they can cause unnecessary panic simply because they're so visible to users. A good example is unmatched presentments, where the merchant comes back to collect money that was authorised but doesn't use the code they were given at authorisation. To customers this looks like a second charge and often gets reported as fraud but it's actually a really simple fix. It's a unique insight into the space between innovation and the human experience and the kind of challenge I love to solve.
How have you used technology to create value?
We all know there's a whole lot of technological systems underpinning our daily lives and travel is no different. The issue with travel is that so much of the information in those systems is inaccessible to customers. Not for any nefarious reasons, it's just "someone else's problem to solve". What we're building is an ecosystem designed to integrate with all the disparate travel systems and deliver that information to the customer and help them easily action the next steps without leaving the app. Take visas and passports for example. The laws around border control can affect even the same person differently; maybe you entered country X three years ago on your current passport but because you went to country Y last year, country X won't let you in. One of our features alerts you of these potential issues and if it's resolvable, the app or our customer support team will help you get it sorted. Much better than getting denied boarding at the gate.
How has the sector changed since you started?
Travel FinTech? Surprisingly, not much. One of our competitors rebranded, one folded, and one's just carrying on. We've not seen any new players in this particular space nor much in the way of innovation from the existing ones.
How do you see Covid changing the way we travel?
Personal travellers are going to be much more mindful of their journeys for some time. We expect to see a lot of people favouring shorter trips by train and prioritising long haul flight only when there's a need (e.g. family) or when the trip is going to be deeply meaningful. Less frivolous sun and ski holidays. This actually represents a lot of what our target audiences travel trends anyway so we've planned a lot of features to that end. Business travel will likely remain low for awhile now that companies realise they were underutilizing technology all along. We also expect to see long lines at airports again, more demand for traveller medical screenings, potentially more expensive flights to reserve seats for social distancing.
Is FinTech actually different? We've always been consumers and developers of technology in financial services.
No and I love this question because, as a marketer by trade, I loathe the phrase "digital marketing". Marketing always used technology in some way or another the only thing that changed was the medium. The same is true for financial services. The medium allows for new opportunities and legacy institutions have all the resources to seize on them but that's not how they think. So the real change is the mindset. Legacy bankers ask why? Digital natives ask why not?
Can regulation keep up?
Only if we get more young people into government. I appreciate that the FCA has done something great with their Sandbox programme but overall we're governed by people that really don't understand technology and have no desire to learn. Years ago it was endearing, the way we think about helping our parents set the time on the VCR but these days it's dangerous. Look no further than the shambles of NHSX's contact tracing app.
Is the FinTech machine losing steam?
I personally haven't seen anything really turn my head in awhile. Part of that's just because a lot FinTech startups operate in verticals or on solutions that I'm not professionally adjacent to. If we're counting insurance as a subdomain of finance, I'd say that's one area that I've come across some interesting movements in but having many friends that work in the sector, I wouldn't hold my breath. It's a boy club and they're not the least interested in change. I wouldn't say FinTech is losing steam though. I think in the UK, our FinTech scene peaked really early with the likes of Monzo, TransferWise, and Starling. Now that we've got so many unicorns it feels like we're looking for the next but it's probably not going to be another consumer bank. The other challenge is that great ideas aren't getting funded soon enough. The trend of investment moving towards later and later stages means that in this particular sector, you've got to have a lot of personal capital or privileged connections to even get your foot in the game and attract investment.
Jamal was speaking to RiskSave Compliance. The leading FinTech Appointed Representative Services Provider
RiskSave Compliance is an award-winning provider of regulatory solutions for Private Equity managers, Hedge Funds and other financial institutions. With a background in technology we specialise in providing integrated low-cost solutions to ambitious and demanding firms.
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