Netflix and will: Businesswoman, 31, launches company dedicated to young people’s final wishes

A 31-year-old has encouraged young people to “Netflix and will” after launching a company dedicated to drawing up the final wishes of people who die young.

Sophia Maslin, from London, was aiming to continue her career as a barrister after attending law school but in February 2022, her family was shaken after her cousin, who she was close with but did not wish to name, died from an unexpected heart attack aged 32, leaving behind a fiance and a newborn baby.

Seeing her relatives struggle to know whether they were respecting her cousin’s wishes, Sophia began to think about will writing for young people and spotted a gap in the market.

She left her law career in winter 2022 to focus full-time on expanding her business, named Morby, a play on the word “morbid”, which is aimed at people aged 25 to 45 who want to detail their wishes in case of their untimely death.

The CEO and founder of the company said she wanted it to feel “cool, witty and tongue-in-cheek”, and has created slogans and catchphrases to “make people laugh”, such as “Wanna Netflix and will?”, “Plan your exit like a celebrity” and “Time to swipe right on adulting”.

Sophia and her team of six have written their own wills through Morby’s prototypes ahead of an official launch to the public at the end of January, expecting it will begin with a bang as more than 1,000 people are already pre-registered.

“(My cousin) didn’t have a will because a lot of young people don’t think they’re going to die, they don’t think about death,” Sophia told PA Real Life.

“Even if you don’t plan on dying any time soon, wills are not just for something post-death, they’re for peace of mind.

“To get such a positive response to something such as will writing is insane because it’s one of those things in society – same with funerals – that young people don’t want to discuss.”

Sophia said her original aspiration in life was to become a barrister after she studied at BPP Law School in London and was called to the bar in 2021.

She said her family was thrown into “disarray” in February 2022 after the death of her cousin.

“It was really sudden, no one saw it coming and we were close,” Sophia said.

“It was not just the death but the situation it left our whole family in really, it was really stressful.”

During summer 2022, Sophia started looking into the market for will writing in the UK, and in particular, online wills which were appealing for young people.

“I couldn’t find anything that a younger person would see and think ‘I’d love to do this’ or ‘This looks easy’,” she said.

“I felt like it was a bit of a calling moment for me.”

Sophia enlisted a small team to help with the technical side of the business and they began to build Morby from scratch – all while juggling their day jobs.

“It was tough as we were all working around the clock – you’re working before work, at lunch, after work, at weekends,” she said.

“It was purely down to me meeting with people and convincing them of the vision, showing them there is nothing else out there like this and it could be really big.”

Sophia left the dreams of her legal career behind in winter 2022 to focus full-time on the business and in August 2023, she created Morby – a play on the word “morbid” and inspired by the fact she wanted the company to feel light-hearted.

She also wanted the branding and vision of the company to be clear from the outset, using catchy slogans to entice her younger demographic such as “Time to get the final guest list sorted”, “Do it for the drama” and “Because a well-planned estate is the ultimate mic drop”.

“I didn’t want to be talking about the death, I want it to be cool, witty and tongue-in-cheek,” she said.

“I was always worried about being too morbid and being rejected but I always got such great feedback.

“People always asked, ‘Why hasn’t anyone done this before?'”

Sophia posted a video on TikTok explaining how she created Morby which she said was flooded with “validating” comments about people’s personal experiences.

“People were telling their stories like, ‘my brother died last year’ or ‘I’ve just had a baby’ or ‘I’ve just bought a flat’,” Sophia said.

“All of these people in our target demographic were saying they need this or this is something they felt like they should be doing.

“They were saying they’d been scared and overwhelmed by these things but they were glad they had found us.”

To write a will through Morby, Sophia said people must answer a series of “easy” questions about their estate and how they want to divide it, as well as funeral plans and any additional items they may want to leave behind.

“It doesn’t have to be anything big – like if you want your sister to have your iPad or you want your cat to go to your Aunt Polly,” she explained.

Sophia and her team have been “guinea pigs” for the site, writing their own wills before the official launch.

“It was thought-provoking but felt like something I should be doing, it feels good to have it done now,” she said.

Sophia is aiming to create a “digital vault” alongside someone’s online will which would hold an individual’s passwords and documents.

“When someone dies so suddenly, often their partner doesn’t know how to access anything, such as mortgage documents, car documents, even gas providers,” Sophia said.

“It’s another problem I’m hoping to fix further down the line.”