Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah became friends as Harvard freshmen, sharing interests like poker.
They never imagined working together in gambling, but they are now co-founders of Novig,
a sports betting market that will operate in Colorado in October and received $6.4 million in venture funding.
Fortinsky worked in legal research and investment banking while studying philosophy,
political science, and economics. He took the LSAT and wanted to study law or get a PhD.
While COVID-19 was going on, Ukah, a physics and math double major, took a year off from school to serve as a fellow at CERN,
the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Additionally, he completed an internship at renowned quantitative trading firm Jane Street.
He was considering switching careers from Wall Street trader to physics professor and researcher.