ACE UTM

Last weekend, I participated in the Global Launch Challenge with ACE UTM! As a physics student who's normally used to problem-solving in the lab, it was definitely outside of my usual environment. Along with my teammates Eva Patel, Klarenz D'souza, and Diego Pachas, we analyzed a case about Cadillac's entry into the F1 team. We provided recommendations for marketing, finances, and operations, and presented to a panel of judges. The competition challenged us to think creatively under time constraints. Overall, I'm grateful for the opportunity to collaborate, and I'm super excited to keep developing both my analytical and strategic thinking skills!

A few weekends ago, I was invited to judge the Global Launch Challenge case competition hosted by ACE UTM! This one was especially fun to judge - the case centered around the Cadillac F1 team, and as someone who loves cars, it made the experience even more engaging. After judging many case competitions over the years, one thing is clear: no two are ever the same. Each brings new faces, new ideas, and new ways of thinking! What stood out most was the level of professionalism, preparation, and creative problem-solving the students demonstrated. The depth of analysis and out-of-the-box thinking is always impressive - especially considering students dedicate their weekend to push themselves through solving demanding case challenges. The skills they build at these case competitions will carry forward far beyond the classroom and I am proud to see the wonderful efforts of students at these events. It was also great reconnecting with students I had met at previous competitions: Lily Le Kasperski, Harshita Nagireddy, Jesse Chen, Bhavya Mehra, Haya Al-Sameai, Dawn Dechene and having wonderful conversations throughout the event. Reconnecting with familiar students and meeting new ones Ezekiel K. Bissah fizzah kashif at each event is always incredibly rewarding. It is inspiring to hear about their progress, new experiences, and evolving ideas each time our paths cross again. A big thank you to Andres Krauss for the invitation, and a huge shoutout to the entire ACE UTM team for organizing such a well-run event. It was a pleasure judging alongside Sydney Fan - after working together years ago, it felt like a full-circle moment. Shoutout to the other fellow judges in the room, Guy Julien and Denys Dziubii, for making it such an engaging and enjoyable room to judge in. Great conversations and strong perspectives always elevate the judging experience. Finally, great job to Jack Trepanier for being an excellent moderator and keeping the energy strong throughout! Looking forward to the next event!

It was a pleasure to serve as a director at ACE UTM for our event of the year, the Global Launch Challenge. ACE UTM successfully brought together over 200 competitors and more than 50 industry representatives to pitch a high-energy F1 case, thanks to Marya Badawi. This event challenged teams to think quickly, creatively, and strategically under pressure. I would like to extend my gratitude to Eve McKenzie, Andres Krauss, and the entire ACE UTM team for the opportunity to set up the venue, organize and coordinate runners, and collaborate with judges.

The other day, I had the opportunity to compete in The Global Launch Challenge created by Marya Badawi at ACE UTM, where my team developed a long-term sustainable strategic recommendation for Cadillac’s 2026 entry into Formula 1. With a tight turnaround, we had to quickly frame the problem, pressure-test assumptions, and deliver a recommendation that was both strategic and executable under real-time constraints. What stood out to me was how quickly strong momentum can turn into execution risk if internal alignment and operating discipline don’t scale at the same pace. A lot of our work came down to one question: how do you scale performance without compromising credibility? This case wasn’t just about speed or ambition. It was about what happens when operational maturity doesn’t keep pace with external image and growth. That’s where I tailored my focus, supporting our direction through a SWOT analysis and a practical risk mitigation lens, so the recommendation wasn’t just compelling, but resilient, backed by: reliability, governance, sponsor confidence, and clear trade-offs. And honestly, the best learning wasn’t the framework, it was the collaboration. Working with a team of smart, opinionated people taught me that alignment is not automatic. You can have strong ideas and still lose the plot if you don’t share the same problem definition. The moments that mattered most were the ones where we slowed down, clarified the “why,” and made sure our story was something we could all stand behind. Today, I walk away with a clearer sense of what I need to keep sharpening: Structure beats chaos (problem definition is everything) Communication is a multiplier (alignment creates speed) Execution is leadership (clarity, ownership, and staying composed when the week gets messy) Experiences like this are exactly why I am drawn to consulting-style work on the long-term; and why I am excited to keep sharpening the skills that translate directly into high-stakes environments like strategy and M&A! Huge credit to my teammates: Brandon Lin Kevin Na David-Jonathan Holung Albert Pan Abdullah Yousuf. Everyone owned key pieces, stayed accountable, and showed up when it counted. I'm immensely grateful for the challenge, and for the growth that came with it.

I’m so excited and grateful to share that my team Point Breakers and I placed 3rd at the Global Launch Challenge (ACE UTM’s 2026 Case Competition) overall out of 272 individual competitors!  🏁 We worked through a case centered on Cadillac’s entry into Formula 1, and our biggest focus was making the strategy feel credible beyond just slides. My contribution focused on the financial + operational side, specifically how Cadillac can treat its first 18 months as a credibility-building and capital-preservation strategy. Furthermore this enabled diagnosing Cadillac’s cost structure and financial risk profile, and proposing a solution I call the Credibility-First Cost Structure (CFCS). The core idea was simple but intentional: Cadillac’s challenge is not overspending — it’s where and when costs are incurred. In a public, capital-intensive sport like F1, late-stage failures and rework are disproportionately expensive and credibility-destroying. CFCS Prioritizes 3 Main Pillars: 1.    Reliability ROI over early performance peaks 2.    Partnerships over premature vertical integration to preserve flexibility 3.    Financial and operational guardrails over outcome promises, using runway, sponsor concentration, and reliability KPIs as substitutes for guaranteed results The biggest takeaway for me was how much clarity comes from anchoring strategy in measurable controls, outcomes, guardrails, and clear, coherent KPI’s. Especially when dealing with volatile performance environments.Credibility becomes built through discipline, transparency, and governance. Once gain none of this would’ve been possible without amazing team, so shoutout to all my teammates; Abdur Khalid, Rudrah Shaha, Nayaz Khan, and Bogdan-Mihai Trandafir for the late nights, focused debates, and constant iterations. A lot of hard work went into it and I'm genuinely so proud with how our team performed! Huge thank you as well to our judges that took the time to join us, Sydney Fan, Ismail P., Michael Tahir, Belal Raifai, CPA, MMPA and Matthew Borrelli, MMPA for the thoughtful questions and feedback that challenged us and made the experience genuinely valuable learning experience and gave us so man top tips and wonderful insights about what it takes to have a truly impactful and informative presentation. Everyone’s points were really insightful and something I will definitely take with me going into any future opportunities. Lastly huge props to ACE UTM for creating and hosting such a wonderful event, I was grateful to have been a part of it! This competition reinforced something I’ll carry forward: learning to pressure-test assumptions in uncertain, high-stakes environments, credibility is built through structure, clarity, and control not just ambition, which must be pitched such that ideas translate into something investors and stakeholders can trust. #CaseCompetition #Strategy #Finance #Formula1 #Operations #UofT #UTM #ACEUTM #Teamwork #Consulting

Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the ACE UTM Global Launch Challenge with my group of 6 - Maryam Ibrahim, Kelly Chen, Krish Atmaramani, Seungwoo Lee, Ahmad Naqvi! The case challenged us to analyzed Cadillac’s upcoming Formula 1 launch and the strategic risks behind scaling too fast. The case explored a high-stakes scenario with stated issues such as rapid expansion across three countries, compressed development timelines, rising failure rates, financial pressure, and brand trust risk ahead of the 2026 debut. The core challenge wasn’t just performance but balancing speed, reliability, cost control, and public perception at launch. Under significant time pressure, we worked to evaluate financial and operational trade-offs, delivering clear practical short and long term solutions. I really enjoyed participating in this competition and took away valuable insights for my own personal and professional development. Experiences like this assist in further enhancing critical thinking, teamwork, and structured decision-making under pressure. Thank you to Eve McKenzie, Andres Krauss, and ACE UTM for hosting such a well-organized event, and to my teammates for the their commitment and collaboration throughout.

What a way to kick off my LinkedIn journey — 2nd place at the Global Launch Challenge 2026! 🚀 GLC is a case competition where teams tackle real-world business problems and present strategic solutions to a panel of judges. This year’s challenge focused on designing Cadillac’s 2026 Formula 1 launch strategy, balancing reliability, brand trust, financial runway, and global expectations. As a team we spent days brainstorming, debating, and refining our ideas, followed by 12+ hour workdays building a cohesive, insight-driven solution. We ultimately placed 2nd out of 250+ competitors! 🥈 Our approach focused on: - Reallocating risk toward early learning and reliability - Strengthening communication across a rapidly scaling organization - Protecting financial runway through smarter experimentation - Positioning Cadillac Formula 1® Team as the bold American challenger — ambitious, disciplined, and here to stay A huge thank you to my teammates, Ethan Kwan, Hanna Li, Edward Lei and Lincoln Cheng, for the energy, late nights, and relentless problem-solving! Thank you as well to ACE UTM, Andres Krauss, Eve McKenzie for organizing such a spectacular event! And to all the judges, Matthew Borrelli, MMPA, Michael Tahir and Sydney Fan who made this experience possible and pushed us to think deeper. My biggest takeaway was learning how to think clearly under pressure and seeing firsthand how much stronger ideas become when a team brings diverse perspectives and effort to the table. 💡 Feeling grateful, motivated, and excited for the next one! ✨ #casecompetition #cadillac #f1