Growing up in Abu Dhabi, I enjoyed physics but became fascinated by capital markets when I experienced the inauguration of the country’s first stock market. The impact it had on the region is hard to overstate and I’ve been in the quest of understanding how markets work ever since. My love for physics led me to study mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, but I dabbled in equity markets throughout college. While engineering was fun, I decided to go in a different direction after graduation. I instead spent time learning about how businesses make capital allocation decisions, which led me to consulting first and then to investment banking.
During my time in those roles, it became clear to me that most businesses were not yet sophisticated when it came to augmenting their instincts with data. The same core issue persisted: the lack of clean integrated data. Of the work I did, the tools that I built to help with data integration had the biggest impact on the economics of the projects I worked on. It became clear to me that there was a massive opportunity in data integration, and that led me to the data integration company Palantir Technologies. At Palantir, I ran the Strategic Finance team where we built a systematic approach in allocating our resources to optimize top line growth, drive the unit economics of the business and quarterback our fundraising. It was an incredible experience, as I was able to tie everything I’d learned about capital allocation and human-computer augmentation together.
After five years at Palantir, I was ready for my next challenge and joined GC, where I’m focused on applying what I’ve learned so far to private capital markets.
On weekends, I can be found playing cricket at one of the baseball fields in San Francisco or lurking on Twitter to find the highest quality pseudonymous accounts.