Show Notes
Most conversations about AI in finance stop at "we use AI." This one goes deeper.
Aidan McConnell started as a data science intern at Sezzle in 2019, worked his way up to Head of AI/ML, then left to build QuantLink AI — a vertically integrated data and analytics platform for investors. Think premium market data, quant workflows, and institutional-grade charts, made accessible enough that a first-time investor can actually use them.
In this episode, Arun and Aidan trace the build using Arun's five-stage framework for sustainable success — and Aidan gets specific about the decisions most founders gloss over:
- Why 100% of QuantLink's software is written by AI — and the ontology and deterministic validation that stops it from hallucinating "slop"
- The gap he saw in a market already crowded with Bloomberg, Merrill, and Schwab
- Why exposing all of their code became a trust strategy for a young company with no institutional track record
- The surprise: customers didn't come for the AI — they came for the charts and the reports
- Where the platform goes next: an open marketplace for data, models, agents, and templates
- His bet on the future of AI architecture — deterministic graphs over generated code
Chapters
— The thinking gap: why organizations fall behind on AI
— Meet the guest: Aidan McConnell, QuantLink AI
— Arun's five-stage framework for sustainable success
— Finding the niche: the gap in a saturated market
— Flipping the game: letting users build their own signals
— The B2B shift and user responsibility
— Transparency as a trust strategy
— Building the core: AI-first, human layer on top
— Ontologies and deterministic validation
— The eval harness: data-fetching vs. product layer
— Diversification: charts, reports, and the "boring" wins
— Becoming a platform: the open marketplace vision
— People and the ownership mindset
— Affiliates and incentives
— R&D: vertical models and the future of AI architecture
— The external environment: regulation and consumer education
— What's shipping next + how to try it
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🌐 arunansupattanayak.com
📘 Future Proof Your Business: https://www.amazon.com/FUTURE-PROOF-YOUR-BUSINESS-Strategic-Framework-ebook/dp/B0H8MKQTKC
Guest: Aidan McConnell
QuantLink AI (https://www.quantlink.ai/) ·
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-mcconnell-341259108/ ·
X: https://x.com/Aidan_mcconnell
Book call with Arun:
https://go.tipsora.com/meet-with-arun
Chapters17
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