He Quit His Corporate Job With No Plan. Now He's on His Way to a 9-figure Net Worth.

One year into his banking career, Wil Dublin hit a wall. The politics, the bureaucracy, the rigid hierarchy, it drained every ounce of motivation he had. He would wake up dreading the workday. And one day, he simply decided he couldn’t take it anymore.

He walked away from a prestigious job, with no safety net and no clear next step.

No plan. 

No clients. 

Just the gut feeling that he wanted to be in control of his own life and his own income.

The first months were brutal. Wil doubled his rent while cutting his income to zero. His girlfriend had to cover most of their expenses. 

During the day, he took on any small consulting job he could find, often for just a few hundred dollars. At night, he worked as a line cook in a high-end restaurant in Chicago.

But little by little, things changed. A $5,000 project finally gave him breathing room. Then, new clients started coming in. Between January 2023 and March 2024, his business, 7Alder, grew consistently every month.

Today, Wil leads a lean, highly skilled team that helps private equity funds, investors, and businesses make smarter decisions with better financial models. In the past year alone, they have added over $200 million in value for their clients.

I sat down with Wil to unpack his journey. How did he go from zero to a thriving business? What did he learn along the way? And what advice would he give to others who want to take the same leap?

1. Hello! Can you tell us who you are and what business you started?

I’m Wil Dublin, and I run 7Alder, a financial consulting and analytics firm.

We primarily support investors, private equity funds, and M&A deals with due diligence and business intelligence work. In simple terms, we build and maintain financial models that help people make important decisions.

Our work ranges from Excel models for deal-making to coded models that integrate directly into a company’s internal systems. Our clients are usually M&A advisors, buy-side and sell-side firms, PE funds, and their portfolio companies. More and more, we’re also supporting individual businesses that need robust financial modeling.

2. What’s your backstory? How did you come up with the idea to start this business?

My background is in banking, but I only lasted a year. I quickly realized I couldn’t stand corporate life. The hierarchy, the politics, the meetings - it just wasn’t for me.

 I quit without a plan.

To make ends meet, I started taking on small consulting projects and worked nights as a line cook. I had always been strong at building models, and that skill became my focus.

The early months were rough. I had just signed a lease that doubled my rent, and I had zero income. I was doing $200 projects just to keep going.

It took four months to land my first substantial client: a $5,000 project to build a pricing model and deck. That project was a turning point. From there, the business started to take off.

How did you land your first customer?

Through Upwork. In the beginning, Upwork was my lifeline. I also started using LinkedIn, and Catalant  to find projects.

These days, most of our business comes from referrals or direct outreach on LinkedIn. But without Upwork, I wouldn’t have survived those first months.

When you priced your first major project, were you nervous about asking for $5,000?

At that point, I wasn’t nervous. It felt fair. I had already done so many underpriced projects for $400 or $500, just to pay the bills.

Of course, with bigger contracts now, like the $25,000-per-month retainer we’re negotiating, there are nerves. But back then, landing that first $5k project was a major boost.

Since launching, what has worked best for attracting and retaining customers?

For attracting customers, LinkedIn and referrals are key now. Upwork helped me survive the early days, but relationships are everything.

For retaining customers, it comes down to fit and quality. I’m much more selective about which clients we take on. The wrong client can damage the entire business.

Once we have the right client, we focus on relationships first, then quality. We deliver custom, high-quality materials quickly, communicate openly, and act like an extension of their team. That’s why our clients stay with us.

How is the business doing today? Where do you want to take it?

Operationally, we’re in great shape. We could scale four times bigger tomorrow and handle it.

My personal goal is to turn this into a cash machine that nets me $1 million per year after expenses. We’re on track, it probably won’t happen this year, but I expect it to next year.

Longer term, I know this business won’t get me to my ultimate goal of a $100 million net worth. But it can absolutely get me to $5-15 million and open doors.

I’m building strong relationships with PE funds and intermediaries. Eventually, I’ll leverage this business and network to become an investor myself.

Was there a moment when you thought this wouldn’t work?

Many moments. The first three months were incredibly stressful.

Even today, there are moments of doubt. We recently took on a bad client because they offered a lot of money. The project blew up and caused our first down month after 14 months of consistent growth. That hit both the business and my mindset hard.

But we’ve bounced back and are positioned to keep growing.

What do outsiders not understand about your industry?

How much bad diligence occurs even at the biggest firms.

We recently worked with a $2 billion fund making a $300 million investment. Their internal team and even ChatGPT had made serious errors in their models. We caught those errors, rebuilt the analysis, and provided a version they could confidently take to investors.

This happens more often than people think. Precision matters, and too many people overlook it.

What tools and platforms do you rely on most?

For modeling, Excel is number one. We also use Power BI and Python for certain projects.

For team operations, we use Slack, ChatGPT, PhantomBuster, DocuSign, Hubstaff, Catalant, Upwork, Mercury, Stripe, Gusto, and Framer.

One underrated tool I love is Google Keep. I’ve used it for 10 years to manage tasks and priorities. It’s simple but incredibly effective.

If you were to start a new business today, what would it be?

I’d invest in distressed VC-backed companies.

A lot of these companies grow fast, burn too much cash, and collapse under their own weight. Investors often give up on them too early.

There’s a huge opportunity to buy these companies cheap, strip out unnecessary costs, and turn them into profitable businesses. It’s what Andrew Wilkinson did with Tiny. I think there’s still a lot of room in that space.

What is your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Business is one of the best games you can play because you set the rules and define what success looks like.

But the key is resilience. The ability to stay in the game through setbacks is what determines success. Time in the game wins over everything else.

Are there any numbers you can share about the business today?

In the past 12 months, we’ve added more than $200 million in value for our clients through capital raises, revenue generation, and successful deals.

Our team today includes five US-based members and two offshore members, for a total of seven people.

Final Takeaways

• Platforms help you start, and people help you grow.
  Upwork got Wil going, but now most work comes through people he knows.
  

• Being really good at one thing matters.
  Many big firms make simple mistakes. Wil’s deep skills to solve that one problem make him and his service extremely valuable.
  

• Keep going when it’s hard.
  The business survived because Wil didn’t give up during tough times.
  

• Your business doesn’t need to be your end goal.
  7Alder gives Wil money and connections for what comes next.
  

• Things never go in a straight line.
  If you keep learning and stay in the game, good things will happen.