Travel Planning Is Broken. Atlanta Startup GoWandr Thinks Budget-First Is the Fix.
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Name a price. Then pack your bags.
That’s the concept behind GoWandr, a soon-to-launch app from Atlanta-based entrepreneurs and bootstrapped co-founders Caelyn Phillips and Christopher Bell. The two UX designers have teamed up to flip the script on how travel planning gets done.
Most travel platforms start with a destination in mind. GoWandr starts with what travelers can actually afford. Instead of searching for specific cities or country destinations, users enter their budget and travel dates first. The app then surfaces real flight and accommodation options that fit those parameters.
That increases financial transparency and flexibility while reducing planning fatigue, the team says.
As a budget-first app, GoWandr offers smart trip-combination logic to simplify the planning process. It also provides users with an Echo Journal, where they can save Instagram reels, blogs, and videos for their future planning needs.
Meet The Team
While Phillips and Bell are first-time founders, they aren’t new to the startup world. The two UX designers originally connected through church ministry and have worked with startups throughout their journey at the agency level and through Startup Oasis in Atlanta.
Phillips said the two were originally interested in building an app at the intersection of travel and language learning. But as they were working through validating the idea, they leaned more heavily on the travel concept side of the idea. They refined the app’s position after finding early traction in Nigeria, where they found “users strongly favored budgeting tools over inspiration-led discovery.”
Now, Bell knows the travel industry is filled with new apps and legacy tech platforms. But he is ready to help more people discover travel that works for them.
“There are a lot of different travel apps out there. We want to make [travel] fun again,” Bell told Hypepotamus.
“We want traveling to be accessible,” Phillips added. “The world is becoming more connected. People want to explore it. People are coming out of their bubbles…With this, we're hoping that they're able to have easier access, to know where they can go for what price, and be able to open their minds to different experiences and come back home with those stories.”
The app has currently opened its waitlist with plans to launch this coming March, according to the startup’s website.
Quick Facts on GoWandr App
HQ: Atlanta, Georgia
Founded: 2025
Industries: consumer apps, TravelTech
Funding: bootstrapped
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