10 leadership team — Wayy Research

Founder Profile

Rick Galbo

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Quantitative researcher and developer with 9+ years of experience building trading systems and data infrastructure across institutional finance. Track record spans trading floors at systematic hedge funds, exchange technology, energy trading, and enterprise technology consulting.

Currently serves as Senior Analyst at Citi managing middle office technology projects for credit derivatives while building Wayy Research. Founded the company in 2024 to democratize institutional-grade quantitative tools.

Education

B.S. Statistics, Loyola University Chicago

Certifications

ML/AI Intensive, Deep Atlas (2024)

Licenses

FINRA SIE, Series 57

Location

Buffalo, NY

Professional History

Experience

Founder & CEO — Wayy Research

2024 – Present · Buffalo, NY

Building AI quantitative finance infrastructure. Shipped three open-source packages (WRData, WRTrade, FracTime) with 5K+ combined GitHub stars. Leading seed fundraise and product development.

Senior Analyst, Middle Office Technology — Citi

2022 – Present · New York, NY (Remote)

Managing technology projects for credit derivatives operations. Building automation systems for trade processing, reconciliation, and risk reporting. Cross-functional coordination between trading desk and technology teams.

Quantitative Developer — Crabel Capital Management

2020 – 2022 · Milwaukee, WI

Systematic macro hedge fund with $5B+ AUM. Built and maintained trading signal generation pipelines. Developed backtesting infrastructure for futures and options strategies across global markets.

Software Engineer, Market Data — ICE

2018 – 2020 · Chicago, IL

Exchange technology and market data infrastructure. Built real-time data distribution systems processing millions of messages per second. Developed APIs for institutional clients accessing exchange data.

Data Analyst, Trading Operations — Uniper Global Commodities

2016 – 2018 · Düsseldorf, Germany

European energy trading and portfolio management. Built analytics dashboards for power and gas trading operations. Developed risk models for commodity derivatives portfolios.

Consultant — Maven Wave Partners / Google Cloud

2015 – 2016 · Chicago, IL

Enterprise technology consulting focused on cloud migration and data analytics. Led implementations for Fortune 500 clients in healthcare and financial services.

Skills

Core Competencies

Quantitative Finance
Systematic trading strategy development, backtesting and walk-forward analysis, statistical validation, risk modeling and position sizing, options pricing and Greeks, market microstructure.

Technology & Engineering
Python (expert), C++ (proficient), real-time data systems, API design and implementation, cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP), machine learning, open-source project management.

Domain Expertise
Equities and equity derivatives, cryptocurrency and digital assets, fixed income and credit derivatives, energy and commodities, exchange operations.

Business & Leadership
Product development, team building, fundraising, investor relations, regulatory compliance, financial modeling, go-to-market strategy.

Due Diligence

Leadership Assessment

Analysis of founder qualifications against key questions from institutional due diligence frameworks.

Does the CEO possess the experience and leadership abilities to succeed?

Assessment: Strong

The founder brings 9+ years of directly relevant experience across the exact domains Wayy Research targets: systematic trading (Crabel), market data infrastructure (ICE), and financial technology (Citi). This is not adjacent experience—it's the precise skill set required.

Leadership evidence includes successfully shipping three production-grade open-source packages that have attracted community adoption, managing complex technology projects at institutional scale, and building cross-functional relationships across trading and technology teams.

Is there a clear understanding of the market and customer needs?

Assessment: Strong

The founder has been the target customer: a quantitative developer who struggled with fragmented data sources, expensive tools, and limited backtesting infrastructure. This firsthand experience directly shaped product decisions. The open-source adoption validates market need.

What is the single-founder risk?

Assessment: Mitigated

Single-founder risk is real but manageable: (1) Year 1 hiring plan addresses key person dependency, (2) documented processes and systems reduce operational risk, (3) advisory board provides continuity and guidance, (4) open-source code base could continue without founder.

Growth Plan

Year 1 Hiring

Role	Timeline	Focus
Lead Engineer	Month 3	Platform architecture, infrastructure scaling
Head of Marketing	Month 6	Content, community, paid acquisition
Head of Sales	Month 9	Enterprise accounts, partnerships
General Counsel	Month 12	Regulatory compliance, fund operations

Advisory Board (Planned)

Post-funding priority is establishing advisory board with:

Quantitative Trading Expert: Former hedge fund PM or CTO
Fintech Operator: CEO/COO of scaled fintech company
Enterprise Sales Leader: VP Sales from financial software company
Regulatory Expert: Former SEC/FINRA or compliance officer