UGA Students Turned A Class Project Into NIL FinTech Startup

Editor's Note: This article was written and submitted by Wilson Harmond. Harmond is a payments strategist and fintech writer. In his newsletter, Financial Rewinds, Wilson mines fintech history to find lessons and insights for today's leaders and operators. A CFA charterholder and Georgia Tech engineering alumnus, he built his payments background at FIS/TSYS, Truist, and Flywire. Wilson strips the jargon from the fintech industry to answer first-principles questions like "What is a payment?" and "Who actually wants to pay faster?"

ATHENS, GEORGIA, September 1 (Hypepotamus) - A group of hopeful entrepreneurs stands in front of a panel of industry executives. After hearing the pitch, an executive from The Clearing House leans over to the host and whispers, “this one’s got teeth. They should run with it.” 

But this isn’t an accelerator or Silicon Valley boardroom. This was a group of students presenting their idea, Purpose Payment, in Professor Bob Trotter’s “Principle of Fintech” class at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. 

The idea started when a professor and an athletic director walked into a bar.

Trotter explains he was sitting at the Hotel Indigo bar in Downtown Athens when the bartender offered a special bottle of Kirby. The man sitting next to Trotter explained that “Kirby” was a promotional bottle that routed a portion of each sale back to Glory, Glory, UGA’s NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) collective to support Georgia athletes. The man was Steven Farmer, Chief Revenue Officer for UGA’s Classic City Collective.

Trotter had a counter proposal: downtown restaurants, bars, and coffee shops could save money by using cheaper payment methods and pass part of the savings to the NIL program. He sketched the idea on a napkin there at the bar and took it back to the classroom.

In the Spring of 2025, a group of students engineered Trotter’s napkin sketch into what they called “Fansourcing.” Fans link their bank accounts to the Purpose Payment app and use it to shop in Athens, bypassing expensive credit card interchange in exchange for a 1.5% fee. Purpose Payment then passes 1% of every transaction to Glory, Glory. 

The idea of low-cost “pay by bank” has been tried before, however it has just as often failed. This is due to low adoption, unclear chargeback processes, and payer preferences for rewards.

The team at Purpose Payment believes that exclusive perks are the answer. 

Users earn points with every purchase made through the Purpose Payment platform. On top of the 1% contribution to Glory, Glory, users earn in-app points. These points can then be redeemed for discounts, UGA merchandise, and exclusive experiences with athletes.

The students presented their idea in Trotter’s Shark Tank competition where it received more than just an ‘A’. They incorporated over the summer and launched a pilot with Jittery Joes in Fall 2025. The coffee shop has seen a reduction in processing costs over the pilot.

Two students, CFO Andrew Charlton and CTO Linzey Nguyen, have stayed on full-time to help grow Purpose Payment alongside Trotter. “I chose to stay because I wanted to continue seeing where the company could go,” explains Nguyen. “I truly believe in our vision, and I am excited to see what we can accomplish.” 

Purpose Payments has signed three major Athens merchants since launching. The team just wrapped up a busy summer which featured an appearance in the Fintech South Innovation Challenge. “We’ve plan to expand into Tuscaloosa and Starkville in 2028 using the same model,” say Nguyen. Trotter explains that expansion will come through a partnership with Ralley Town, a media company that connects fans and NIL programs.

Charlton and Nguyen said they will likely return to Trotter’s class. Only this time, it will be as employers in search of good ideas and talented students.