Calm is Contagious: WonderDays CEO Matt Jones on Managing Risk from the Skies to the Boardroom

An interview with Matt Jones

Few CEOs can say their decision-making framework was forged two thousand feet above the ground, where a shift in wind speed isn’t just a metric, it’s a critical safety variable. Matt Jones, the founder of WonderDays gift experiences, and former Managing Director of the UK’s largest hot air balloon ride company, has built a career in environments where risk is both constant and unavoidable.

Eschewing typical boardroom theories, Matt’s perspective on resilience and growth has been shaped by the real-world demands of aviation, from navigating strict safety regulations to steering a business through the unprecedented turbulence of a global pandemic. In this interview, he moves beyond the standard entrepreneurial clichés to offer a practical masterclass in assessing real versus perceived risk, making confident decisions in fast-changing environments, and building the operational safety nets essential for scaling a successful business.

Matt Jones was MD of the UK's largest hot air balloon flight company

You’ve transitioned from managing the UK’s largest hot air balloon firm to founding WonderDays. In the ballooning world, a wrong call on risk has immediate physical consequences. How did that life-or-death pressure calibrate your internal risk-o-meter for the corporate world?

Running a balloon company teaches you very quickly that risk isn’t theoretical. If you make the wrong decision, there are real consequences attached to it and that changes how you think as a leader. You stop chasing excitement and start respecting responsibility.

One thing ballooning taught me is that confidence should come from preparation, not ego. The best pilots aren’t the ones taking chances, they’re the ones constantly assessing conditions, thinking ahead and knowing when not to fly.

I’ve carried that into business. Whether it’s partnerships, hiring, investment or scaling, I’ve always tried to remove emotion from decision making and focus on judgement, process and long term thinking.

Ironically, operating in a high risk environment actually made me calmer in business because you learn very quickly that panic is rarely useful.

In your experience, entrepreneurs often lose sleep over things that don't actually matter. Based on your time in the air, how do you teach your team to distinguish between a real risk and a perceived risk?

In ballooning, fear and risk are two very different things. A nervous passenger isn’t necessarily a dangerous situation. Equally, a calm morning can still produce unsafe flying conditions later on.

I think business is very similar. Founders often spend energy worrying about perception-based risks like competitors, opinions or short term noise, while ignoring the operational issues that genuinely matter.

I try to encourage our team to focus on consequences and controllability.

Can this actually damage the business?Can we influence it?What happens if we ignore it?

That usually creates clarity quite quickly. Real risk tends to sit quietly in systems, processes and decision making whereas perceived risk is usually louder and more emotional.

In a balloon, weather conditions can change in minutes. What is your framework for making a definitive Go/No-Go decision when you have incomplete data but a fast-changing environment?

You never get perfect information in ballooning, and you rarely do in business either. What you learn is how to make good decisions with incomplete data.

For me, the framework has always been: experience, information and consequence.

What does the data say?What does experience tell me?And what’s the downside if I’m wrong?

In aviation, if the downside is too severe, you don’t proceed.

In business, I think people sometimes forget to assess the cost of being wrong because they become too focused on the upside. Sometimes the smartest decision is delaying a decision until conditions improve and that’s not weakness. That’s judgement.

There is a natural tension between keeping customers happy and keeping them safe. How do you handle the commercial pressure to deliver an experience when your gut and your data tell you the conditions aren't right?

This is probably one of the hardest parts of running an experience business.

Customers are excited, teams are prepared and financially, you want to operate. But safety has to override emotion every single time.

One thing I learned early is that short term commercial pressure can never dictate long term decision making. If you compromise standards once, it becomes easier to justify it again.

Customers may be disappointed by a cancellation, but they will never criticise you for prioritising safety if you communicate honestly and professionally.

I’ve always believed trust is built more during difficult moments than easy ones.

We often hear the cliché “no risk, no reward.” Why do you think that phrase is an oversimplification?

Because unmanaged risk isn’t brave, it’s reckless.

The best businesses I’ve seen are not built by people taking random chances. They’re built by people who understand risk deeply enough to control it.

I think a better phrase is: “Understand the downside before chasing the upside.”

That doesn’t mean avoiding ambitious decisions. It means making sure the business can survive them if things don’t go to plan. Good founders take calculated risks whereas bad founders gamble and there’s a huge difference.

The pandemic was the ultimate unpredictable condition. How did your background in aviation logistics and safety protocols help you pivot WonderDays during that time?

The pandemic forced every business to adapt quickly, but operating in ballooning had already conditioned me to think in contingency plans.

In aviation, you’re constantly asking: “What happens if conditions change?” and that mindset became incredibly valuable during COVID.

We focused heavily on communication, flexibility and protecting customer trust. We also leaned heavily into systems and technology because uncertainty creates operational pressure very quickly if your foundations aren’t strong.

I think one of the biggest lessons from that period was understanding that resilience isn’t about avoiding disruption, it’s about being able to absorb it without losing direction.

Matt Jones has made a career out of providing bucket list experiences for consumers

Resilience isn't just a mindset; it’s a process. What are the emergency parachutes or safety nets you build into a business?

For me, resilience comes from structure.

Strong systems.Clear communication.Financial awareness.Good people.Reliable partnerships.

A lot of businesses grow quickly but don’t build operational resilience underneath that growth.

In ballooning, redundancy is important. You always have backup thinking built into the operation and I think businesses should operate similarly. You should never have a single point of failure whether that’s one supplier, one person, one traffic source or one major customer.

The businesses that survive difficult periods are usually the ones that prepared before things went wrong.

Scaling a business is like gaining altitude. How has your approach to risk evolved as WonderDays has grown?

Early stage risk is often survival risk whereas later stage risk becomes complexity risk.

As WonderDays has grown, the challenge hasn’t been necessarily making bold decisions, it’s maintaining clarity while the business becomes more operationally complex.

You also realise that growth amplifies weaknesses. Small inefficiencies that don’t matter at startup level become expensive problems at scale.

So, my approach now is much more focused on sustainability, process and long term infrastructure rather than chasing fast wins.

You can’t be in every basket as you scale. How do you instil an understanding of risk in your managers?

I try to encourage ownership rather than fear as good judgement comes from understanding why decisions matter, not just following rules.

We spend a lot of time discussing consequences, customer impact and long term thinking internally because I want managers to think commercially and operationally at the same time.

I also think consistency matters. Teams take cues from leadership behaviour so if leaders panic, overreact or make emotional decisions, that spreads very quickly.

On the same vein, calm decision making is contagious too.

Looking back at your career, what is the one thing running a balloon company taught you about business risk that you couldn't have learned in a boardroom or an MBA program?

That risk is rarely dramatic when you’re experienced! More often than not, it comes down to small decisions, judgement calls and knowing when conditions aren’t quite right.

In ballooning, you learn very quickly that confidence alone means nothing if the environment doesn’t support the outcome. You can have the best plans in the world, but if you ignore the warning signs or force a situation, things can unravel fast.

That perspective has shaped the way I approach business. You can’t control every external factor, but you can control preparation, decision-making, and how willing you are to adapt when circumstances change.

WonderDays CEO Matt Jones

Matt Jones is the CEO of WonderDays,  the UK’s leading experience day company. A strategic entrepreneur and growth-focused leader, Matt has a proven track record of scaling businesses, identifying market opportunities, and building high-performing teams. With foundations in import and export, Matt developed a strong understanding of supply and demand dynamics, shaping his commercially driven approach to business. Known for combining strategic vision with practical execution, Matt is passionate about innovation, customer experience and sustainable growth, consistently turning challenges into opportunities and driving long term success.