The AI Gap Is About To Get Violent

In Tuesday’s newsletter, I discussed the keynote speech I gave at my annual 8F Live conference. I asked a room of 100 7- and 8-figure agency owners how many had been building custom AI solutions, and roughly 60% raised their hands (at my live event). This BLEW my mind.

I've been feeling internal pressure for the last year that AI is a race to the bottom, and I was right. 

The gap is widening not only between the people who build and those who don't, but also between those who build well and correctly versus those who are just building to feel like they're not falling behind.

The Boldest Decision I’ve Made in Years

In March, I made a move that I never thought I would make. 

My agency was making good progress and we were doing well, but I didn't feel like we were moving at the speed that would capture the attention and value of the market like I knew we had the potential to.

So, I went to the most talented engineer and marketer I know and made him a bold offer. 

This founder has built and sold an 8-figure agency. He has over $25,000 in NVIDIA servers locally in his office. He has hundreds of SIM cards running all different types of local marketing solutions, and it's frickin' crazy. 

I made an offer on a whim: partner with me. 

To my absolute surprise I got a yes. 

I offered him more than I was ever comfortable offering in terms of equity in my company, with no upfront payment, on the multi-7-figure business. 

What I got in return is the ability to own half of a pie that will be far larger than if I didn't have an AI here.

If you’re trying to figure out how to actually implement custom AI workflows inside your agency (not just play with tools) my team and I are helping agencies build operational systems that increase capacity, improve margins, and reduce founder dependency.

Book a strategy call here →

AI Didn’t Change the Rules

We’re about a month into our collab, and I’m deeply reminded that the rules of the game haven't changed. 

Your business can only move as fast as its biggest constraint. And while these new and evolving tools can help alleviate those constraints faster, you still need the right strategy. You still need the right operators. You still need the right people.

Technology doesn’t magically fix bad leadership, bad recruiting, or bad execution. If anything, it exposes it faster.

We’ve hired a lot of engineers over the years. And we’ve hired a lot of the wrong engineers.

What I’m realizing now is that recruiting matters more than ever before because AI amplifies the person behind the keyboard.

An A-player with custom AI systems behind them is an entirely different species.

What used to be a 3-4x performance gap between an A-player and a B-player may now become a 10-20x gap.

Focus On First Principles

This month has been a stark reminder for me personally:

Focus on first principles.

Focus on alleviating constraints.

Focus on recruiting exceptional people.

And move like f’kin hell.

Because the founders who do are going to capture an absurd amount of value over the next few years.

Scaling revenue without fixing your finances is how founders end up with IRS notices, cash-flow surprises, and fake profit.

8 Figure Finance helps 7-figure operators clean up their books, optimize taxes, and install financial systems that actually scale.

If you want growth that sticks (not growth that explodes) start here.

Book a call with 8 Figure Finance →

The window is open right now, but it won’t stay open for long.

If you want help building custom AI workflows, improving operational efficiency, or preparing your agency for what the next 3-5 years will look like, book a call with our team here →

Want to scale your agency from 7 figures to 8, without adding more people, chaos, or complexity? We design custom AI-powered operating systems that replace fragile human workflows with scalable, tech-enabled systems your agency actually owns. The business keeps running, even when you’re not. Book a demo here!

Want us to run a diagnostics on which of the following systems you need the most help with and put together an easy-to-implement action plan to improve them? So you can finally escape agency prison and build your dream agency? Book a demo here!

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