After two years in debt capital markets, I realized I was automating my own job in spreadsheets. So I decided to automate everyone else’s.
The Spreadsheet Epiphany
Working in investment banking teaches you one thing above all: repetition at scale. Every deal follows a pattern. Every model starts from a template. Every process has a checklist. And I kept thinking — why am I the one running through this checklist?
The more I automated my own workflows with macros and scripts, the more I realized the opportunity wasn’t in running these processes. It was in building the tools that replace them.
From DCM to AI
Debt capital markets gave me a front-row seat to institutional-grade processes. I saw how billion-euro bond transactions get structured, how compliance checks cascade through organizations, and how much human time goes into tasks that follow predictable rules.
That pattern recognition is exactly what modern AI excels at.
What I’m Building Now
Today I build AI automation tools for businesses that haven’t been touched by modern software yet. Hotels still managing bookings via email. Consulting firms writing proposals from scratch every time. Education institutions drowning in RFP responses.
These aren’t sexy Silicon Valley problems. But they’re real, they’re painful, and they’re solvable.
The Leap
Leaving banking wasn’t easy. The path was clear: stay, get promoted, collect bonuses. But the pull of building something was stronger than the comfort of a well-defined career ladder.
If you’re sitting at your desk right now automating your own job, take that as a signal. You might be building the wrong thing for the wrong person.