Why I built Charta
I’ve spent 12 years in private equity at LeapFrog Investments and Apis Partners, investing in some of the fastest-growing fintech companies around the world, including three years living and working in Singapore.
Before I started that career, I passed Level I of the CFA® Program. It gave me the technical grounding I needed for the job: valuation, financial statements, and the discipline to work through a problem properly. I still use those skills every day.
But preparing for the exam was harder than it needed to be.
What frustrated me as a candidate
- Prep courses were expensive, and still are. Good preparation shouldn’t cost as much as it does.
- They weren’t adaptive. Every course took me through the syllabus in the same order, however well I already knew a topic. I spent hours on material I’d mastered, and not enough on the areas where I was losing marks.
- The videos were hard to follow. Too many were long, poorly produced, or explained things in a way that didn’t make them easier to understand.
- In-person classes didn’t fit my working life. They were costly, and fixed timetables didn’t work around a demanding job.
- It was hard to get help when I was stuck. If I didn’t understand something, there was rarely anyone to ask.
- The books didn’t suit how I learn. Dense text works for some people. It didn’t work well for me.
So I built the prep I wish I’d had
| What frustrated me | What Charta does instead |
|---|---|
| One-size-fits-all courses | A diagnostic that finds the outcomes you’re weakest on, and a study plan built around them |
| Wasted revision time | Practice and spaced review that focus on what you’re about to forget, not what you already know |
| Hard-to-follow videos | Short narrated walkthroughs with clear diagrams |
| Fixed class timetables | Study on your phone or laptop, around your own hours |
| No one to ask | An explanation for every wrong answer, plus an AI tutor for the questions you still have |
| Books that don’t suit you | Read, listen or watch, whichever way you learn best |
| High prices | Prep priced well below traditional courses |
The CFA® Program is just the start
Charta starts with the CFA® Program because that’s the qualification I know first-hand. The same approach works for any demanding professional exam. More qualifications will follow, so if you’re preparing for something else, tell us and we’ll let you know when it’s ready.
My goal is simple: help you spend your study time where it matters most, so you walk into the exam knowing you’re ready.
- Sahib
Start with the free diagnostic
LeapFrog Investments and Apis Partners are named as background only. Charta Learning is independent of both.