David Shabotinsky
First-gen, immigrant parents, Columbia MBA. Your path is the pitch.
Columbia Business School
Zocks
Questions?
You can start chatting with David before you get started.
David also coaches for Investment Banking and Chief of Staff. View all.
Work with David
David’s MBA Qualifications
I'm a first-generation college graduate and the son of immigrants. No one in my family had been through this process, so I built my application from scratch, with no feeder-firm resume and no alumni network to call. I got into Columbia Business School anyway, spent my career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and real estate private equity, and now lead strategic finance and corporate development at a Series B AI company in wealth management. That path shapes how I coach. Non-traditional applicants often sand down the exact thing that would have made them memorable, trying to look like the profile they think adcom wants. I start with positioning: what your story actually is, which schools it fits, and how to make a committee see the through line from where you came from to what you'll do with the degree. From there we work line by line on essays, resume, and interviews, where I'll tell you what's landing and what a reader will skip past. Best fit if you're first-generation, from an immigrant family, switching careers, or coming from a background that doesn't map onto the standard MBA pipeline. If you've been told your path is too unusual, that's usually the part worth leading with.
David can help with:
Application Strategy
Editing
Financial Aid & Scholarships
General Exploration
Interviews
Networking Strategy
Recommendations
Resume
School Selection
Testing & Assessments
Work Experience
Director of Finance
Zocks
June 2026 - Present
Strategic finance and corporate development lead at a Series B AI company building a client intelligence platform for wealth management. I own the company model, forecasting, and the monthly close and board reporting cycle, and I built the pricing and unit economics behind our newest AI feature. On corp dev, I structured and ran financial diligence on an acquisition end to end, from consideration mix through earnout design and integration planning. I also own gross margin, AI cost of goods, and ARR reporting integrity, working directly with the CEO, COO, and CRO.
Chief of Staff
Zocks
July 2025 - June 2026
Ran the CEO's office at Zocks through the Series B period. I built and co-owned the company financial model and forecast, supported capital raising including SAFE structuring, and produced board materials and investor communications. I also led the enterprise due diligence process for large financial institutions and broker-dealers and supported contract negotiations on our largest deals, and I built an internal AI tool that drafts DDQ and security questionnaire responses, cutting turnaround from roughly a week to a couple of days. The role converted into Director of Finance.
MBA Associate
Baleon Capital
May 2024 - September 2024
Investment Banking Analyst
Morgan Stanley
July 2021 - July 2023
Israel coverage and execution with key focus on Technology sector ***Selected Transactions*** • $459M Follow-On Offering of Kornit Digital (NASDAQ:KRNT) • $1Bn Green Contingent Convertible Bond Offering for Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) • $857MM Follow-On Offering of Global-e (NASDAQ:GLBE)
Senior Investment Analyst
profimex
September 2017 - May 2021
Education
Columbia Business School
Master of Business Administration - MBA
2023 - 2025
Private Equity Program Fellow
Reichman University
Bachelor's Degree, Business Administration and Finance
2014 - 2017
Teaching Assistant and private tutor for Intro to Finance, International RIsk Management, Investment Theory, and Macro Economics Dean's List Award 2016/2017 Dean's List Award 2015/2016
David also coaches for Investment Banking and Chief of Staff. View all.