{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"EP. 242: Itay Golan - The Next Era of Investment Banking Is Agentic","description":"Itay Golan is the CEO of Deals Agent and a former bank executive with 15 years of experience across the deal lifecycle at firms such as DealLogic, S&amp;amp;P Capital IQ, and Bloomberg. In his second appearance on Test. Optimize. Scale: Itay breaks down how agentic AI is leveling the playing field in capital markets, allowing small banks and funds to compete with the bulge bracket for deal origination. This is a deep look at how AI is moving from a novelty layer atop financial data to a mission-critical, revenue-generating tool that tells bankers where their next deal will come from. What We Cover: - Why most deal origination today runs on Rolodexes and league tables instead of strategy - How Deals Agent uses a proprietary model, not a wrapper on Claude or ChatGPT - 15 years of banker interviews and workflows trained into a vertical AI model - Why data privacy matters: no data leakage, no training your competitors - A live demo: comparing your deals against peers and finding origination targets - How AI surfaces the hot sectors, geographies, and deal types worth your resources - Guardrails against hallucination and why every insight comes with sources and confidence levels - Why the ECM and IPO space was untapped white space for agentic AI - What this means for advisory fees, access, and who wins mandates in five years - Lessons on pivoting: from productivity tool to revenue-generating platform - Why every &quot;no&quot; from a customer is a signal to iterate, not quit - How to identify your ICP and scale strategically Connect with Itay: Email: info@dealsagent.ai LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/itaygolan\/  Subscribe to Test. Optimize. Scale. for weekly conversations on growth marketing, business strategy, and what is actually working right now. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Intro 1:00 - Itay's second appearance and the through line from crowdfunding to AI 2:30 - Democratizing deal access for small banks and funds 4:00 - Why Deals Agent is a proprietary model, not a ChatGPT wrapper 6:00 - 15 years of banker workflows trained into the model 7:30 - The data privacy advantage: no leakage, no training competitors 10:00 - Turning behavioral data into origination insights 11:30 - Human vs. AI: productivity gains and a whole new capability 13:00 - Guardrails against hallucination, sources, and confidence levels 15:00 - Live demo: comparing your deals against peers 17:00 - Finding and qualifying origination targets in real time 18:00 - The competitive landscape and where Deals Agent fits 20:00 - Why M&amp;amp;A and ECM are ready for AI now 22:00 - What this means for funds, fees, and access in five years 25:00 - How long Deals Agent has been in development 26:00 - Advice for founders and banks: go for it and act now 28:00 - First mover advantage and the cost of waiting 29:00 - Pivots: from analyst tool to revenue-critical platform 31:00 - Why listening to the market beats being married to your idea 33:00 - Scaling strategically and identifying your ICP 36:00 - Where to find Deals Agent and final thoughts ","author_name":"Test. Optimize. Scale.","author_url":"https:\/\/www.digitalnicheagency.com\/media","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/42035620\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/item\/42035620"}