At EVOLVE [26], Mathew Prior, CEO of TrustedHousesitters, explored how businesses can build trust into every part of the customer experience. Speaking on the Innovators stage, he shared his “Trust by Design” approach, drawing on his experience leading the UK-founded platform through rapid growth, the disruption of COVID and its expansion into a global community of more than 280,000 members across 180 countries. For Mathew and his team, trust is more than a brand value or marketing message. It shapes product decisions, platform governance, customer communication and company culture. In this interview, Mathew reflects on the role of AI in trust-based communities, and why businesses should start with trust — and build everything else from there.

Which talk/panel did you speak at?

Keynote on the Innovators stage where I talked about Trust By Design.

Can you share a bit about your background?

I’m CEO of TrustedHousesitters, the UK-founded global travel and pet community connecting hosts with sitters in more than 180 countries. Since joining in 2019, I’ve steered the business through the disruption of COVID and led its expansion into a globally recognised community.

The platform has scaled to a community of more than 280,000 members, while keeping trust, safety and member experience at the heart of the business. Today, a sit happens every two minutes around the world, enabling a more sustainable, community-based way to travel.
Prior to TrustedHousesitters, I spent more than two decades leading experiential travel brands at First Choice, TUI and Travelopia, and co-led the sale of Travelopia from TUI to KKR.

What inspired you to speak at EVOLVE [26]?

TrustedHousesitters began in Brighton 16 years ago, so being involved with the local tech community is really important to me. Steve, Grace and the team do a great job at organising an inspiring line-up of speakers and it’s always inspiring to connect with the Brighton scene and see the fantastic work being done within it.

What was the key message or idea you most wanted the audience to take away from your talk?

I unpacked what the TrustedHousesitters trust playbook looks like in practice. How do we embed trust into product decisions, platform governance and customer communication? How do we balance transparency with commercial reality? And how do we scale responsibly without losing the human connection that built your brand?

In a world where consumers expect seamless technology, instant support and constant innovation, trust has become the ultimate differentiator. Yet building it is complex. From navigating pricing changes, to investing in product improvements with a lean team competing against global giants, trust is not a slogan. It is a system.

Were there any audience reactions or questions that really stood out to you?

I had a really great question about advice for other businesses that don’t have the structural advantage of trust being built into the concept, like it is at TrustedHousesitters. I think all businesses need to go a level deeper and explore the whole ecosystem – how do you address the emotional challenge of trust, and thread it through how the company shows up everywhere – it can’t just be words. You have to have trust show up through everything, demonstrate to customers with the way you live it across everything you do

How does the topic you spoke about connect to your current work or passion projects?

My mission is to build purpose-driven, tech-enabled communities that deliver social value. So trust by design is built into everything we do at TrustedHousesitters, and is something I care deeply about. It runs through everything from making technical decisions about the product roadmap, through to the leadership and culture of the company. We genuinely want to enrich as many peoples’ and pets’ lives as possible, and we couldn’t do that without trust being at the core of it all.

What emerging trends or challenges in tech (or your field) are you most excited about right now?

AI is the obvious one, but I’m more interested in what it actually means for us day to day. The opportunity that excites me most is using it to genuinely improve how our members experience the platform. Natural language search is a good example of something that could meaningfully change how people find each other. But we’re a trust-based community, and people need a lot of signals before they trust a brand, so the technology always has to serve that human dynamic. People are, and always will be, at the heart of everything we do. AI isn’t going to change that.

But honestly, the organisational challenge is just as interesting to me. How do you actually structure a team to move fast with these tools? I don’t think enough businesses are asking that question seriously. And they are just that – tools. They’re not a replacement for people, they’re there to help them work better.
We also have to be responsible with our use of AI. Trust is everything to us, it’s the whole business, so we have to be deliberate about where AI shows up and how. It has to earn its place.

Then there’s the energy question. We’re committed to net zero, but we’re scaling fast, and modern AI is energy hungry. I don’t think the industry has fully reckoned with that tension yet, and we’re determined not to look away from it.

What advice would you give to someone looking to make an impact in your area of expertise?

Start with trust and build everything from there

How do you see the future evolving in your industry over the next few years?

The fact that we facilitate person-to-person interactions, together with the life-enriching nature of our product, not to mention the love people have for pets, means that our service is likely to be in increasing demand in the forthcoming years. There’s a broader shift happening too, people are moving away from mass tourism and looking for something more genuine. Living in a real home, in a real neighbourhood, experiencing a place the way locals do rather than as a tourist and that’s what our members already do, and I think that appetite is only going to grow.

What was your favourite part of the EVOLVE experience?

For me, it was the audience’s questions. I’ve done a lot of these events and you can usually tell pretty quickly whether the room is engaged or just being polite and this wasn’t that. The questions went to some interesting places, from whether positive friction works in more competitive markets to what I’d actually say to Airbnb if I had the chance. That kind of challenge keeps you sharp and I came away thinking about a few things differently. Good rooms do that.

What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects, initiatives, or goals you’re excited to share?

We’ve got a really exciting roadmap ahead. A lot of what we’re focused on right now is delivering new features through the app that make the experience better for our members, both the homeowners and the sitters. I can’t give too much away but there’s plenty coming that I think the community will love.

What’s one book, podcast, or resource that’s inpired you recently?

My CEO handbook is Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team. He teaches that team trust requires trust, where team members feel safe enough to admit mistakes, weaknesses, and fears without fear of judgment, creating the foundation for healthy conflict and genuine accountability.

How can people connect with you or follow your work after the event?

You can find me on LinkedIn and follow our TrustedHousesitters corporate LinkedIn channel for news and updates.

Anything else you would like to share with our community?

I love what Evolve is doing and am already looking forward to next year’s event!