Eric Shapiro and David Fine, co-founders of Understory, join Dez Fleming to discuss their journey from Columbia philosophy classmates to building a company that transforms how financial analysts work with private company data. Eric shares his transition from Elliott Management to entrepreneurship, while David brings his experience from Dynamic Yield and McDonald's. They explore the challenges of selling to investment firms and their vision for unlocking proprietary insights from unstructured financial documents.

Key Takeaways

• Finding the right co-founder matters more than any other decision - work with someone you genuinely enjoy spending time with
• Investment firms manage billions but buy technology like small businesses - expect long sales cycles and limited tech resources
• Speed beats perfection in financial data - analysts need usable data in minutes, not perfect data in days
• AI won't replace investors, but will help firms encode their investment DNA and make faster decisions
• The career risk of starting a company is lower than most think - the tech ecosystem highly values founder experience

The conversation reveals how deep domain expertise combined with technical innovation can address longstanding inefficiencies in financial markets. The founders emphasize that while AI can accelerate analysis and pattern matching, the craft of investing—sourcing deals, building relationships, and making judgment calls—remains irreplaceably human. Their story demonstrates that successful fintech ventures require not just understanding the technology, but deeply understanding how investment professionals actually work and what their institutions truly need.