Fix the Data Before the AI

Jay Bourgana built a real estate brokerage to 350 million dollars in sales volume in four years, sold it, and has since been on both sides of about 30 acquisitions. He buys businesses that live in the owner's head, and his rule for AI is simple: fix the data first.

Jay Bourgana took a real estate brokerage from zero to 350 million dollars in sales volume in four years, then sold 70 percent of it to a much larger firm in 2018. Since then he has been on both sides of about 30 acquisitions, buying plumbing, HVAC, and IT companies. Today he runs Foresight Partners.

His favorite deals are what he calls flywheel businesses: no website, no marketing, customers who keep calling anyway, strong margins, and a founder who carries the whole operation in his head. Before he even signs a letter of intent, he starts pulling that knowledge out.

His warning for owners racing toward AI: fix the data first. Most companies run on duplicate records, spreadsheets stitched together by hand, and reports that arrive a month late. Put AI on top of that and it just moves faster in the wrong direction.

In this episode

• How a manufacturing mindset built a brokerage that answered new leads in seconds
• The cold email he almost deleted, and selling 70 percent of his company 30 days later
• Why he buys businesses that only work because the founder is inside them
• The three engines he maps before closing: clients, talent, and capital
• Why owners grow to five million, hate it, and shrink back to three
• People, then process, then technology, and why speeding up the machine shakes everything loose
• Data before AI: closed loop companies and the cost of lagging numbers
• Why middle managers become the human in the loop for AI agents
• Who should sell to him, and who should not
• Kids Business School, teaching entrepreneurship to kids 7 to 17

Timestamps

1. 00:00Zero to 350 million in four years
2. 00:52Bringing manufacturing thinking to real estate
3. 03:22How owners can use data better
4. 06:41Speed to lead, then and now
5. 09:11The cold email that sold the company
6. 10:43Retiring, then getting back in
7. 12:02What he does first when he buys a business
8. 14:02When everything lives in the owner's head
9. 16:11Buying to own forever
10. 17:12Why owners shrink back to three million
11. 20:00People, process, technology, and the shake
12. 21:01How he uses AI and why data comes first
13. 23:07The four zones of AI
14. 24:53Why middle managers become the human in the loop
15. 28:1375 states in a 50 state CRM
16. 31:46If you need Excel, something is wrong
17. 32:35The company that could not tell him its churn
18. 34:06Who should sell to him, and who should not
19. 37:50What is next, and Kids Business School
20. 39:39Where to find Jay

About Jay Bourgana

Jay Bourgana is the founder of Foresight Partners, which buys and operates founder led home services and professional services businesses. He built and sold a real estate brokerage, has been on both sides of about 30 acquisitions, and is building Kids Business School, an entrepreneurship program for kids 7 to 17.

Acquisitions Collective acquisitionscollective.biz

Kids Business School kidsbusinessschool.com