One of the Few People Getting AI Right

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Hey, it’s David

Welcome back to M&A from the Plane with quick stories and insights drawn from the many miles I log in the air talking to business owners, founders, and dealmakers.

…This Really Stuck The Landing

I’ve sat across from Chris Muccio in what feels like hundreds of meetings discussing strategy sessions, ops reviews, post-close debriefs. You name it.

He’s someone I’ve known and trusted for years. Smart. Precise. Zero fluff.

So, during a recent lunch meeting, prompted by a notification he got on his phone, we started talking about how AI was showing up in the field.

Tools, use cases, the usual mess of dashboards and half-built automations…

During that discussion, he said something that stuck with me:

“The winners aren’t automating more. They’re just automating the right five minutes.”

That line has replayed in my head more than I expected.

Who Actually Is Chris?

Chris has been around the trenches, equal parts operator, strategist, and analytics guy.

He’s built companies, scaled teams, and solved messy problems long before AI was the “buzzword of the month.”

…But lately, he’s been deep in that world. Not as a futurist. As someone helping real businesses figure out what’s worth paying attention to.

He doesn’t build tools for fun. He builds them to solve what’s slowing people down.

He’s not guessing.

You’ve seen his name here before. You’ll probably see it again.

Why I’m Mentioning This Now 

Lately, more business leaders, owners, and founders are asking me where to start with AI.

Not the academic version. The practical one.

The version where you want to move faster, shrink the drag in your day, and not blow up what’s already working.

Chris isn’t chasing hype or trying to rebrand every workflow as a breakthrough. But he’s been ahead of this curve longer than most, and he sees the difference between what’s interesting and what’s actually useful.

He’s the guy I check in with when I want to understand where this is really going.

And more often than not, Chris gives me something I didn’t see coming.

For example, last week he showed me a tool that didn’t just summarize meeting notes, it laid out the strategy like a conversation between a team of C-level advisors.

Didn’t expect that, and quite frankly, haven’t forgotten it since.

The Takeaway

I’m not trying to pitch or have you sign up for anything.

I just figured, if you’re hearing a lot of AI noise right now, it helps to know whose signal is worth tuning into.

You’ll probably hear more from Chris in the future. Now you know why.

But if you want to learn more about Chris, hear his thoughts on AI, or even start a conversation with him, I’ll leave his LinkedIn below.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismuccio/

And if you do connect with him, I think you will be very impressed with what he has to say.

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David