For many college graduates, pursuing a career in investment banking seems like a no-brainer. The allure of great pay, the chance to work with top executives, and the opportunity to build valuable technical skills, such as financial modelling, make it a sought-after path.
For Varun Agarwal, investment banking was not just a job, it was a stepping stone to something greater.
As reported by Business Insider, his three-year stint as an investment banking analyst at JPMorgan and Piper Sandler provided him with more than just a salary and prestigious work experience.
It taught him invaluable lessons in efficiency, asking the right questions, and honing his judgement when evaluating businesses.
“The biggest lesson I learnt from my time in investment banking was how to perform a wide variety of tasks efficiently,” he told Business Insider. “It also taught me how to ask the right questions when evaluating businesses.”
But while his experience was rewarding, it also created a deep intellectual curiosity, one that was difficult to ignore. The fast-paced world of investment banking, where deals were made at a breakneck pace, sharpened his judgment, but something was still missing.
Why did he join OffDeal?
He was successful in the world of traditional finance, but Varun found himself drawn to the startup scene, particularly in Silicon Valley, where he witnessed 21-year-olds launching companies and raising millions.
“I thought to myself then, ‘Hey, why can’t I do that too? Why don’t I join a startup and take a big risk myself?’,” he explained to Business Insider.
But that leap was not as simple as it might have seemed. Coming from the University of Minnesota, where entrepreneurship was not the norm, he had a deep-seated aversion to risk.
Investment banking, with its prestige and security, seemed like the safer choice.
“I didn’t have any tangible skills to offer if I wanted to build or join a startup,” Varun admitted to Business Insider. “Investment banking felt like a good way to build up my skills in case the right startup opportunity emerged.”
It was through this lens of calculated risk that Varun decided to stay the course, until he came across a post on LinkedIn from Ori Eldarov, the founder of OffDeal, an AI-native investment bank.
What caught Varun’s attention was not just the innovation behind OffDeal’s model but also the way it addressed the exact pain points he had faced as a junior banker at JPMorgan.
“I knew I had to be a part of OffDeal,” Varun told Business Insider. OffDeal’s mission resonated with him deeply, especially its focus on small businesses, an area close to his heart.
Growing up, Varun had seen his mother, a small-business owner, struggle with business brokers who couldn’t handle transactions with the sophistication of a Wall Street firm.
Why is AI in investment banking the future?
What makes OffDeal different from traditional investment banks is its unique approach to deal-making. Each deal is handled by a two-person team, one banker and one engineer, creating a more streamlined, efficient process.
For Varun, this meant he was no longer confined to the long hours and tedious tasks of his previous role.
“At bulge bracket banks like JPMorgan, a company valuation could take weeks or even months to complete. At OffDeal, it can be done in one to two days,” he explained to Business Insider
The speed of execution is not the only benefit. AI and technology have completely transformed his workflow. In the past, Varun would spend countless hours manually transcribing Zoom calls or polishing pitchbooks. Now, AI does that for him.
“We don’t have to spend hours going back and forth with clients to polish pitchbooks. Instead, our AI agent makes those revisions automatically, saving us a lot of time,” he explained to Business Insider.
Varun is also able to work on far more deals at once. At JPMorgan, he could handle two or three live deals simultaneously. At OffDeal, that number has grown to 10 or 11.
The result is that he spends less time on grunt work and more time meeting with prospective buyers and sellers, honing his strategic thinking and broadening his impact.
Looking back on his decision to join OffDeal, Varun feels increasingly confident that the future of finance lies in AI. Though traditional investment banking remains a solid career choice, the world is shifting.
He believes that there is a narrow window of opportunity to establish a career at the intersection of finance and AI before the industry becomes saturated.
“Becoming AI native and learning how to incorporate it into your workflow will pay huge dividends in the future,” Varun told Business Insider, noting that joining an AI startup like OffDeal might not be as risky as it once seemed.