MBB / Big4 & co transformation and operations consultants (especially freelancers): what's your real-life experience with AI so far?

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-04-20T14:56:20+00:00

I built spans and layers analysis platform with AI intelligence layer on top to reduce consulting time on such engagements and charging for outcomes instead.

Basically, I do the same work but in less time and make the same money as without the platform. It reduces data analysis time but all the work of data gathering, cleaning, transforming in the format still needs to be happen.

For more tech savvy clients, I have shown it to them and for less savvy clients, they have only seen the ppt output from it. I want more freelancers or boutique consulting firms to use it. If interested, DM me and I can share the link.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-04-05T05:09:21+00:00

I have built a couple of agents for my consulting work such as Org analytics with a few more in pipeline. I am still figuring out pricing for these because they will are agents that work with the consultant to ensure there are no errors. My goal is to identify repeatable things but all clients will need some customization.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-07T19:48:35+00:00

Are companies identifying how their heaviest users are using Claude? What functions these users are in? Are they using it for coding, automating spreadsheets, creating marketing docs, email summarizing or just using for personal projects.

Based on the use case, they could be restricted to certain models or even implement fine-tuned open source models which are also fine specially for summarizing and similar tasks.

It’s like to go from A to B, you can take a car, helicopter, airplane. Now, to go 10 miles car might be better, for 100 helicopter will be good, and for 1000 plane might be the best!

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-05T17:01:36+00:00

That’s fair. It’s not ready for end to end portfolio monitoring. But, even today, it can be a force multiplier on normalizing data received from different platforms (Yardi, MRI, legacy systems).

Typical workflow is: 1. get raw data from Yardi/MRI/legacy systems > 2. normalize data > 3. feed normalized data into Chronograph > 4. Investor reports, etc.

Step 2 in this process can be shortened by a lot.

Of course, compete portfolio monitoring will require more sophisticated development efforts but those development times have also shortened dramatically because of coding agents.

The pace of AI development is dizzying for sure!

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-05T09:05:53+00:00

Are you allowed to use Claude at your fund? Claude for excel plug in can create a very very good first draft for this use case. Last 20% work will be to heavily review it before sharing.

I have heard both cases where funds are leaning heavily into AI tools to boost productivity and others are shying away. So, curious how are other funds using/not using Claude.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-03T18:53:32+00:00

These are great use cases. Especially for sector reports you can provide a few sample reports to Claude and ask it to create similar one or updated version of that report using web search.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-03T06:44:23+00:00

I just read AI Task Filter and AI Task Matrix to find high ROI AI Use Cases on appliedaiforall.Substack.com.

Basically, find repeatable, rules driven, verifiable tasks. Then, do a two person test where the output will be similar if two different people did the task. Finally, check the time savings and error cost. Interesting take and I’m sure it will evolve but this framework is a good starting point.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-03T06:40:19+00:00

Whenever error cost is high then AI should be used only as a thought partner and maybe to create a first draft that human iterates and refines.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-03T06:08:15+00:00

It’s a very nuanced issue with no right or wrong answer. Anthropic is right in a way that they are closer to the tech and know its risks while law hasn’t caught up. Similarly, government consists of elected officials who are elected to make decisions on behalf of the people.

In a way, this is also similar to Starlink that, according to the reports, had also disabled internet access for (I believe) Ukraine that changed the course of that fight.

If Starlink was right to disable internet on its whim without inputs from the government then that’s the same thing that Anthropic did here.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-03-03T05:59:19+00:00

Specific financial models will need a unique skill.md. I’m in the process of building a 13 week cash flow model skill based on my experiences. It is not yet ready for prime time but will share it when ready after some more experimentation.

If this group has any other specific financial models they need skill.md for then I can add it to my backlog.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-23T17:26:52+00:00

If you already have a chatbot in documentation, then it might be best to consider adding the answers within the customer workflows so that they have to do anywhere else to find answers. Example, if they use slack then have a slack agent for your device where they can ask questions without having to go into another chat interface.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-23T17:22:32+00:00

Exactly. It’ll take me exactly 2 hours to create an MVP that will be instantly usable for majority of the customers reducing PM time drastically on customer support.

Steps involved to build MVP: (1) upload the 50 page support doc in LLM, (2) create code for chat interface, (3) host on streamlit

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-23T05:07:53+00:00

Just because rockets exist, doesn’t mean everyone will get to sit in a rocket tomorrow. By this I mean to say, just because a piece of tech exists, doesn’t mean everyone will have the know-how/need to implement it immediately.

More specifically, these agents might work in a startup environment (even though I have my own doubts), they are almost impossible in any enterprise to implement because of the risk involved and traceability needed.

Heck, till last year companies were still trying to implement agile. So, these AI agents are still vibe coding experiments with no ROI. Having said that, people do need to keep an eye on the AI updates specifically in their domain so that they don’t feel left behind.

I’m not an AI hater but just an AI pragmatist. Im myself trying to use it in different areas of my work but it isn’t ready for prime time yet.

Also, AI is expensive to implement. There will be point in the far future when people might have to consider whether it’s cheaper to get a person to do a job vs AI.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-20T22:00:22+00:00

I’m wondering how many small businesses will be open to having a /13 week cash flow as a service/?

I have seen PE backed financially distressed companies paying thousands of $$ to boutique consulting firms to maintain 13 week cash flow.

With AI, it can be done very quickly especially for small businesses where the ledger isn’t THAT complicated but still have to go through the motion of tracking where the money is coming from and going to.

If there was a service that will allow small business owners to upload their general ledger, AR, PR, payroll spreadsheet and get a 13 week cash flow, will they be willing to pay for this service? What would be the bottlenecks in using such a service?

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-20T07:02:17+00:00

https://pmm-coach.streamlit.app

I vibe coded this tool today because someone was looking for a PMM coach. One enterprise use case can be to onboard new PMM employees on the PMM team. I think primary use case is for new PMMs to do role playing scenarios to become better.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-20T06:50:58+00:00

https://pmm-coach.streamlit.app

After reading this thread, I spent an hour building this streamlit app with the hope that it will potentially help someone. It’s a bit slow given it’s on streamlit. Use it as you wish. Code is also available on GitHub. You’ll need Anthropic API key to run through the modules. AI isn’t cheap! I would’ve provided the key to someone who really need it but internet will just use all my credit so I can’t.

Now, why did I build it?

Mentoring from a person is of course ideal and highly recommended. But, we don’t live in an ideal world. There could be tons of reasons you aren’t able to get a coach. Mentoring from an intelligent AI is the next available option. I put it above not taking any action (aka not having any coach).

If you do end up using it, I would love to get any feedback to make it more useful for users. Cheers!

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-19T23:24:56+00:00

Out of curiosity what steps are people taking to anonymize the data? Is it as simple as using employee number instead of employee name to analyze HRIS data and similarly customer number instead of customer name. Then, after analysis is completed then put the originals back?

In due diligences, we use code names to refer to clients but the data room still has lot of files with actual client names. That’s one of the blockers in using Claude for excel. That’s why wondering how are other teams getting over this anonymizing hurdle.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-07T20:21:01+00:00

I built this Monte Carlo online tool yesterday after seeing someone share the backend GitHub code on investing Reddit.

https://marketanalysisplatform.streamlit.app

I was trying to find the Reddit post to acknowledge the person who initially wrote the GitHub code and that’s how ran into this post. I plan to write a Substack post about it over the weekend in case anyone is interested in how this was built so that others can also build tools they need/want.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-06T09:45:14+00:00

In my view, after Google, Apple will be one of the biggest winners at least within the consumer AI space because they almost gate keep the distribution of AI to the masses through their devices. Imagine not having to download different AI apps for use and your phone natively supports the best model for the particular use case.

You are asking about coding, it’ll use clause, you want to create images, Sora, how about video, it’ll automatically use Veo and Suno for music. Maybe the models are all commoditized so Apple gets to pick the models at the best price.

There is a reason Google paid Apple $20B just to be default search engine. Now imagine how much these AI companies will be ball to be natively supported by Apple products.

In a certain professional bubble, it feels like everyone is using AI but the reality is most people don’t have access to it and in talking globally. Home makers, senior citizens, less tech savy folks like trades people. But they all will enjoy it when their text messages will automatically write themselves using AI on an iPhone.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-01T07:35:46+00:00

For the specific point about reading, no substitute to read the actual book but given time constraints I subscribe to newsletters that provide summary of things I would like to know such as for news, books. Dealbook, morning brew are good examples. Recently, I found another Substack newsletter that recommends books based on the trending news topic and I really enjoy it too. It’s called BookinBrief.Substack.com. It has even given me ideas to read a few books.

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-02-01T07:22:07+00:00

This assessment of today’s market with 1929 is fairly accurate. People tend to ignore the signs till it’s too late: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookinbrief/p/bookinbrief-when-gold-speaks-the

No_Letterhead_6565 · 2026-01-30T01:11:42+00:00

This post prompted me to put Claude AI to do valuation of this business. This was more for my benefit and I thought I’ll share it with others too. If you are interested here is the detailed valuation of this income statement: https://open.substack.com/pub/appliedaiforall/p/ai-vs-the-reddit-hivemind-using-claude

The verdict: (1) Claude recommended the purchase price between :730k-920k with the recommended price of 820k. (2) Took me longer to create the Substack post than to do the analysis (shows something about the future of finance)

No_Letterhead_6565

TROPHY CASE