When Matt started his first year at Wharton, his calendar filled up fast.
Between classes, recruiting events, and time spent building his own startup, he was busy—but something felt off. After several years in high-intensity finance roles, the rhythm of business school left him missing the structure he’d had before.
“I was midway through my first year when I first heard about Mercor,” Matt says. “A friend sent me his referral link, and it was sort of a no-brainer to apply.”
From Investment Banking to Business School
Before Wharton, Matt worked as an investment banking analyst at Bank of America and later in private equity at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. The work was demanding, but it sharpened how he thought about problems: breaking down complex systems, stress-testing assumptions, and making decisions with real consequences.
Once he started his MBA, those skills weren’t getting much use.
“Classes are great. It’s a great social scene,” he explains. “But you definitely miss the structure—and the ability to contribute to something that feels bigger than you.”
At the same time, he was feeling financial pressure. Like many MBA students, Matt was balancing tuition, living expenses, and the uncertainty of putting a full-time career on pause.
Discovering Mercor
Mercor stood out as a way to apply what he already knew.
“I was working on my own startup at the time and honestly pretty stressed about my financial situation,” he says. “Mercor felt like a way to earn some money on the side by leveraging the financial skills I’d built earlier in my career.”
After interviewing, he was accepted and started contributing to finance-focused AI training projects—work that required judgment, rigor, and real domain expertise.
What surprised him was how quickly the work began to feel familiar.
“I was excited to be working again,” Matt says. “Not just earning, but actually using my skills in a productive way.”
Doing Real Work On His Schedule
Mercor fit naturally into the gaps in his MBA schedule.
“There are constantly moments where I realize I have a couple free hours between events or meetings,” he explains. “It feels good to be able to log in, make progress, and actually move something forward.”
The experience also pushed him to grow.
“Seeing how other people approach the work has actually made me a stronger financial analyst,” he says. “It’s sharpened how I think.”
Contributing to the Future of AI
What started as a practical way to make money during business school became something more meaningful.
“When you’re building these models, it’s hard not to think about the future,” Matt says. “You realize you’re creating the training material for systems that might be doing this work years from now.”
That awareness changed how he approached the work.
“It makes you more intentional,” he explains. “You start asking: Is this assumption important? Is this the right structure? Is this how I’d want the model to reason in the future?”
A few months in, his perspective had shifted.
“I originally saw Mercor as a stopgap to get me through my MBA,” Matt says. “Now I realize I’m contributing to something much bigger than me.”
Start Your Own Mercor Journey
Matt is one of thousands of finance professionals and MBA students using Mercor to apply their expertise, earn competitively, and help shape how frontier AI systems learn.
Explore opportunities with Mercor today: www.mercor.com