This episode of MY Interface Podcast features an in-depth conversation with Kristina Fan, the co-founder and CEO of 7 Chord, exploring the high-stakes world of financial technology and how AI is revolutionizing market data pricing.

Traditional taxi meters charge a fixed rate per mile, but Uber uses dynamic pricing based on weather, demand, and car availability . Kristina Fan explains how her firm, 7 Chord, applies this same concept to the complex world of fixed-income markets through their flagship product, Bondroid AI .

While many are familiar with "pre-trained" AI like ChatGPT, the financial world requires models that can adapt to "regime changes" and sudden global events—like earthquakes or political shifts—on a moment's notice . This episode dives into the necessity of real-time adaptability and the ethics of using historical data to predict the future .

What You Will Learn

The Startup "Swiss Knife": Why founders must be able to wear many hats, from product design to customer acquisition, transitioning from the narrow roles of large organizations like BlackRock and JP Morgan .

Bondroid AI Explained: How a dynamic pricing engine empowers institutional traders with accurate prices for thousands of financial instruments .

AI’s Biggest Danger: Understanding that AI primarily sees patterns in existing data and lacks the "smarts" to make independent, unusual decisions, which can lead to bias in lending or university admissions .

Foundational Education: Why Kristina advises students to study physics and math to learn how to think, rather than just chasing a specific career path .

Entrepreneurship as a Human Right: A unique perspective from a founder born in the former USSR, where owning a business was prohibited and starting a company is seen as a foundational way to self-express .

Chapters

00:07 Introduction to the Interface Podcast and its mission .

01:21 Guest Introduction: Kristina Fan of 7 Chord .

02:35 The Career Pivot: Wall Street to the startup world .

04:00 Dynamic Pricing: The "Uber analogy" for financial instruments .

05:56 Real-time Adaptability: Why finance needs different AI models than ChatGPT .

08:33 Use Cases: How traders use Bondroid AI feeds and software .

10:34 Ethics and Bias: The dangers of unregulated AI in decision-making .

12:15 Data Ownership: Corporate data vs. consumer-facing AI challenges .

13:32 Advice for Students: Why math and physics are the ultimate foundations .

14:55 The Freedom to Build: Reflections on life in the USSR vs. the USA .

16:00 Host Reflections: Key takeaways on innovation and adaptability .

Quotes from the Episode

"As a startup founder, you wear a lot of different hats... you sometimes should be kind of like a Swiss knife."

"Pricing of financial instruments is a bit more complex than pricing a cab ride... markets can really change on the moment notice."

"Build a solid foundation right now and don't skip the hard parts. Learn math, learn foundational subjects and then see where life takes you."

"The right to own property and the right to own a business... is very foundational human right and it should be cherished."

About the Hosts

Yvonne and Miya are high school sophomores on a mission to educate students and professionals on the impact of AI across multiple subject matters by providing insights from top experts.

Where to find Kristina Fan and 7Chord:

Kristina Fan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinafan

7Chord: https://www.7-chord.com/

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

New episodes drop every Friday at 3:00 PM.

This episode of MY Interface Podcast features an insightful conversation with Andrew Zhang, the co-founder and CEO of Azure Partners, exploring the rapidly shifting landscape of AI education and why traditional learning models are becoming outdated .

Andrew Zhang left the world of "Big Tech" giants like Amazon and IBM to solve a specific problem: the gap between academic learning and practical AI implementation . He argues that we are entering an era where AI doesn't just improve productivity by a small margin but can amplify individual capability by 10x or even 100x .

Whether you are a "digital native" student or a finance professional, Andrew breaks down his methodology for becoming a domain expert in just 30 days and why the ability to "ask the right questions" is now more valuable than the ability to write raw code .

What You Will Learn

The Startup Freedom: Why Andrew left Amazon Web Services to pursue a "dream job" where he chooses the team, the technology, and the daily priorities .

AI Education Modules: A deep dive into Andrew’s three-weekend roadmap, covering everything from content generation (Gemini) to intelligent knowledge libraries (NotebookLM) and "Black Box" AI coding .

Financial GPTs: How Azure Partners is researching and training specialized models to act as a "Bloomberg GPT" using reinforcement learning .

The Coding Revolution: Why tools like Cursor mean you no longer need to master the syntax of Python to build functional applications .

Advice for Young Founders: The simple, "bland" but essential secret to a successful startup: identifying a specific problem and building a sticky solution .

Chapters

00:46 Welcome and mission of the Interface Podcast .

01:13 Guest Introduction: Andrew Zhang's background in academia and tech .

01:43 Inside Agile Partners: AI for Content, Coding, and Finance .

05:00 The "Big Tech" Exit: Why Andrew left Amazon to write and innovate .

07:23 Corporate vs. Startup: Specialized niche markets vs. cloud generalists .

09:23 The 100x Productivity Boost: Methodology over domain expertise .

10:32 The AI Roadmap: Learning models that won't be outdated by graduation .

12:17 Digital Natives: Why the young generation is "AI native" .

14:52 Gemini and Beyond: Understanding the three core learning modules .

17:35 Deep Processing: Why "feeling the pain" of learning helps information stick .

20:13 Startup Advice: Finding the problem that people will pay to solve .

22:03 Host Reflection: Coding without characters and the power of cursor .

Quotes from the Episode

"People can amplify their capability 10x or 100x times... I can learn anything in 30 days."

"You no longer need to remember all the details about Python. You just need to ask the question how to use it."

"Challenge is the real opportunity... explore as much as possible. Read a lot of books, travel, meet people. That will give you the lifetime energy to move forward."

About the Hosts

Yvonne and Miya are high school sophomores on a mission to educate students and professionals on the impact of AI across multiple subject matters by providing insights from top experts.

Where to find Andrew Zhang and Azure Partners:

Andrew Zhang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-zhangg

Upcoming Gemini Masterclass: https://course-website-delta-seven.vercel.app/

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

New episodes drop every Friday at 3:00 PM

What happens when you take nearly a decade of Wall Street experience and apply it to the "chaotic" world of home repairs? In this debut episode, Sherry Li shares her journey from navigating $11 trillion sovereign wealth funds and Wall Street investment banks to dispatching vendors in the field.

Sherry explains how her background in systematic fund management led to the creation of Pai Box, an agentic AI platform designed to bridge the gap between institutional investment and boots-on-the-ground property operations. This conversation explores the philosophical and practical shift from being a corporate employee to a founder with the total freedom—and massive liability—of making every decision and how AI is impacting the future of work.

What You Will Learn

The "Boots-on-the-Ground" Pivot: Why Sherry believes a decade of industry experience is necessary to navigate complex systems like financial services and real estate development.

Managing Uncertainty with AI: How AI agents differ from traditional programming by navigating hundreds of unpredictable real-world scenarios, such as repair job conflicts or hidden property damage.

The "Assistant" Approach: Why property managers should treat AI as a proactive assistant that can make phone calls, send messages, and follow up with tenants without manual reminders.

Regulation and Human Authority: Why Sherry argues that regulation should focus on the creators and trainers of AI rather than the technology itself, ensuring humans remain the sole authority for decisions and liabilities.

A Future of Creators: How AI is releasing human "brain power"—much like the steam engine released hands—allowing us to return to our nature as creators who understand and shape the world.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to MY Interface Podcast.

00:42 Introduction to Sherry Li and her Wall Street background.

02:08 Founding C-Star and identifying operational pain points.

03:43 The vision for PaiBox: Improving real estate efficiencies.

05:01 Why startup passion requires deep industry accumulation.

07:20 Mindset shift: Climbing the corporate ladder vs. founder freedom.

09:01 AI's perfect memory and its role in property management.

11:32 AI vs. traditional programming: Navigating the unknown.

12:56 The philosophy of regulation: People as creators.

15:05 Advice for students: How to use AI without knowing how to code.

19:42 The evolution of human nature: From four legs to released brain power.

23:14 Post-interview analysis by the hosts.

Quotes from the Episode

“When you start a company, it's your own business. The liability is huge, but of course, a huge feeling of freedom.”

“The purpose of [technology] is to help human, is to support, is to empower human... treat them as a tool or you treat them as a god? As a god is superior to human... I think that’s totally against human nature.”

“Don’t worry about oh learn AI—focus on the question how to use it... AI is supposed to empower you to make the product available without coding.”

“Don't be afraid of the era of AI... it's helping human. You're back to what a human is supposed to be. You're the creator.”

About the Hosts

Yvonne and Miya are high school sophomores on a mission to educate students and professionals on the impact of AI across multiple subject matters by providing insights from top experts.

Where to find Sherry Li and PaiBox:

Sherry Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xueyingli/

PaiBox: Available for download on Apple App Store and Google Play. https://www.paibox.com/

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

New episodes drop every Friday at 3:00 PM.