Catalyst Operational Intelligence
We accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence for fund managers — from first use case to full operational integration.
Start the ConversationOur Belief
Artificial intelligence has the capacity to fundamentally transform the way fund managers execute and the way the investment management industry operates. The implications extend beyond efficiency gains — AI will reshape capital allocation, decision-making speed, and the competitive landscape of asset management itself.
Yet today, access to the best technologies and the expertise required to deploy them accrues disproportionately to the largest fund managers — those with the scale to build dedicated teams of AI engineers, data engineers, and software developers. This concentration of capability is neither inevitable nor desirable.
We believe that the benefits of AI should be broadly accessible across the investment management ecosystem, enabling a wider universe of fund managers to deploy capital with greater intelligence, precision, and speed.
When the best tools reach more decision-makers, the result is smarter capital at work across the economy — creating value not just for individual firms, but for the markets and stakeholders they serve.
— The Catalyst Perspective
Mission & Vision
Our Mission
Catalyst Operational Intelligence exists to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across the investment management industry — particularly for fund managers seeking a clear starting point, the right toolsets, and the highest-impact use cases.
We serve as the bridge between transformative AI capabilities and the fund managers who stand to benefit most: firms that recognize the imperative to adopt but lack the internal infrastructure to build from scratch. We identify the leading tools in the marketplace, match them to workflows where impact is greatest, and bring those capabilities to life — without requiring our clients to hire large teams of specialized technologists.
Our Vision
As AI technologies continue to evolve, they are becoming increasingly capable of bespoke configuration — programmed to a specific investment manager's workflows, datasets, investment objectives, and competitive edge. The pace of this evolution demands not just initial implementation, but an ongoing partnership to remain current with the state of the art.
We envision a future in which mid-market and emerging fund managers operate with the same technological sophistication as the industry's largest platforms — where the quality of operational intelligence is determined by strategic intent, not organizational scale.
What We Do
We help investment managers understand the AI landscape — what is proven, what is emerging, and what is relevant to their specific operations.
We compress the timeline from awareness to adoption, guiding firms through tool selection, implementation, and integration with existing workflows.
We serve as an extension of our clients' teams, providing the AI, data, and technology expertise required to deploy and sustain intelligent systems — so they can focus on investing.
We ensure our clients remain current as the technology landscape advances, continuously identifying opportunities to deepen AI integration and sharpen competitive advantage.
Our Services
Catalyst delivers implementation support across the full AI adoption lifecycle — from initial evaluation through sustained operational integration. Our service model is designed around practical execution.
We map existing operational workflows — CIM review, portfolio company reporting, deal screening, investor due diligence — and redesign them with AI integration in mind. This includes identifying where human review remains essential, where AI can assist, and where AI can assume responsibility entirely.
We pressure-test AI platforms and specialized tools against actual client use cases, designing structured pilots with defined success criteria and measurement frameworks. This includes hands-on execution alongside client teams and synthesis of findings into actionable recommendations.
We develop prompt templates, custom instructions, automated workflows, and tool configurations tailored to each client's investment process. We address the practical challenges that prevent tools from achieving full adoption and ensure systems are configured for production use — not just demonstration.
We conduct working sessions with investment and operations teams on effective tool usage, prompting techniques, and AI-augmented decision-making. Ongoing support builds genuine proficiency and internal capability that compounds over time.
We support evaluation of specialized AI platforms — including demo participation, vendor claim assessment, and competitive benchmarking — to ensure clients select the right tools for their specific needs. Where internal tooling may be warranted, we provide rigorous build-vs-buy analysis to inform the investment decision.
About the Founder
Founder & Principal
Like many in the investment management industry, Derrick embraced ChatGPT when it was released in November 2022 — and immediately began exploring how generative AI could be incorporated into both personal and professional workflows. What began as intellectual curiosity quickly became a strategic conviction: that AI would fundamentally reshape the operating model of the investment management industry.
Based on that early engagement and his long-standing tenure as a senior executive at a large, global fund manager, Derrick was tapped to lead firmwide artificial intelligence initiatives across an organization of more than 700 employees overseeing billions in assets under management. In that role, he was responsible for evaluating AI platforms, designing implementation strategies, and driving adoption across the enterprise.
That experience — both the successes and the challenges — provided a firsthand understanding of what it takes to deploy AI against the distinct demands of investment management: data-heavy but ultimately judgment-based workflows in the front office, and accuracy-critical, compliance-driven processes in the back office. It also revealed a fundamental reality: even within a large enterprise with meaningful resources, the capacity to deliver against these workflows was constrained.
If resource constraints limit AI adoption at a firm with hundreds of employees, the headwinds facing smaller fund managers are that much greater. This is the reason Derrick launched Catalyst Operational Intelligence: to bring the implementation expertise, tool knowledge, and operational judgment developed at enterprise scale to the broader investment management market.
Get in Touch
Whether you're evaluating your first AI tool or looking to deepen an existing implementation, we'd welcome the conversation.