Chad Michalek

01 · About

A bit about me

As a student

I study Finance and Digital Technology Management at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. I like the point where those two meet: using data to explain what's actually happening in a business. That's what I do now as an analyst at Delta Faucet, building the tools Finance and Sales use to forecast and track performance.

As a person

Tennis and pickleball are how I stay active and connect with my community. I've been coaching players around Greenfield since 2019. Outside of that, I make video essays about the stories I love, and I'm almost always playing something, whether it's a visual novel, a gacha game like Zenless Zone Zero, or Forza.

Where I'm headed

I'm open to finance roles across industries. The one I'd most like to end up in is games and entertainment. Stories like Clannad, Fate and When They Cry have given me direction on the path I want to take. Someday I'd like to help build original IP the way Cygames, HoYoverse and TYPE-MOON have.

02 · Experience

Where I've worked

May 2026 – PresentCarmel, IN

Trade Program Analyst, Data Analytics

Delta Faucet Company · promoted from intern, Aug 2026

Built a Power BI builder-performance tool used by ~200 people across Finance, Sales and 27 agencies, covering $8B+ in current and projected sales. Wrote DAX measures and set up automated SQL refreshes from Salesforce and Smartsheet that replaced manual reporting.
Built multi-year contract revenue forecasts by reconciling Salesforce contract data with Smartsheet completion records, and used them to evaluate agency performance against development goals.
Found that Finance and Sales were reporting different values for the same metrics because one used confirmed figures and the other estimates. Raised it with both teams, and both standardized on actual numbers.
Found that most builders' contracts run longer than forecast while completing the same number of homes, and traced the cause to a lack of incentive to finish on time.
Built automated data-integrity reports that cross-check SAP, Salesforce and Smartsheet. The first run caught 57 missing or duplicated builders, which were then corrected at the source.
Gathered requirements from Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Sales and outside partners to define KPIs, and wrote a role-based user guide for the tool.

Mar 2026 – PresentYouTube

Video Essayist & Producer

CJdriftin

Write and produce long-form video essays: 50,000+ views across five main videos, with three over 7,000 views each.
Used retention data to find that viewers were leaving during long intros. Restructured videos to open on the topic, which raised average view percentage from about 28–30% to 35%.

Aug 2019 – PresentGreenfield, IN

Founder & Coach

Michalek Tennis & Pickleball Lessons

Founded and run a coaching business with 20+ recurring clients. I handle pricing, scheduling, payments and client relationships.
Track retention and revenue trends to make pricing, scheduling and outreach decisions.

Aug 2024 – PresentIndiana University

Equity Research

Undergraduate Research & Trading Club

Researched three public companies and pitched investment recommendations to 30+ peers. Applied valuation methods in simulated trading competitions managing $100K+ in virtual assets.

May – Aug 2025Lawrence, IN

Guest Services & Event Operations

Old Oakland Golf Club

Coordinated guest services and tournament logistics for events serving 200+ members.

Education

Indiana University, Kelley School of Business
B.S. in Business, Finance and Digital Technology Management. Graduating May 2028, GPA 3.60.

Honors & Certifications

Kelley Direct Admit. IU Provost Scholarship. All-Indiana Project inaugural cohort, 1 of 20 students statewide. Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Citi Wealth Management Job Simulation (Forage, 2025). Business Analysis Foundations (LinkedIn Learning, 2024).

03 · Cases

Case studies

Independent strategy and financial analyses. Open any case to see the full write-up, deck and model.

Cygames · CyberAgentFall 2026

Growing an IP beyond the game

Two proposals to extend Cygames' franchises to new audiences: sports partnerships beyond horse racing, and an in-house Granblue Fantasy feature film at CygamesPictures. Each is backed by a full financial model.

Read the case →

Up next

More cases on the way

New and past case studies will be added here.

04 · Writing

Studying what makes stories last

On my YouTube channel, CJdriftin, I write and produce long-form video essays on narrative and character: how stories are built, why characters make the choices they do, and what keeps audiences invested.

Publications

Written pieces are in progress and will be listed here.

05 · Skills

What I work with, and how

Finance & Valuation

I built the full financial model behind my Cygames case, including investment, revenue scenarios and payback, and I value companies for stock pitches in my trading club.

Financial modeling · Forecasting · Valuation · Equity research

Data & BI

At Delta Faucet I built a Power BI tool covering $8B+ in sales, with DAX measures and SQL that refresh every morning from Salesforce and Smartsheet.

SQL · Power BI (DAX, Power Query) · Excel · Salesforce · Smartsheet

★ Six Sigma Yellow Belt

Process Improvement

I find where a process breaks and fix it at the source. My data-integrity checks caught 57 bad records on their first run.

Six Sigma · Root-cause analysis · Data quality · KPI design

Programming & Statistics

I use R for regression and hypothesis testing, and Python for personal projects.

Python · R · Regression · Hypothesis testing

Communication

I pitch stocks to 30+ peers, write user guides for 200 colleagues, and script video essays that reach 50K+ viewers.

PowerPoint · Presenting · Technical writing · Storytelling