Citi Ventures, Citibank’s corporate venture arm, is building startups within the company to incubate new product ideas. D10X, which stands for “Discover 10 Times,” is Citi Ventures’ internal lab to build new solutions for Citi customers.
In this bonus episode of “Fintech Unfiltered,” Executive Editor at Bank Innovation and CEO of Royal Media JJ Hornblass spoke with Rachel Moore, senior vice president of Citi Fintech, and Alex Sion, director and co-head of D10X. Sion oversees the unit while Moore, an internal entrepreneur, leads Out of the Red, an initiative to assist Citi customers with debt management. The discussion was based on an event hosted by Bank Innovation in early January.
Like other startup founders, internal creators must consult with experts and pitch their ideas to internal executives.
“How can we possibly solve [a problem] and help people change the world and have it make sense for Citi?” Moore asked. “You have to convince a growth board, who are senior executives at Citi that there is a need, and you have to pitch just like you would to a VC.”
The event also featured a live Q&A with Sion, who elaborated on how Citi Ventures implements new concepts and ideas and how it sets priorities. “Sometimes I want to build stuff — I don’t want to be a venture investor, but I want to build that thing myself, and that’s where D10X comes in, he said.
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