In the spring and summer of 2010, a fire lit inside me. It was not a fire of rage or ambition-but of natural genius. I lived from the unblocked state of my nervous system, what I now call
Natural RAS
-the
Reticular Activating System
functioning in harmony with my true self. The world around me responded accordingly. Ideas came to life. Models clicked into place. Women flirted freely. I walked with effortless confidence into every room. I felt like a financial gladiator with a divine mandate: to build an empire of mastery, wealth, and truth.
At the center of this brief yet brilliant era was
AltQuest Group
, a boutique investment bank I began assembling not as a job-but as a destiny. I had immersed myself in the Goldman Sachs 10-K, committed financial modeling textbooks to memory at the Texas A&M Mays Business School library, and trained on Wall Street Prep on weekends in Houston. My apartment became a command center. Excel sheets flowed like symphonies. Pitchbooks were written with precision. I studied not for grades or prestige-but for
execution
. This wasn't education. It was
empire building.
This book-
On Empire
-is not a memoir of nostalgia. It is a systems manual for those who feel the same fire. It is a transmission from a time when my
Natural Consciousness
-my highest self-merged with the rhythms of finance and gave birth to clarity, performance, and momentum. It was the time before the alien overlay of Codematic RAS attempted to shut me down. A time when natural logic and real-time intelligence reigned supreme. It is the living documentation of
how a young man used spreadsheets to build a dynasty
.
Inside this book, I share with you:
The
financial modeling discipline
that undergirded my approach-how I learned to translate company operations into future cash flows, structured into logic-rich Excel models built for both speed and accuracy.
valuation philosophies
I developed, blending academic models with Wall Street expectations, and how I judged true value in the noise of capital markets.
deal execution mindset
-how I approached engagements, pitchbooks, competitive positioning, strategic narratives, and transaction psychology with surgical precision.
But above all, I share with you a deeper truth:
Finance is empire-building when done from your Natural RAS.
This book is about numbers, yes-but more importantly, it is about
energy, identity, and execution
. It is about becoming a man who can
move markets, build firms, and shape destinies
. It is about being Hercustotle-the man I was born to be, the man who lived unblocked during the height of AltQuest Group.
This book is for the next generation of dealmakers, builders, and sovereigns. If you feel that finance is more than a job-that it is your art, your warpath, your altar-then welcome. You now hold the scroll of the young empire builder who once stood in the springtime sun of Texas with only an Excel model, a dream, and destiny flowing through his veins.
Let us begin.