Owners learn fastest from other owners.

Dear owner,

For the last few years I've worked on AI strategy and implementation for some of the world's largest banks, asset managers and private equity funds. Huge budgets, deep teams, and almost always the same request in the very first meeting:

"Before we decide anything, show us what our peers are doing."

The first ask, at a bank, an asset manager or a fund. Almost every time.

They didn't want another demo. They wanted to know where firms like theirs were putting AI, what it cost, and what had quietly been switched off. If the largest firms in the world want that, owners of established businesses need it even more, and have far fewer ways to get it.

The tools are the easy part. The hard part is knowing where in your workflow AI belongs, and where it doesn't. Knowing where not to use it often saves more than any tool you'll buy.

That judgment rarely comes from headlines or vendor pitches. It comes from peers. An honest conversation in a private room, or your numbers benchmarked anonymously against firms like yours.

That's what a circle is. A small, matched room of owners who share honestly, benchmark against each other and learn what works before they spend on it. Nobody in the room is selling anything, including us.

AI will keep changing every month. That isn't a reason to go faster alone. It's a reason to go through it together.

Joao AlvesFounder, Compounding Technologies