Call Summary: Rostam's AI Consulting Mentorship and Gary's Career Pivot

Overview

Three-way call between Gary Sheng, Tim Joo, and Rostam Mahabadi focused on Gary's transition from traditional employment into AI consulting. Rostam, a successful independent AI consultant and Gauntlet graduate, offered mentorship and practical guidance on building an AI consulting practice. Tim facilitated the reconnection while managing his own crisis at Alpha Schools with impending layoffs.

Key Topics Discussed

Rostam's Consulting Success Model

• Business Philosophy: "I've been consulting for a while, probably the past, like, six months, and landed my first client through my ex-girlfriend and then kind of just kept going from there"
• Client Portfolio: Function, Bill Perkins' satellite imagery company, clinical trials, potentially Westlaw/Thompson Reuters
• Pricing Strategy: Targets companies who "don't want to pay the $200,000 per year" for full-time AI engineers
• Company Size Preference: "I'm just trying to stick to series B and below. I don't like to work over $10 billion"
• Independence Priority: Strong aversion to traditional employment structures

Agent Architecture Expertise & Teaching Philosophy

• Core Value Proposition: "When you walk into a meeting, that is what wows them. They're like, oh, shit. This person knows what they're talking about. They built for all these other companies, and they're also been through Gauntlets"
• Educational Approach: "While I'm building it, I'm explaining to them, here's all the components. Like, I architect in front of them. And I explain in plain English"
• Technical Philosophy: "Agents are dead. Like, anyone can build an agent. Agent is not difficult. It's the finesse and the expertise comes with how you architect the system"
• Future Focus: "That's why I'm studying neural nets and how to build my own models"

Learning Path Recommendations for Gary

• Starting Point: "Understanding agents and how they utilize tools and the structure and components of an agent is number one"
• Technology Stack: Recommends Vercel's AI SDK for its modularity ("Swiss army knife of agentic building")
• Deep Dive Areas:
  • System prompt optimization ("There's literally a position for system prompt optimization")
  • RAG implementation and semantic search
  • Hyperparameter tuning
  • Evaluation suites and feedback loops
• Learning Strategy: "Start at what is an agent? What are the components of an agent? And then break those down into individual study lessons"

Agent Graph Platform Revelation

• Founding Role: "I completely gave him [Kevin Denman] everything that he's built"
• Origin Story: Built the marketplace concept with Roger, Adam, and Pat during a hackathon
• Current Assessment: "It actually doesn't provide any value. There's zero value in the platform itself"
• Negotiation Position: "If I'm not getting compensated for the $100,000+ contracts that I'm bringing in, then it doesn't make sense"

Work Philosophy & Lifestyle Design

• Freedom Priority: "The good thing about running your own book of business is that you set however many hours you wanna set"
• Time Management: "If I take on a client and I don't wanna work a lot... I'll expand out what I know is gonna take me a month of nine to five, and I'll expand out to three months"
• Client Perception: "If they're not AI companies and they don't know what's possible, when you build out a graph or you build out a chart in three seconds, they're like, holy shit. Would've taken my engineer, like, two weeks"
• Ideal Role: "Chief architect slash CEO or cofounder"

NVIDIA Hackathon Success & Invitation

• Recent Win: Won individual category at NVIDIA hackathon during Austin Tech Week (one month ago)
• Prize Value: Access to DGX Sparks with 220B parameter model capability ($4,000 device)
• Team Invitation: Invited Gary to join as Team Gauntlet for December 13th hackathon
• Competitive Mindset: "I wanna win the group challenge. I want the individual challenge... I wanna be that team"
• Strategic Value: "A good way to get recognized to then actually get clients because you're actually meeting people who run their own startups"

Mentorship Offer to Gary

• Tuesday Session: Scheduled 9-10am whiteboarding session at Rostam's apartment (Alex in Waterloo building)
• Architecture Training: "I can walk you through architecture of how I built things and what the components were and why I did it"
• Sample Projects: "I think what would make the most sense is if I gave you, like, a sample agent of what to build"
• Conditional Collaboration: "Once you build sample agents, open to bringing you on future client projects"
• Privacy Requirements: "Any material that is produced during it, I would just ask that you guys keep it to yourselves"

Tim's Alpha Crisis Context

• Immediate Threat: "We have, like, five weeks before we have, like, a mass firing"
• Priority Focus: "I gotta save my main job first. That's why I went on mute and then, you know, just took my face off because I'm just listening in the background"
• Support Role: Offered to refer agent work opportunities to Rostam while focusing on Alpha survival

Gary's Career Transition Motivation

• Spiritual Journey: "I took a little bit of a break from work... I would consider, like, a spiritual sabbatical"
• Self-Assessment: "I don't know if I'm the best nine to five guy"
• Learning Hunger: Recognition that he needs mentorship to transition successfully
• Market Opportunity: "Improving your business with AI is this infinitely sized market"
• Urgency: "What else is more worthwhile to do? So I'm down. I'm gonna pull this out and just go in"

Key Quotes

On Consulting Success

Rostam: "I don't have anyone that says no to me anymore because of the knowledge. And I'm actually going to meet up today with the head of AI at Westlaw."

On Agent Building Philosophy

Rostam: "Agents are dead. Like, anyone can build an agent. Agent is not difficult. It's the finesse and the expertise comes with how you architect the system. But the actual building of an agent is just like it's the same shit."

On Work-Life Design

Rostam: "Running your own book of business, you set your own hours. You can say, hey, I have other businesses as well. I can only accommodate three hours a day to this project."

On Platform Value

Rostam: "It [Agent Graph platform] actually doesn't provide any value. There's zero value in the platform itself. It's just a way for him to make money off the marketplace."

On Learning Commitment

Gary: "What else do I gotta do? You know? What else is more worthwhile to do? So I'm down. I'm gonna pull this out and just go in."

On Alpha Crisis

Tim: "I gotta save my main job first... we have, like, five weeks before we have, like, a mass firing."

Action Items / Next Steps

• Tuesday Architecture Session: Gary to meet Rostam at 9-10am for whiteboarding session
• NVIDIA Hackathon Registration: Gary to register as Team Gauntlet for December 13th competition
• Sample Agent Building: Gary to build practice agents based on Rostam's specifications
• NDA Review: Rostam to check legal constraints on sharing client architectures
• Study Plan: Gary to focus on Vercel AI SDK and agent component architecture
• Recording Session: Consider recording Tuesday session for Tim's benefit (if permitted)

Strategic Insights

Market Positioning

Rostam has identified a sweet spot in the market: companies that need AI solutions but can't justify $200K+ salaries for full-time AI engineers. His educational approach differentiates him from pure implementers, creating trust and reducing client anxiety about AI adoption.

Platform vs. Practice

The revelation about Agent Graph's limited value highlights the difference between platform plays and actual expertise. Rostam's leverage comes from his ability to win clients and deliver solutions, not from any particular platform or marketplace.

Career Transition Framework

Gary's transition from traditional employment to consulting represents a broader trend among technical talent seeking autonomy and higher leverage. The combination of AI expertise, business acumen, and educational ability creates a compelling consulting proposition.

Alpha Context

Tim's crisis at Alpha (5 weeks until mass layoffs) provides important context for the urgency of alternative career paths. The contrast between Alpha's instability and Rostam's thriving practice illustrates the value of independent consulting.

Relationship Dynamics

Mentorship Structure

Rostam positioned himself as a selective mentor - willing to teach but protective of his intellectual property and client relationships. His requirement that Gary build sample agents first establishes clear expectations and commitment levels.

Tim's Facilitator Role

Despite his own crisis, Tim maintained his connector role, facilitating valuable relationships while managing his primary job survival. His ability to compartmentalize and support others during personal stress demonstrates strong character.

Gary's Learning Posture

Gary approached the conversation with humility and hunger, acknowledging his need for mentorship while demonstrating commitment to rapid learning and implementation.

Future Implications

This conversation marks a potential inflection point in Gary's career, moving from institutional employment toward independent consulting. Rostam's success model provides a concrete path forward, while the Tuesday session and hackathon team formation create immediate next steps for skill development and market entry.