The Calgary couple behind the online financial tool Waypoint Budget says their web app helps others navigate their finances — and offers a Canadian alternative to other programs and software on the market.
After getting engaged last year in Italy, co-creators Ahmad Raza Jamal and Florencia Chomski said the idea first started after discussing their future while at HOUSE 831.
“We sat down and we asked, what do we kind of see in the future, what are the plans that we have, and we wrote down everything,” Jamal said. “There were some things that came up in there, like planning for the wedding, saving up for the wedding, maybe eventually having kids as well, saving for their college and all of that.”
After realizing that some of their financial goals seemed far-fetched, they began budgeting their finances through pen and paper.
Eventually, Jamal decided to create software that could automate the process and began sharing it with his friends and family.
“And they really started enjoying it, so I started to build it, and then it started slowly becoming what it is today,” he said. “It’s now Waypoint Budget. It’s become this complete financial tool that helps you budget yourself, track your finances, make sure you’re tracking your goals, you’re on track to achieving those.”
The program is available online and free to start, with plus and pro subscriber options for additional features.
‘We have good tech talent in Canada’
Although the duo both work full-time as developers in the tech sector, they still spend time on the software when they can.
While in development, Jamal realized that there is a lack of Canadian software options when it comes to the budgeting space.
For the ones that were available, they could not compete with U.S. products.
“We have good tech talent in Canada, and I was like, okay, we can utilize our own resources and create something for Canadians that focuses on Canada first and prioritizes the landscape here,” Jamal said. “So, the need was to have like a Canadian alternative that can compete with its U.S. counterparts.”
Calgary couple Ahmad Araza Jamal and Florencia Chomski in their home office where they developed Canadian-made budgeting app Waypoint Budget in Calgary on Sunday, April 5, 2026.
Compared to programs developed in the U.S., Jamal said prioritization and support would never be the same when compared to a Canadian alternative.
“It is unfortunate that we still have to depend on some of the third parties from the U.S., but we are trying to move towards more alternative solutions for that as well in Canada,” he said. “Flinks is a provider that’s based out of Quebec, so I’m starting to transition towards that or provide an alternative there as well.
“But it’s just better if you have Canadian alternatives because if you store your data in Canada and you also use Canadian alternatives, the Canadian laws kind of regulate that. Whereas, we don’t have a lot of control if it’s based out of U.S.”
‘We can do better. Canada can do better’
Their userbase has grown from 50 users in January to around 1,585 in April, with 90 per cent of users from Canada and 10 per cent from the U.S.
They believe they are on track to hit around 10,000 users by the end of the year.
Through their time developing the software, Jamal said they didn’t realize the amount of tech talent, support and demand for Canadian products like Waypoint Budget.
“A lot of our customers are actually from Calgary or Edmonton, and there’s just overwhelming support for more Canadian tech, more Canadian products, and I think there’s a lot of good talent here,” Jamal said.
Calgary couple Ahmad Araza Jamal and Florencia Chomski in their home office where they developed Canadian-made budgeting app Waypoint Budget in Calgary on Sunday, April 5, 2026.
Chomski said it also allowed for them to connect more with other members of Calgary’s tech sector.
“We recently applied to become members at Platform Calgary,” she said. “They have a lot of tech companies in their community, and we’ve been building this in our own little bubble here, like at home.”
Jamal said he hopes to see more Canadian alternatives on the market to compete with tech companies located south of the border.
“The more I dig into this space, we could have better Canadian alternatives,” he said. “Even with that, I felt the need that there could have been a better connector, even just in Canada, that could have provided better connections, which Flinks is doing nowadays. That just gives me more hope that we can compete with these big tech giants that the U.S. has monopoly over. We can do better. Canada can do better.”