Flywire: Early challenges for a future unicorn (A)

Mike Massaro was driving home to watch a soccer game with his sons, hoping to beat Boston's rush hour traffic. He was the Vice President of Business Development of peerTransfer, an international payments startup he had joined just one year ago. While waiting at a traffic light, he couldn't stop his mind from wandering to the news he had just received. Iker Marcaide, the founder and CEO of the company, was stepping down after four years of leading the startup and he had recommended Massaro as the new CEO. The case present the history of peerTransfer (later Flywire) a payments startup focusing on the education segment, offering international students a safe and fully traceable way to pay for their tuition, while avoiding excessive banking fees. However, by the time Mike Massaro was offered the CEO position, the startup was still struggling to show that its business model was viable. Should Mike accept the proposal? And if he did, what should be his priorities?