You're the furthest ahead on AI in every room you walk into.
Nobody at your agency is ahead of you. So nobody can pull you forward. You learn alone, by reading, guessing, and shipping.
Meanwhile the calls get more expensive. Headcount. Roles. Pricing. What to rebuild.
You need a room where some people match you and some are past you. This is that room.
Eight owners, open screens, real numbers.
Eight agency owners. Two days. Everyone demos their best AI system live, then gets twenty minutes of blunt feedback. No talks, no panels, no audience.
You see the agents, tools, and org charts nobody posts publicly, with the real costs and the failures, because one rule protects it all: what gets shared here stays here.
By the power of a very good group chat, every tool and prompt from the weekend goes home with you in one shared doc.
The bar is what you have shipped inside your own company.
You should be here if
- You own the agency, the payroll, and the P&L.
- Your team uses an AI system you shipped, every week.
- You could demo live tomorrow, no slides.
- You will say your real numbers out loud.
- You want blunt feedback from real peers.
This isn't for you if
- Your AI experience is prompting ChatGPT well.
- You want to learn the basics.
- You sell AI more than you run it.
- You need slides to explain your work.
- You plan to post about what you saw.
The questions this room answers.
Owners ask these privately because the public answers are marketing. Here they get worked in the open, screens and invoices out.
💰 Money
- Who is actually saving six figures, and where it lands on the P&L
- What to charge for AI work
- What the stack really costs per head
- What nobody would buy again
👥 People
- The roles you still need, and the ones already gone
- Who can be retrained, and how fast
- Building an AI employee that works without a babysitter
- Who owns the systems when the builder leaves
🛠️ Stack
- Is the Mac Mini in the closet worth it, or is that a hobby
- Tools running on real client work, not in demo videos
- Local vs. paying per token
- Build vs. buy, from people who paid for the wrong answer
🛡️ Delivery & Risk
- What breaks when client data enters the loop
- Who QAs machine output, and who signs off
- What clients get told, and what goes in the contract
- What to rebuild, what to leave alone
Nobody here is selling anything, so nobody rounds their numbers up.
Two nights. Every seat demos.
🏰 Arrive Saturday
4:00 pm check-in. Welcome hour, private dinner, lightning intros at the table.
⚔️ Demo Blocks
Eight slots. 20 minutes live demo, 20 minutes feedback. Hard stops.
⚡ Steal This Hour
Five minutes each, one screen. Favorite tools, prompts, workflows, shown fast.
🔥 Hot Seats
Bring the problem you are stuck on. Seven sharp people, 15 minutes on it.
🤝 Commitments Round
Everyone names the one thing they will build in 30 days. We check on a group call.
Everything shared stays in the room.
No screenshots. No posts. No "a friend of mine built" threads. Break the trust and you join Leak-Or in exile, with no second invitation. Agreeing to this is part of registering.
The room stays open for 90 days.
Most retreats end at the group photo. This one runs through late January.
💬 A private Slack channel for the eight
Runs 90 days after the retreat. Post at 11pm, someone who solved it answers.
📜 The weekend's full stack, written down
Every tool, prompt, vendor, and cost figure, captured live in one doc.
📞 A 30-day check-in call
Everyone reports on their commitment. Saying it to these seven is why it gets built.
🗡️ Seven owners who pick up the phone
They have seen your systems and know your numbers. That outlasts the 90 days.
Retreat
He has the power (of the terminal).
Jay founded Business Builders in 1999, runs Agency Builders, a community of 400+ agency leaders, and builds AI systems daily. He teaches what he learns at aiwithjay.com.
For years he has watched owners ask the same expensive questions in private, then answer them alone. This puts eight of them at one table.
One price. You book the flight and show up.
A private house outside Nashville. One flat price. No splitting checks.
🏰 Lodging & Room
- Two nights, your own bedroom
- Demo room, screen, wifi
- Ride to Saturday dinner
- Pre-read packet, stack doc, 90-day Slack
🍖 Food & Drink
- Saturday: dinner
- Sunday: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks
- Every day: coffee and/or bourbon
- Monday: breakfast before you head out
Not included: your flight.
Three steps and you're in the room.
Apply below
Two minutes. Show us what you run and what you have built.
Bring your best build
Prep a 20-minute live demo. No slides. Bring the numbers. We handle the rest.
Leave sharper
The group's tools, a 30-day commitment, and seven owners in your Slack for 90 days.
Apply to attend.
FAQ
What does it cost?
One flat price covers everything except your flight. That is two nights' lodging with your own bedroom, Saturday dinner, Sunday breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, coffee and bourbon every day, Monday breakfast before you leave, the demo room, the pre-read packet, and the 90-day Slack channel. The exact number comes with your invite.
Is this only for agency owners?
It is built for owners and operators who carry a team and a P&L. The hardest questions here are about headcount, margin, and pricing. If you run ops or product inside a company like that and you ship the AI systems, you fit. Solo consultants selling AI advice do not.
What happens after the weekend?
You get a private Slack channel with the other seven that runs 90 days past the retreat, the shared doc with every tool and cost figure mentioned, and a group call 30 days out to report on the commitment you made in the closing round.
Do I have to share my real numbers?
Yes. Margin, headcount, and what the stack actually costs are the whole point, and the one rule is what makes that safe. If you cannot talk about those in a closed room, this is the wrong weekend.
How big is the group?
Eight people total, including Jay. That size gives every person a full 45-minute demo block and still fits the whole group at one dinner table.
Can I bring a colleague or plus-one?
No. Every seat demos, and every seat was invited by name.
How do I get in?
Apply above. A human reads every application. Strong applicants who miss this year top the list for the next one.
Is any of it recorded?
No. Nothing is recorded, streamed, or photographed except the group photo at the end. That is what makes the demos honest.
