After graduating in 2021, a boss at his former employer, Onex, encouraged Gutwinski to keep building Mosaic rather than return to private equity — and purchased the software to use at Onex.
“What we do is automate the lower value-added stuff. A portion of the time that you’re spending doing this is not on the actual high mental horsepower elements of the job,” he said. “It’s on formatting different PowerPoint presentation. That’s not high value.”
“It is an apprenticeship business. And there is this management-level feeling of, I had to do it one way when I was growing up in the ranks — so the junior folks have to, too,” Gutwinski said of Wall Street culture.
Gutwinksi moved back to Manhattan to keep building the company mainly because of the accessibility it provides. “We’re a 10-minute walk away from our 10 largest customers,” he said. “I don’t think this business would be what it is anywhere else in the world.”
“I’ve had someone send me an email saying that they built one of our models from the delivery room where their wife was giving birth,” he said.
“The only way to really reduce the actual work is through technology,” Mosaic founder and CEO Ian Gutwinski told NYNext. “Our technology takes more than 14 hours of work… and squishes it down into 15 minutes.”
Of course, Wall Street has seen a number of advancements in technology over the years — with little to no change to the culture.
“Like any technology, there’s an adoption curve … ,” he said. “But ultimately, this is going to be the way that people are doing this in the future.”
And Gutwinksi is eager to highlight anecdotes about how the tool is already changing lives in finance.
But Gutwinksi, 35, is quick to reject the idea that this paves the way for eliminating human jobs. He believes the software this will increase worker productivity and satisfaction — and the overall volume of deals bankers can complete.
Gutwinski got another email from someone who “wouldn’t have had a Thanksgiving weekend if they didn’t have access to Mosaic … a deal came in the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and it would have taken the entire weekend if it wasn’t for Mosaic.
This story is part of NYNext, a new editorial series that highlights New York City innovation across industries, as well as the personalities leading the way.
But, as 2025 begins, he said he’s already seen an uptick in interest as Wall Street prepares for what will be a booming new year with huge business, “Everyone is back from the holidays and they’re expecting deal volume to increase,” he explained.
