As Rainmaking’s innovation partner the Think Creative team was asked to lead the co-creation projects at Barclays’ Fintech Venture Studio. Over the course of two years we led co-creation projects between startups and different business units at the bank, from embedded credit to cross border transactions.Every project began with defining a clear problem statement with the sponsoring business unit, followed by a quick assessment of the size of the opportunity, and an internal feasibility sanity check. We then began scouting for a startup to partner with for each segment. We cast a wide net to identify startups in different fields connected to the problem at hand. We typically started with 400 candidates and through desktop research and interviews narrowed the list down to four or five candidates. For “selection day” we would invite the finalists along with key Barclays stakeholders to further refine the candidates. After selecting a few, we continued working with them and with the business units to formulate a joint value delivery model. Assignments for different roles were made and the “rules of engagement”and expected outcomes from the partnership were established. Market tests were formulated and executed to validate key assumptions and the design of pilots were completed.