A scholarship, a classroom,
and a model that changed everything
I started a master's in engineering on a full scholarship — while simultaneously teaching at the university and entering investment banking without knowing how brutal it would be. I nearly quit over junior grunt work.
Then came the ARIMA model — a mathematical-statistical approach to forecast inflation and the Colombian IPC index. It saved my team hours every week and dramatically improved accuracy. What almost became a goodbye became the foundation of a five-year career.
Five years. Five analysts.
€300M in projects.
I led a team of five analysts at one of Colombia's major banks. I managed projects worth over €300 million. Late nights, high-stakes stakeholders, real institutional pressure. The place where rigour became second nature.
The risk division was where the real learning happened — not just in financial modelling, but in leading people under pressure, communicating complexity to senior stakeholders, and understanding that accuracy and clarity are the same thing. That lesson has never left me.
Co-founding Risaga —
the first lesson in selling
I co-founded a risk advisory firm with friends. We won real contracts. And I learned, the hard way, that knowing your craft and knowing how to sell it are two entirely different skills.
Risaga was the first proof that the entrepreneurial instinct was real. It planted a seed that never went away — the idea that I could deliver more value independently, without the constraints of a single employer's agenda.
Got fired.
Best thing that ever happened.
I moved to Germany to expand internationally. New language, new market, new rules. I got fired from the easiest job of my life — for the first time ever. I recognised it immediately: I didn't belong there. I used it as fuel.
The firing was clarifying, not devastating. It was too basic. It wasn't the place. So I enrolled in the CFA program — the highest qualification in investment management — and started rebuilding in a new country, in a new language, from scratch.
Building the full picture —
on both sides of the desk
I became a CFA charterholder. I took roles in controlling and risk management at a German bank. I built German fluency under real pressure. Then the energy sector — renewable infrastructure, complex systems, projects that showed me how expensive and intricate the real economy truly is.
A consistent pattern emerged in every new environment: I'd enter knowing little and leave having solved problems nobody else wanted to touch. The energy sector confirmed something important — the real economy, not just the financial system, was where the most interesting work lived.
"I'm always down for a new experience."
From volleyball and gymnastics to padel and the gym — I've always needed something physical to balance the analytical. Lately I'm teaching myself piano, ukulele, and guitar. I'm not great at any of them yet, but that's the point. Life's too short not to try everything it has to offer.
Founded MyInvestPal —
and learned to charge for expertise
I built it to give individuals the kind of investment thinking usually reserved for institutions. I learned the hardest lesson of independent work: charging clients fairly for expertise they undervalue. I'd do it free for everyone if the world worked differently.
MyInvestPal is the most personal of the three businesses. It exists because access to quality, unbiased financial advice shouldn't be a privilege of the wealthy. The challenge isn't the work — it's building trust with people who've been burned by commission-driven advisors before.
Early adopter.
Everything coming together.
AI changed the pace of everything. I'm using it to build, to reach more people, to reduce friction, to be more useful. I'm reconnecting with Latin America. Building Phronos for companies that want to become PE-ready. The full picture is finally visible.
My goal by 2028 is to raise my first PE/VC fund. Every business, every client, every project is a building block toward that. This personal brand is the trust layer that makes it possible.
