Photo by Sarah Palmer / LiveWire Calgary
Hey, we're Florencia & Jamal
We're the co-founders of Waypoint Budget, a budgeting app that's simple, visual, and designed for real people navigating real financial lives. Like a lot of people our age, we were both working full-time, earning decent salaries, and somehow still living paycheque to paycheque. We knew something had to change, so we built the tool we wished we had.
Our Journey
The Wake-Up Call
One day, we headed to a local cafe with nothing but pen and paper. We wrote out every goal we had for the next five and ten years, then listed every single expense. Actually seeing the numbers was a bit of a shock. Credit card balances had quietly been piling up with interest, and the things we were saving for, like our wedding, were further away than we thought.
Mapping out every dollar gave us clarity for the first time. We could finally see exactly where we stood and what it would take to get where we wanted to go. It was sobering, but it worked. The problem? Pen and paper wasn't going to cut it long-term. Being developers, it wasn't long before we opened our laptops and started building.
Building It Together
We both come from software development backgrounds, so building something ourselves felt like the natural next step. Jamal handles the architecture and full-stack development, while Florencia leads the design and user experience. It made for a great balance, and within about two months we had a working version of Waypoint ready to go.
We wanted Waypoint to work the way people actually think about their money, not the way spreadsheets or banks want you to. Simple categories, clear visuals, and no financial jargon getting in the way.
Where We're Going
Today, Waypoint has grown to over a thousand users, almost entirely through word of mouth. Our community helps shape every feature through our public Featurebase board, where users submit ideas and upvote the ones they want most. It keeps us honest about what actually matters to the people using Waypoint every day.
We believe managing money shouldn't feel stressful or complicated. When you can actually see where your money is going, it gets a lot easier to make progress on the things that matter to you.
Waypoint is still growing and evolving, and so are we. This isn't just an app. It's a journey we're on together.