E275: How AI is Changing Small Business Forever – Jonathan Mast on Scaling After the Acquisition

How2Exit: Buy, Don't Build - M&A of Small Businesses

Watch Here: https://youtu.be/Q2QTYAN7Juo
About the Guest:
Jonathan Mast isn’t your typical AI guru. At 55, with a Gandalf-like beard and 20 years in digital marketing, he’s positioned himself as the “voice of reason” in a landscape full of overhype and under-delivery. His company, White Beard Strategies, teaches business owners how to use AI without losing their minds—or their margins. Mast’s approach blends deep industry experience with a no-nonsense communication style. He’s not selling pipe dreams; he’s offering a toolkit.
Summary:
In this refreshingly candid episode of the How2Exit Podcast, Ron Skelton flips the usual script. Instead of diving into how to buy or sell companies, he sits down with Jonathan Mast—founder of White Beard Strategies and self-declared AI pragmatist—to tackle a more pressing question: Now that you've bought a business, how do you scale it with AI? With a long white beard and a sharper edge on reality than most AI evangelists or fearmongers, Mast offers a grounded, practical view of how artificial intelligence is changing the game for business owners. From cutting costs without cutting quality, to using AI as a "force multiplier" for human creativity, the conversation strips away the hype and lays down a roadmap that business buyers and owners can actually use.
Key Takeaways:

1. AI is an “Easier Button,” Not an Easy Button: Mast cautions that AI won’t magically solve all your problems—but it will streamline, accelerate, and amplify your existing business processes if used right.
2. Prompt Engineering is Just Delegation 2.0: The most effective prompts treat AI like a new hire—tell it what role it’s playing, what task you need, what the output should look like, and give it context. Then ask, “Do you have any questions?”
3. AI Won’t Replace Humans—But Humans Who Use AI Will Replace Those Who Don’t: The real risk isn’t AI taking your job—it’s your competitor using AI better than you and outpacing your entire operation.
4. Agents Are the Next Frontier: Current tools still need your input, but AI agents—autonomous task-doers with goals instead of prompts—are coming. These could revolutionize business ops by handling repetitive, logic-based tasks with little oversight.
5. AI Is a Skill Multiplier: A mediocre copywriter becomes competent with AI. A great copywriter becomes world-class. AI doesn’t level the playing field—it widens the gap between skilled and unskilled.
6. Bias Is Inevitable—Just Like in Humans: Every AI model reflects the biases of its creators. That doesn’t invalidate its usefulness, but it does mean you need to be vigilant about aligning its output with your brand’s tone and truth.
7. Business Intelligence on Steroids: Jonathan envisions a near future where agents will analyze data from every platform—Google Analytics, YouTube, LinkedIn—and proactively suggest growth strategies without human prompting.
8. Start Small, Start Now: You don’t need to be an engineer or visionary to benefit. Begin with basic tasks like drafting emails, summarizing reports, or analyzing transactions—and build from there.

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Contact Jonathan on
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanjmast/
Website: http://whitebeardstrategies.com/
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