I am genuinely excited about agentic AI.

Capability is compounding faster than most institutions can adapt. When you experience how much intelligence has condensed in such a short period of time, it is humbling to realize how many years I spent on projects and workflows that AI can now execute in minutes on its own.

That realization forces a harder question.

If execution is becoming abundant, where does advantage migrate?

The Scarcity Shift

Agentic AI is compressing the parts of the job that used to be the moat. Research. Underwriting. Market Knowledge. Lead Generation. Proprietary Software. Organizational Structure.

Those features still matter, but they are being commoditized for everyone. And when something becomes a commodity, it stops being the differentiator.

Three things will not become commodities:

• Wisdom and judgment

• Experiences

• Relationships

We saw a version of this during the pandemic. The world moved online, and the response was not less human connection. It was more. Concerts, travel, gatherings, every form of in-person experience surged once people could access it again. Digital compression did not replace the human need. It amplified it.

AI will accelerate that same pattern professionally. As the line between AI-generated and authentically human work starts to converge, being genuinely human becomes the new certificate of authenticity. Warren Buffett would call it a moat.

The question is how to use that moat to drive value.

The Intelligent Fool

There is an old concept worth revisiting: the intelligent fool. Just because you have knowledge of a thing, or even a great idea, does not mean you understand how to apply it. Especially in a human context.

AI can produce a strategic SWOT analysis of four unique capital structures and a recommended preferred equity structure. It can do it well. But it cannot read that your Partner has never done a “Pref” deal before and is fundamentally and philosophically against it.

Knowing how a project should flow, when to push, when to pull, when to stay quiet. These are the judgments that will command a premium going forward. AI can give you the analysis. Wisdom tells you what to do with it. Judgment tells you when.

One Deal That Made the Lesson Obvious

Here is one concrete example, end to end.

I connected with an owner’s representative tied to a multi-million dollar transaction. AI helped me compress my initial market research on the asset and comp set, so instead of spending an hour preparing, I spent that time in a real conversation with the rep.

That conversation moved offline.

The follow-up led to a meeting with the rep’s colleague, who also worked for the owner. AI helped me draft a clear, structured summary of my thesis on the asset in advance, so I showed up prepared to listen, not scramble.

That meeting led to an introduction to the owner himself.

The owner invited me to make an offer on a subset of his assets. The diligence arrived. Mountains of it. I processed and analyzed the diligence with AI assistance. Feasibility models, rent comps, capital expenditure scenarios. It still took real time to verify, because you still have to check the work. But AI compressed the cycle by days.

I was able to scan the market quickly and intelligently. I was able to provide real value to the owner on how the market perceived his assets. Not the story. Not the hope. What the market would clear.

I turned around an offer fast. I showed the math.

After the analysis, my offer was too low. We were about 20% apart.

I did not stretch the underwriting to force a deal. I explained the thesis. I showed the work. I stayed professional.

A relationship developed.

Later, the owner hired me to Advise him on the transaction and informed me of multiple other opportunities, inviting me to pursue those as well.

The Capacity Realization

That is when something clicked about how I evaluate AI.

The value was not the tools, although there is real value in the tools.

The value was the capacity the tools created.

Capacity to advise the owner as a buyer, not just a bidder. Capacity to move fast and stay accurate. Capacity to stay engaged as a professional counterpart. And capacity to build a relationship that can turn into years of business.

That same capacity applies to operations. When AI compresses the time spent on reporting, variance analysis, and investor communications, the time goes back into the team, into guest experience, into the operational relationships that drive NOI.

AI does not own assets. People do. And people run them.

If you are adopting agentic AI, do not just measure productivity.

Measure what it frees you to do.

If AI saves you five hours a week and you reinvest that time into deeper relationships, better communication, and higher trust with owners and partners, the return compounds.

If AI saves you five hours and you just produce more output, the return decays.

Execution is becoming abundant. Trust is not. Optionality is not.

What is one workflow you have compressed with AI, and what are you doing with the time it gives back?

-Damon

P.S. If AI is creating capacity in your workflow and you want to talk through how to deploy that advantage into your capitalization, operations, or portfolio growth strategy,

​Schedule a call or reply to this email. I advise owners and operators on extended-stay acquisitions, capital structure, and portfolio strategy. I get deals done and can help you grow.