Noah on AI: Issue 07

Noah Weisblat: I'm here with Paul Cecil. Paul, tell me about yourself—where are you from, and what do you do?

Paul Cecil: My name's Paul Cecil. I'm the VP of Strategy at RealAlpha Tech Corp. We're listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker AIRE. My background’s in finance. I graduated from Ohio State with a degree in finance. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to India and complete an executive education program at IIM Bangalore, focused on private equity and capital markets.

I joined RealAlpha in September 2021 as employee number 10. At the time, we were a completely different company with a small team. I've been with the company through our evolution, including our NASDAQ listing. So far, I’ve helped lead eight capital raises and six company acquisitions. I’m excited to see what’s next for RealAlpha.

Noah: What does your day-to-day look like?

Paul: It varies, but my role is to guide the company toward our long-term vision—making sure we have the right people and resources in place at the right time. I work on everything from capital raises and strategy development to board communications and investor relations.

Noah: Let’s talk about AI. What are your general thoughts, and how are you using it in your workflows?

Paul: We’re very bullish on AI. It’s literally in our ticker: AIRE, AI for real estate. We’ve been on the forefront for a while. Even before ChatGPT, we developed our own AI to analyze properties for short-term rental potential, scoring them from 0 to 100.

When ChatGPT came out, it changed everything. Our CEO said, “Forget everything—we need to unlearn and relearn everything with AI in mind.” From that moment, I redesigned all my workflows to fully leverage AI. Companies that don’t embrace this will fall behind quickly.

Noah: What kind of AI adoption are you seeing across your industry?

Paul: Tech is extremely AI-forward. Real estate, not so much. The industry still lags in tech adoption. People still use faxes and “data tapes,” which feels like using a VCR.

We’ve stayed ahead by acquiring an AI development company in Nepal that had been working with us from the beginning. They became so integral that we brought them in-house. So yeah, tech is fast, real estate is slow, and we’re working to bridge that gap.

Noah: You mentioned OpenAI being your go-to. Which tools or models do you rely on most?

Paul: OpenAI, especially ChatGPT. Its deep research capability is incredibly strong. It’s fast, accurate, and remembers context well. It understands our strategy and constraints and provides great recommendations. We regularly use it to generate reports that used to take six months—now they take 20 minutes.

Noah: What kinds of reports?

Paul: Case studies, competitor analysis, strategic plans. For example, I had it analyze Palantir’s investor relations strategy, especially Alex Karp’s approach. It returned a 40-page report with 100 sources in 30 minutes.

Noah: If you had to rank OpenAI, Google (Gemini), Meta (LLaMA), Anthropic (Claude), xAI, and NVIDIA, where would you put them?

Paul: OpenAI is #1—for our use case and because of their resources. I’d put Microsoft in the same tier due to their partnership. Between Google and Meta, I’d lean toward Google. Gemini doesn’t retain context well. It’s good for email summarization, but not much else. Meta (LLaMA) would follow. Perplexity has gotten strong recently. I rarely use Claude.

Noah: From a personal productivity standpoint, how much more efficient are you today vs. before AI?

Paul: At least 50x. There’s no way I could handle the equivalent of three teams’ worth of work and still have a social life without AI. I work on finance, strategy, and more. AI handles research and analysis, freeing me up for execution.

Noah: Can you share a three-step workflow you’ve automated using AI?

Paul: There’s one I can’t detail much because it’s proprietary, but I’ve used AI to streamline key communication processes. That’s been a big efficiency unlock.

Noah: What’s one drawback or problem you’ve encountered using AI?

Paul: You can’t use AI as a crutch. You still have to think critically and prompt well. Poor input gives you poor output. It can also return formatting that’s unprofessional—like overuse of m-dashes and emojis. You have to train it to respond appropriately for your environment.

Noah: If you were advising a high school senior or recent college grad looking to enter finance or tech, what would you say?

Paul: Traditional education is outdated. AI has leveled the playing field for entry-level knowledge. A degree alone isn’t enough. Use AI to experiment and build something. If you're into development, build an app. If you’re into finance, design a trading algorithm and try it out. You need to show initiative and creative thinking.

Noah: What are your thoughts on AI trading in general?

Paul: It’s already been happening for a long time. It’s called Quant Finance. That’s what hedge funds do. They’re hiring math majors instead of just finance grads because trading has become algorithm-driven. Competing as a human is nearly impossible—unless you have inside information, which you can’t trade on. Hedge funds still have the edge, using 700+ data points and deep math to build models. You might beat the market for a while using ChatGPT, but quants are light years ahead.

Noah: You mentioned personal AI projects. Tell me about your "personal board of directors."

Paul: I created a ChatGPT project called “Personal Board of Directors.” Each thread is a different coach—strategy, relationships, public speaking, even bonsai trees. I’ve trained each one to speak in a specific voice—some modeled after real people like Jocko Willink or certain authors.

One coach talks to me in military metaphors, which I love. I get advice in 30 seconds. It’s boosted my decision-making and productivity across the board.

Noah: Where do you see AI going in the next 5–10 years?

Paul: At RealAlpha, I’d love for the home-buying process to feel like talking to one person from start to finish. AI could be the concierge for everything—mortgage, inspections, moving, etc.

More broadly, I think we’ll see superintelligence soon. AI will be embedded in everything—fridges, washers, and more. In the short term, it will eliminate many jobs. In the long term, it will solve global challenges and simplify life.

Noah: Thanks for your time, Paul.

Paul: Absolutely—thanks for having me.