As a Swiss undergraduate student at Harvard College tutoring economics for pocket money, Nico Simko found himself baffled by the inefficiency of the traditional two-week pay cycle. He was surprised to find that payment arrived via a mailed paper check. Short on cash for weekend activities, he'd often find himself visiting his mailbox two or three times a day, hoping his latest remuneration had arrived. While getting paid was an inconvenience, finding a place to deposit his wages felt like an impossibility. It took months for Simko to receive a social security number and further weeks to open a bank account successfully. Was this the norm? Simko wondered, If it had been this tricky for him as a Harvard economics student, how hard was it for someone without his advantages? Several years later, after working in JPMorgan's payments division on M&A and partnerships, this thought would eventually lead to the genesis of Clair. Founded in 2020 by Nico Simko and Alex Kostecki, Clair made its public debut in 2021 with an industry-leading on-demand pay tool.