Built spreadsheet models and ran the half mile as a teen. Running was my first love. Lotus 123 was my second. Excel and IBM killed a great product. Sometimes selling out to the elephant in the room is not the smartest move in the playbook.
A product focused personal history? Neural networks and microcode simulators in C, on AIX, '91. dBase Clipper '92. Back office systems '93. Delphi '95. Ed Tech '99. B2B Exchanges '00. Online Annuities '01. Treasury '03. Risk tech '04. Wiped out '08. Wiped out redux '12. Content play '13. Exit '14. Earnout '16. Empty Nester '22. Professor of Practice '23.
If at first you don't succeed, blow up again. Hooked up with startups at 27. Now write, mentor, teach and experiment with fastest ways of losing obscene amounts of cash without gambling, banking, trading, alcohol or wheels.
Credentials. Fellow Society of Actuaries, (SoA, Schaumburg, IL). MBA, Columbia Business School. FAST NUCES, Karachi, Class of 1992.
Bragging rights. 1) From a wheelchair to two half marathons in 37 months at age 46. 2) 6 books, 4 continents, 1 cross border exit.
Two text books on risk published by Palgrave Macmillan (Models at Work, Options Greeks Primer). An accidental pitch from the days when LinkedIn groups were worth hanging around. See books in profile.
Self published Reboot, Portfolio Optimization Models in Excel and Founder Puzzles. There are pluses and minuses to both (credentialed publisher vs self publishing). The money is better with self publishing. The prestige higher with a tier one publisher.
I now teach computational finance, tech product development, innovation and freshmen CS at IBA School of Math and Computer Science in Karachi. Many ways of giving back. I settled on teaching after 3 decades of traveling the world for work and teaching as an adjunct.
After 29 years exploring airplanes, airports, systems, clients and new cities in strange lands, realized that just like the Alchemist, what I had been looking for was right where I had started from.
Still consult on engagements on the side for clients that I like and want to work for. Alchemy is alive. Smaller, lower profile, selective footprint. Two pieces on medium that review my teaching philosophy. Open doors on the value and purpose of an education. The world doesn't owe you a B+, on chasing grade point averages and my approach to grading students in my class room.
Favorite Quotes. a) Behind every successful man is a penny less wife. b) Feedback is a gift. c) Give it the commitment it deserves. d) Every dream has a price.
New book alert.
Craft, the art of building products for the real world is my latest book on product development and design. I wrote it on request for students in my product dev class. A road map for the product world. The digital edition is live, print will be out in Feb '25. Drop me a line if you would be interested in pre-booking a hard copy.
