This term, I am taking a Real Estate Entrepreneurship class. One of the key takeaways from the first session was how starting to save early can significantly impact your financial future. For example, investing a one-time amount of $10,000 in an ETF that tracks the S&P 500, with an average annual return of 8%, could grow to 4x more if you start at age 22 instead of 40—that’s an extra $240,000

Clarification: the post is not about socialism vs capitalism. It’s about choosing the right company to work for, ambition and caring about your employees

So many exciting developments are happening in the world of AI! Yet, caught up in our daily work and studies, we often miss out on learning about these advancements. I've gathered several fascinating resources I recently came across and wanted to share them with you. Take some time to explore these in your free time:

1. How AI is Redefining Drug Discovery - Pfizer’s Chief Scientific Officer explains how AI is accelerating drug discovery, molecular design, and vaccine development. He explains how AI combined with human intelligence (HI), is shrinking development timelines, reducing costs, and unlocking new possibilities in drug design. From Pfizer’s Paxlovid to emerging RNA vaccines, Mikael highlights real-world applications where AI is making an impact. They discuss large quantitative models (LQMs) that go beyond the capabilities of LLMs for deeper impact at scale. Check out this article for more

2. Vertical AI Agents Could Be 10X Bigger Than SaaS - Y Combinator venture capitalists discuss what effect vertical AI agents will have on incumbent SaaS companies, what use cases make the most sense, and how there could be 300 billion dollar companies in this category alone

3. Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI - insightful article by McKinsey about agentic GenAI tools and why they are next big things with discussion of use cases in finance, coding and marketing

4. AI trends for 2025 - look at the 10 biggest AI trends expected to shape the coming year by IBM

5. The Leader’s Guide to Transforming with AI - how firms are finding value in AI and what are the best use cases by BCG

Real-Life Experience While at School

One of the big targets I had coming into my MBA program was to gain real-life consulting experience at Duke. However, last year I decided against it because of feedback I received from second-year students who were dissatisfied with their projects or teams. During the summer, while doing my internship at BCG, I received an email from a project coordinator inviting me to become a manager for Master of Management Studies students over 12 weeks. This time, it felt different.

My internship was full of learning opportunities—owning the project, being responsible for my output and time, communicating with clients and management, becoming more efficient, and managing stress in a high-stakes environment. I was developing as a professional but realized that to progress further, I needed to improve my communication skills, develop people management abilities, trust the people I lead, delegate tasks while owning their outcomes, set up effective timelines, scope projects, negotiate, and keep the team motivated.

The Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) Engagement Manager role focused exactly on these skills. Over the last six weeks, I was paired with another student to work with Fidelity Investments (the 3rd largest asset management firm with over $15 trillion in assets under management) to help them better understand the needs of retirement account holders in the higher education and healthcare sectors. Looking back, I can confidently say we learned a lot—developing project objectives, forming hypotheses, defining day-one answers, setting assumptions, creating work plans for students, and preparing ghost decks, to name a few.

In the next six weeks, I will begin managing two teams with a total of 10 students (half of whom are in student government) to assist with the client project. My key learning objectives now include keeping them motivated, managing up with the client and down with the students, helping students with their analyses, unlearning micromanagement, mentoring, and providing constructive feedback.