We believe creators belong at the center of the product purchasing journey.

Our technology empowers creators to recommend products they love and offers consumers a seamless shopping experience that integrates with existing brand operations.

Our Story

Wayward was born out of a simple idea - product discovery and the purchase journey are broken.

We began deeply exploring this problem in 2022 and realized that common modes of shopping lack the trust that shoppers need to make purchase decisions. That’s why we’ve dedicated ourselves to developing technology that celebrates creators by giving them a platform to recommend products that they genuinely love.

Previous solutions like today’s antiquated affiliate shopping model have simply thrown shoppers over the wall to brands in a way that feels disjointed, high friction, and leaves behind the trusted creator that drove the initial interest and purchase intent for the user.

We’ve created a shopping experience that helps users find and purchase products they love, through creators that they trust, that plugs into how brands already operate today.

Wayward is an Artica company.

Artica is building the next generation of commerce and content products - for brands, creators, and consumers alike.

Our leadership team

We're on a mission to change how brands, creators, and consumers do commerce.

Ali Decker Marino

CEO

Ali leads strategy, operations and partnerships at Wayward and is committed to innovation that leads to reduced friction in the creator economy. Prior to Wayward, Ali was an Investment Banker at FT Partners where she executed M&A transactions worth $30B+. She also spent several years in Finance and Operations at GE Capital.

Marcus Heijer

Product

Marcus is laser-focused on reimagining the consumer and brand experiences across the entire purchase journey, from product development to launch. Prior to joining Wayward, Marcus worked as a program manager on the Azure UX team, where he was instrumental in driving improvements to the Azure Portal.

Shivam Singhal

Engineering

Shivam leads our engineering organization focused on finding innovative solutions for our customers while leveraging the latest in technology and AI. Shivam has grown organizations as a CTO and has been on the cutting edge of technology for years, as proven by his time as a machine intelligence engineer at Virgin HyperLoop.

Jake Coburn

Growth

Jake leads the Brand Growth team, focused on cultivating Wayward’s strategic partnerships with Brands and enhancing the product to better serve their needs. Prior to joining Wayward, Jake played a pivotal role in driving demand growth for prominent global marketplaces across various sectors, including impact.com, Assurance IQ, and Rover.com.

Etan Shapiro

Design

Etan leads design at Wayward. Prior he was the founding designer at Assurance IQ (acquired for $2.35B). He’s designed digital products across domains including: e-commerce, publishing, SaaS, ad-tech, finance, and marketplaces for startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Mackenzie Clemens

Customer Success

Mackenzie is dedicated to ensuring our Brands achieve their goals, overseeing all facets of customer success, and providing cross-team support for various projects. Before joining Wayward, Mackenzie gained experience working in startups within academia, real estate, and finance, and was involved in notable projects with T-Mobile.

John Lorge

Board Member

John has spent his career building world class B2C & B2B2C businesses as an executive, entrepreneur, and investor. As Wayward began to scale, he wanted to get more hands on with the business, growing the internal media & marketplace functions in addition to Board Member responsibilities. Being an expert marketer has allowed John to succeed across industries including insurance, mortgage, mobile apps, home services, e-comm, and automotive.