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WithAI

WithAI

Custom command centers for hedge funds

Spring 2026ActiveB2BArtificial IntelligenceTeam CollaborationInvestingNew York, NY, USA
WithAI helps institutional investors research stocks and track their portfolio using AI. Today's agents are powerful but insufficient. The training data quality and customization schlep prevent them from being seriously useful for investors. But WithAI has found the right form factor, context management, and consultative sale to help independent asset managers hold their own against the huge platforms' in-house projects. Our first client is "tremendously accelerated" (their words) when months ago they were "existentially threatened." Ben and Ian became fast friends at Princeton co-founding a technology investment firm. Ben became the founding researcher at unicorn Sentient Labs, where he built LLM coordination and security tech. Ian became an investor at Bridgewater Associates, where he spearheaded "how will AI affect the economy?" and "how can we use LLMs to invest?" His contrarian conclusion: the future of work isn't just "managing agents." That form factor works for coding, but non-verifiable work is structurally different. You check whether code is good by running it. But do you check whether a stock is good by shorting it? Fundamental equity hedge funds are elite, time-constrained, un-automatable knowledge workers in dire need of AI augmentation, so they make an ideal customer. But the combination of customization lock-in and huge ACV is not the real prize. If human knowledge work survives this decade, it will be AI-augmented. We're building that augmentation.

Note: This is a preliminary assessment based on limited publicly available information. We did not have access to LinkedIn profiles or live product screenshots for this analysis. We will update this entry with a more thorough review soon.

Verdict

High Signal
Market Opportunity
Fundamental equity hedge funds are a high-ACV, low-volume B2B market with extreme willingness to pay for edge — ACV likely $100K-$500K+ per fund. The ICP is tightly scoped (independent asset managers vs. large platforms) and the pain point is real and acute. If the thesis holds that non-verifiable knowledge work requires human-AI collaboration rather than full automation, the TAM extends well beyond hedge funds to all institutional investors.
High Signal
Founder Signal
Ben was founding researcher and chief of staff at Sentient Labs (unicorn AI lab), building LLM coordination and prompt security — directly relevant to the technical core of this product. Ian was an investor at Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's most sophisticated macro/quant shops, and specifically drove AI/LLM investment strategy there — exact domain expertise for the ICP. Both Princeton ECE/Math, but the work experience is the signal here, not the school.
Medium Signal
Competition
No competitor data was returned, but obvious competitors include Kensho (S&P), Bloomberg AI tools, Visible Alpha, and general-purpose AI coding/research assistants being adapted for finance. The differentiation thesis — that non-verifiable work (stock analysis) can't be automated like code — is intellectually coherent and may create real product differentiation, but big players have deep distribution into hedge funds already. Customization lock-in is a real but fragile moat.
Medium Signal
Product
One live client with a strong qualitative testimonial ('tremendously accelerated,' 'existentially threatened') suggests real usage, but no revenue figures, no named customer logo, no demo or pricing page visible. The description of 'right form factor, context management, and consultative sale' is directionally credible but unverified. Single client at early stage is promising but thin.
OverallA Tier

This is a tight, well-reasoned bet: two founders with directly relevant backgrounds (one built LLM infra at a unicorn AI lab, one drove AI investment strategy at Bridgewater) attacking a narrow but extremely high-value ICP. The insight that non-verifiable knowledge work requires augmentation rather than automation is the kind of contrarian, defensible thesis that good AI-for-finance companies are built on. The main risks are: only one named client with no hard revenue data, no competitor analysis to stress-test differentiation, and the consultative/custom sale model is hard to scale. If they can get to 5-10 fund clients with strong retention and land $1M+ ARR, this is a clear winner; right now it's promising but early.

Active Founders

Benjamin Finch
Benjamin Finch
Founder

Before WithAI, Ben was the founding researcher and chief of staff at unicorn AI lab Sentient. He oversaw prompt security and multi-agent coordination work and built a million-strong community. He received a bachelor's and a master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering Magna Cum Laude from Princeton, writing acclaimed theses on solar power investment and a novel blockchain design to solve coordination issues in Energy. He grew up in Maryland, Mongolia, Kenya, and Indonesia.

Ian McInnis
Ian McInnis
Founder

Before WithAI, Ian was an investor at Bridgewater Associates in all asset classes. He spearheaded the questions "How will AI affect the economy?" and "How can we use LLMs to invest?" At Princeton, he studied pure math, applied math, humanistic studies, and European cultural studies, graduating with a perfect GPA. Ian authored several papers (check arXiv) and one novel (check nowhere). He's a classically trained (albeit rusty) Shakespearean actor and opera singer.

WithAI
WithAI
TierA Tier
BatchSpring 2026
Team Size3
StatusActive
LocationNew York, NY, USA
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