Maria Gotsch

So it is really an elite program where we take in between six and eight companies per year.

And I think what is different about this program versus the many other sort of 12-week accelerator or incubator programs out there is this is structured very much as a civic program.

where we have convened sort of uniquely the market for fintech companies that want to engage with large financial institutions.

And the goal of the program is to help reduce the pain and agony of a small emerging technology company trying to get into and get attention from a large financial institution.

Yes, so it's a very inefficient process.

I liken it to right now to get a small technology company into a large corporate, you need a battering ram.

And so we sort of structure or institutionalize the battering ram.

And I guess another way to think about our program is, because it is competitive to get in, it's a shark tank to get in.

But once you're in, it's a dolphin tank.

So we get about 150, 160 applications.

No, the companies are selected by our financial institution partners.

So a company's technology has to rise to the level of addressing a major pain point for a major financial institution.

They select the class and the key value proposition for the companies that get into the program is they get extraordinary access and attention during the 12 weeks from this group of 34 financial institutions.

Uh, not, yes.

I guess the proviso I would say is in some cases, it's not about an acquisition.

It's about using, but I think that this, the fact that we are this nonprofit civic organization is important because that really informs the dynamic.

Uh, so the, so the executives from the financial institutions, and we get very good buy-in at senior levels from,

typically a CTO or a CIO.

They're coming to the table as part of a civic program, partly to help grow the FinTech community in New York City and to create jobs.

And at a macro level, there's clearly disruption happening in financial services.