This Startup Is Killing Spreadsheets with AI | Episode 20

Everyone says AI will replace humans. But what if the biggest unlock isn’t replacing people at all… it’s removing the invisible work they’re buried under? The spreadsheets. The back-and-forth emails. The manual processes no one sees, but everything depends on. In this episode of Verticals, Luke and Nic sit down with Chris Hladczuk, Founder of Hanover Park, to break down how AI is quietly eliminating the most boring, painful layer of work in finance, and what that unlocks on the other side. Chris shares how his experience across Goldman Sachs, fintech, and scaling a company from 10 to 1,000 customers led him to build Hanover Park, an AI-native fund administration platform combining ERP, agents, and human expertise. They dive into why fund data is stale by design, why accuracy is non-negotiable, and why the winning model isn’t pure AI, but AI prepare + human review. If you are building, investing, or operating in AI, this is a glimpse into what the next generation of companies will actually look like.   TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 00:56 From Goldman banker to building a $15B AI platform 02:10 The Hidden Chaos of Fund Admin 06:38 Why Trust is The Hardest Problem in AI 11:47 “B2B SaaS Is Dead”... And What Replaces It Next 14:43 Why Bundling WINS in AI 18:36 How Hanover Park Scaled From $1B to $15B  30:53 The AI Playbook That Actually Works 39:26 The Future of Software 46:54 The Biggest Lessons for Founders