Field notes on M&A, analytics, AI, and business decisions.
Essays and case notes from my work across deal analytics, technology transformation, AI adoption, and practical decision-making.
Insight Library
Browse practical essays, case studies, and decision notes across deals, data, AI, and business strategy.
21
Articles
8
Topics
Start here
Begin with the most recent note from the library.
Volkswagen Is Shrinking. Its Chinese Partners Are Shopping.
What the biggest restructuring in German industrial history tells us about who holds the leverage now.
Volkswagen wants to cut 100,000 jobs and close four German plants. Its unions just blocked the plan. Meanwhile Xpeng is in talks to buy a VW factory. An M&A read on who really holds the leverage in German industry now.
- Business
21 of 21 articles
AIJuly 9, 20268 min readDid Anthropic Find a Thinking Space Inside Claude?
A careful look at J-space, internal reasoning, and why the real story is not AI consciousness, but AI interpretability.
Anthropic's new paper on J-space does not prove that Claude is conscious. But it may show something more practical: modern language models can develop an internal workspace where intermediate thoughts are represented, inspected, and even redirected.
- AI
- Technical
- Business
AIJuly 8, 202616 min readThe Death of the AI Seat
Why finance teams are moving beyond per-seat AI tools and building model-agnostic workflow orchestration layers.
Per-seat AI pricing made sense for software. It makes less sense for agentic finance workflows. This article explains why CFOs should think beyond AI subscriptions and start building model-agnostic orchestration layers that control data, routing, cost, and enterprise workflows.
- AI
- Case Studies
AIJune 20, 202615 min readWhy ChatGPT Was Not the Beginning of AI
ChatGPT felt like a sudden breakthrough, but it was built on decades of research, failed assumptions, technical progress and changing business needs.
ChatGPT changed how the public experienced artificial intelligence, but the story of AI started much earlier. From Alan Turing to neural networks, transformers and AI agents, this article explains how modern AI became possible and what businesses should learn from it.
- AI
TechnologyJune 17, 20267 min readBeyond Moore's Law: How Huawei's Logic Folding Could Change Chip Design
Huawei's new Logic Folding architecture may offer a path beyond traditional transistor scaling and reshape the future of semiconductor innovation.
For decades, the semiconductor industry advanced by shrinking transistors. Huawei's Logic Folding challenges that model by redesigning chips in three dimensions. If its claims prove true, this approach could extend computing performance and reshape the future of semiconductor design.
- Technology
AIJune 14, 20266 min readBefore Agents: Building My Own GPT Interface
What an early experiment in conversational AI taught me about user experience, trust, and the future of enterprise AI adoption.
Back in 2024, I built a custom GPT chat interface to explore how organizations could bring Large Language Models into experiences they controlled. Looking back, the project taught me that successful AI adoption is about far more than the model itself.
- AI
AIJune 4, 202610 min readFrom Ariba to Optimizely: Switched Industries. The Mission Didn't.
A session recap from DPW New York | Alexander Atzberger, Former President of SAP Ariba · CEO, Optimizely
Alexander Atzberger switched from SAP Ariba to Optimizely. The mission to change how people work never changed. At DPW New York, he delivered six AI lessons that apply equally to procurement and marketing.
- AI
- Business
- Technical
AIJune 4, 20266 min readBuilding Procurement from Scratch Inside a Global Enterprise
A session recap from DPW New York | Shaw Ling, Global Head of Procurement & Third-Party Relationship Management, KKR · Moderated by Chris Sawchuk, The Hackett Group
KKR had 9,000 vendors, billions in unmanaged spend, and no sourcing function. Shaw Ling walked in as a team of one. What she built in three years is one of the more instructive stories in enterprise procurement.
- AI
- Business
- Case Studies
AnalyticsJune 4, 20267 min readHumans, Agents, and the AI-Native Team
A session recap from DPW New York | Mike Tsoi, Electronic Arts · Ann Fleishell, OpenAI · Moderated by Chris Sawchuk, The Hackett Group
OpenAI's VP of Procurement and EA's technology sourcing lead don't theorise about AI-native teams, they run them. Their DPW New York session is the most grounded account of what that actually looks like.
- Analytics
- Business
- Technical
Case StudiesJune 4, 20266 min readBeyond Pilots: What It Really Takes to Scale AI in Procurement
A session recap from DPW New York | John Adjami · Tracy Avelar · Aditya Ramani · Moderated by Andrew Bartolini, Ardent Partners
Every procurement team has a pilot that worked. Far fewer have an AI programme that scaled. At DPW New York, leaders from Meta, MilliporeSigma, and PG&E unpacked the real barriers and none of them were technical.
- Case Studies
- AI
- M&A
AIJune 4, 20265 min readHow Anthropic Is Building Procurement With Claude - And What It Signals for Every Enterprise
Inside the real-world AI agent architecture that freed a procurement team to do higher-value work
Anthropic's Head of Procurement took the DPW New York stage not with an AI vision deck, but with working agents, hard-won lessons, and one line that every enterprise builder needs to hear: don't optimise for perfect, optimise for starting.
- AI
Personal / OtherFebruary 24, 20263 min readThe King Wanted Gold. Today's Leaders Want AI.
Why the greatest risk in AI transformation is believing in modern alchemists who promise magic instead of building real capabilities.
Three hundred years ago, a king chased the dream of turning lead into gold. Today, many organizations pursue AI with similar expectations. The technology is real, but transformation isn't magic. Success comes from data, talent, execution, and disciplined leadership not hype.
- Personal / Other
- AI
AIJanuary 6, 20263 min readThe Future of AI is Offline: Why I Ran Llama 3.2 Locally on My Android Phone
How Edge AI and open-source models are turning smartphones into completely private, cloud-independent powerhouses.
Think ChatGPT requires a massive data center? Think again. Here is how I successfully deployed Meta’s Llama 3.2 (3B) model directly onto my Android device—unlocking absolute data privacy, zero latency, and true offline intelligence without sharing a single byte of data with the cloud.
- AI
AIJune 6, 20255 min readUber for Legal Services: An AI-Powered Platform to Revolutionize Legal Access
How the Uber model combined with artificial intelligence can create an on‑demand lawyer marketplace, making justice more accessible and efficient.
A conceptual AI-driven legal platform: clients submit cases, AI provides solutions, and lawyers bid. Choose the best lawyer by rating and price.
- AI
AIJanuary 6, 202512 min readAI-Enabled Motor Claim Validation
How We Built a Computer Vision Fraud Detection System for Motor Insurance - Before Generative AI Made It Easy
In 2019, before multimodal AI existed, we built a computer vision system to validate motor insurance claims — detecting part-level damage, flagging geo-location fraud, and automating adjuster workflows from 10,000 hand-labelled photos.
- AI
- Case Studies
- Business
Case StudiesAugust 15, 202410 min readThe Rise and Fall of the AOL-Time Warner Merger
Lessons from a $165 Billion Disaster
In January 2000, AOL and Time Warner announced a $165 billion merger meant to redefine media and technology. Less than a decade later, it became one of the most significant corporate failures in history.
- Case Studies
- Business
- M&A
AnalyticsJanuary 5, 20246 min readNavigating the Programming Landscape
A Comprehensive Guide to the Best Languages to Master in 2024
In 2024, programmer demand is at an all-time high. Choosing the right language to master is crucial for career success. This guide explores the top programming languages, analyzing industry trends, job markets, and relevance to help you stay ahead.
- Analytics
- Technical
- Business
Personal / OtherJanuary 4, 20245 min readIndian Railways in 2023
An In-Depth Analysis of Progress and Challenges
In 2023, Indian Railways faces transformation and trials. This article explores its finances, operations, tech strides, and challenges ahead.
- Personal / Other
BusinessFebruary 5, 202310 min readFinancial Ratios Explained: An Engineer's Mindset (Part 1)
Demystifying balance sheets, P&L statements, and financial health using systems thinking and mathematical logic.
Learn the fundamentals of corporate finance through the lens of an engineer. We break down the math, logic, and systems behind balance sheets, P&L statements, and financial ratios.
- Business
TechnicalFebruary 2, 20235 min readWhat is Inflation? Types, Stages, and Real-World Examples
A comprehensive guide to understanding inflation, the CPI formula, and how different economic stages impact the global market.
What exactly is inflation? Explore the textbook definition, CPI calculation, types of inflation, and real-world country examples from creeping to hyperinflation.
- Technical
AnalyticsApril 17, 20176 min readThe Simplest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics and Why I Visualized It
A number you've probably never heard of has stumped the world's best mathematicians for nearly a century. Here's why that's fascinating, and what it looks like when you let the data speak.
Pick any number. Divide it by 2 if even, multiply by 3 and add 1 if odd. Repeat. You always reach 1. No one knows why. The Collatz Conjecture is math's simplest unsolved problem. Here's what it looks like when you visualize it.
- Analytics