For investment and AI consultant, Michael Wang (GradCert ’19, MDS ’21), the leap from employee to founder came to life through small, deliberate acts that allowed him to build confidence and credibility. While Michael has extensive experience working with some of Australia’s largest financial institutions, his new consultancy, WhyPred, provides AI implementation and advisory to businesses across various industries. With each day, he’s learning more about leadership, risk and healthy boundaries than ever before.
“I always thought of myself as a problem solver,” says Michael. But with a background in commerce, finance, and investments, Michael found himself dissatisfied with how data was processed and handled. “I was looking for ways to improve and automate and through that developed a love for coding and data science,” he adds. At this point, Michael returned to university, completing two post-graduate degrees in data science at The University of Sydney. “That time really stoked the fire for me, and I decided to make the career switch into data,” he says. “Studying again really kick-started my second career path.”
Michael now supports an array of clients, helping them build AI tools and capabilities. “Most problems can be solved with the same patterns,” he explains, “but you need to understand the domain first – and AI is a tool to help you solve those problems.”
Start before you’re ready
While WhyPred launched three years ago, it wasn’t until recently that Michael transitioned into the organisation full-time. “I had the benefit of being able to take on small projects and build a track record, but it was, and still is, one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done.”
Michael believes taking small but considered steps towards your side hustle or business can make all the difference, whether this output is for a paying client or simply something that allows you to demonstrate your capabilities. “You can simply start by sharing the quality of the work you’re capable of producing and then giving that some social proof,” he says. “If you start posting about thought leadership in a particular area for example, you might then find people will naturally engage with you and ask if you’re open to work in that field.”
Michael believes this can shift the dynamics of work quite strongly. “Instead of you going out to seek that piece of work, you get back that bit of control – you might be able to do this all part-time, and that can be your doorway to slowly moving towards a full-time business.”
For Michael, his part-time commitments came to life through a regular column on Medium that quickly gained traction. “It’s what kicked everything off for me,” he says. “It was one of the ways I built confidence because it gave me lots of feedback, I ended up being featured a lot as their top articles – and that’s when I thought ‘hey, I can do this’”.
If you just want freedom from working for someone else and making a decent living, that might be fine for you, but if you want to build true independence, leave a legacy and run your own team, you need to start being more strategic
Michael Wang
Scale up, don’t burn out
As WhyPred continues to grow, Michael is less focused on adding projects to the pipeline but more intent on designing a long-term plan. “It’s not just about getting the next piece of work and issuing an invoice,” he explains. “It’s about getting the work but thinking about how to scale – how you want to position yourself.”
He believes this starts with getting honest about what you actually want your business to be. “If you just want freedom from working for someone else and making a decent living, that might be fine for you, but if you want to build true independence, leave a legacy and run your own team, you need to start being more strategic,” he says. “Think about how what you do actually scales, because if you’re just doing hours for pay, you might end up more stressed managing everything and then burning out.”
For Michael, protecting his time and energy starts and ends with structure. “I’m still very early in the process of doing this, but setting boundaries by boxing my time has been a big part of my learning in the last six months,” he says. In practice, this means mornings are set aside for admin and emails, and afternoons are reserved entirely for project and client work. This rhythm creates space to think, not just react.
This same principle can apply whether you have a business, a side hustle, or an idea you want to test. “You might say, I’m willing to commit 15 hours outside of work to my side hustle or startup, and even though it’s very easy to say ‘yes’ to a lot of things when you’re trying to land that first or second project, you need to respect yourself and your time,” adds Michael. “Your time is valuable, so make sure you set those boundaries for yourself and any future clients.”
Test, iterate, rinse, repeat
For those working on new ideas or projects within AI, Michael believes the best way forward is to open up the projects you’re working on and demonstrate what you can do. “Put it out there on LinkedIn or GitHub, give yourself that exposure, get people to look at your work, get them to give you feedback,” he says. “If the quality of your work is very high, you will naturally attract people who want to work with you, or ask you to do work for them.”
Leading the way
Since launching WhyPred, Michael has seen his leadership skills develop not by design, but out of necessity. “Once you transition to your own business, you’re in the wild and you have to worry about every single element from finances to hiring to payroll,” he says. “You need to consider inbound leads, outbound leads, conversion, client calls, all those things, and I think it's a good crucible because it forces you to start developing skills you never thought you had or that were dormant and never used while you were working for someone else.”
While working inside a large organisation has its benefits, it can also quietly insulate you from that kind of growth, according to Michael. “Even if you’re in a leadership position, between your decision and actual implementation and the result and the feedback, there’s a layer of segregation.”
This is something Michael recalls experiencing himself, before going back to university and realising there was a different way to work. “When I started that postgrad, I had been nine years deep into a finance and investment career and that mindset and path were very linear in terms of how to progress, what I should be doing, and how to get to the next promotion,” he says. “Being able to go back and engage with my peers and the faculty really opened a new way of thinking for me about how people navigate their careers, having more professional empathy, and working with others – it’s really helped me as a business owner myself.”
About Michael
Michael Wang is the Principal Consultant and Managing Director of WhyPred – one of Australia’s leading AI and analytics consultancies. He’s also the CEO of the Data Science and AI Society of Australia. Michael holds a CFA Charter and completed postgraduate studies in data science at the University of Sydney. He also serves on the University of Sydney alumni council.
Written by Alana Wulff for SAM Extra.
Illustration by Jenny van Rantingen (BVA/BAdvStudies '24). Jenny van Ratingen is an illustrator and multimedia artist, primarily working with painting and sculpture. Outside of Jenny's illustration practice, her artwork delves into themes from the Everyday, the complexities of intergenerational conflicts and the laborious dynamics found within the home.
This article originally appeared in SAM Extra. If you are a University of Sydney alumni, update your preferences to receive this monthly e-newsletter.