In this series, we sit down with our portfolio and program founders to get to know them better. What are they building? What motivates them? What do they love about New York City? This week, we're chatting with Noetica CEO Dan Wertman, a founder in our spring 2023 Grand Central Tech cohort.
1. Describe what you’re building in 10 words or fewer.
AI-powered software for benchmarking corporate debt transactions
2. Let’s assume your company achieves your current, fullest ambitions for it — what about your industry and the world do you hope changes as a result?
We built Noetica to start bringing corporate debt markets into the 21st century. These are some of the largest, most impactful markets in the world, and yet most people don’t appreciate that they are incredibly opaque and mind-bogglingly archaic. At Noetica, we’re bringing greater transparency to these markets through AI-powered tools that can assess terms, benchmark deals and democratize data access for all market players.
3. What’s your bagel order?
I keep it classic: sesame bagel, plain cream cheese & lox—bonus points if from Ess-a-Bagel.
4. What do you love about New York City, and what makes it a good place to launch a business?
IMHO, NYC has the best food on the planet—from random “holes in the wall” to places with Michelin stars, you can find any type of food you want at any time of day—and if it’s still in business, it’s a good bet it’ll be delicious.
The broad diversity of the NYC economy makes it the perfect place to launch a business. It’s not just that the startup community in NYC is extremely tight-knit and unique (I’ve felt genuinely welcomed by all of the founders / investors I’ve met and the community is eager to teach, connect and help), but it’s also that access to other industry hubs (media, finance, law, hospitality, sports) are right down the block. Equally important, NYC attracts some of the best and brightest talent to its city limits through its universities and employment opportunities—making it the perfect place to meet and connect with future leaders at our organization.
5. What’s your favorite ‘secret’ about New York?
Greenacre Park. Sit there for 5 min and you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to the middle of the mountains.
6. What do you think is the single biggest innovation we'll see within our lifetimes?
AI, hands down. AI is changing all facets of life: it’s as transformational as the internet in the 1990s, the smart-phone in the 2000s and social media in the 2010s. And, maybe the most exciting part, is that we can’t even conceive of all the applications that will be built, or advances that will be achieved, through this new medium.
7. What’s your favorite movie or TV show that takes place in New York City?
The Spiderman movies—but I’ve got a lot of close seconds.
8. What motto do you live by?
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
9. What’s one app on your homescreen that you can’t live without?
Photos. So much so, that people have been known to catch me randomly smiling at my phone looking at the latest pictures of my 2 daughters from time to time.