Analysis · Professional & Local Services

S45 cofounder shares AI hiring and spending approach

What they do

S45 is an AI-native investment platform

Cofounder Aman Singh said the firm hires only for jobs AI cannot do

Engineers and AI agent bankers make up 80% of the workforce

S45 cofounder Aman Singh spoke at the Inc42 AI Summit 2026 panel.
Singh said S45 hires only for jobs AI cannot do.
The workforce is three-tiered: engineers building AI agents, AI agent bankers working alongside agents, and distribution and sales teams.
Engineers and AI agent bankers make up 80% of the workforce.
Distribution and sales teams make up the remaining 20%.
Engineering accounts for nearly half of S45's technology expenditure.
Singh noted that total AI spend at S45 is still overshadowed by people costs.
Engineers at S45 are free to use any model, framework, or developer tool.

INDmoney's Kausal Malladi said it is too early for a fixed AI budget, unlikely to exceed 10% of technology spend.
Malladi observed that model usage patterns changed quickly, token consumption rose, and costs increased sharply.
Open Financial Technologies' Anish Achuthan said technology costs are declining over time due to falling token prices.
Achuthan noted that the same AI budget goes much further now as cost per unit comes down.

S45 is an AI-native investment platform.
The company builds AI agents for investment tasks.
It employs AI agent bankers who work alongside the AI agents.
The workforce is divided into three tiers: engineers, AI agent bankers, and distribution/sales teams.
80% of employees are engineers or AI agent bankers.
20% of employees are in distribution and sales.
Engineering consumes nearly half of the technology budget.
Total AI spend is still less than people costs.