About

Background
I'm an NYU Stern MBA and a mechanical engineer by training (University of Illinois).

My career began in the physical world, engineering complex systems and running projects in energy and life sciences, from oilfield services at Schlumberger to biotech manufacturing at Cytiva. For four years I solved problems where failure wasn't an option.

Focus
I went to business school to move closer to product and technology, and to work where technical execution meets the customer and the business. Over the past year I've been building and deploying AI, including production LLM agents now in daily use. I'm most useful translating between engineers, customers, and executives, and turning messy problems into working systems.

My engineering background isn't a past life, it's the edge. I understand technical systems and real-world operations, not just software abstractions.

Current Work
I'm building AI tools, writing about the mechanics of product and go-to-market, and researching AI markets, including a paper on demand substitution across the OpenRouter model marketplace through the Glucksman Fellowship.

Connect with me on X or LinkedIn, or check out my code on GitHub.

Academic contact: david.lisk@stern.nyu.edu