Financial Intelligence. Nikola Jakic from Compass App AI combines your financial data with context to give you confident decision-making.

Kevin and Graham introduce themselves and welcome their guest Nikola Jakic. Nikola is the founder of a financial AI tool called Compass AI. He provides background on how he came up with the idea for Compass AI based on his experience as a CEO of a software company. Then he discusses the limitations he faced in managing the financial aspects of the business.

Nikola explains that Compass AI combines a company's financial data with business context. Doing this provides insights and recommendations to help founders and fractional CFOs make better decisions. The tool can connect to accounting systems like Xero and QuickBooks, categorise transactions, generate forecasts, and allow users to interact with the data through natural language prompts.

Kevin and Graham discuss how Compass AI is positioned to serve small and medium-sized businesses. This as opposed to targeting the enterprise market that many financial software tools focus on. Nikola shares that his initial target audience was founders, but he has also found interest from fractional CFOs who can use the tool to provide more value to their clients.

The group explores Compass AI's competitive landscape, noting that while there are tools targeting CFOs and larger enterprises. He explains there is less focus on the small business market that Nikola is pursuing. They discuss Nikola's strategy of starting with founders and growing with them as their businesses scale, rather than chasing the enterprise market directly.

Graham and Kevin provide a positive recap of the discussion and encourage Nikola to continue focusing on his target market and leveraging the natural, conversational style he demonstrated during the podcast. They express enthusiasm for the product and suggest ways Nikola could use snippets of the conversation for marketing purposes.

Graham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin Appleby

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

John Bush has created a way for businesses to be seen by Large Language Models called Answer Engine Optimisation.

Kevin and Graham discuss reaching their 500th episode of The Next 100 Days podcast. They reflect on their journey over the past 10 years and how the podcast has evolved. They introduce their guest, John Bush, an expert in "Answer Engine Optimisation" (AEO). John will discuss how businesses can optimise their content for AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT.

John shares his background, including his experience in telecom, startups, and cloud infrastructure. He explains how he became interested in AEO after seeing the impact of AI on his marketing consultant friend's business. John describes the process of developing an AEO analysis tool. The tool evaluates websites on factors like visibility, accessibility, and authority. The outcome means businesses can make their content more searchable and usable by large language models.

Kevin and John discuss the declining importance of traditional Google search and the growing prominence of AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT. They explore how businesses need to adapt their content and website structure to be more easily understood and referenced by these new search engines, rather than just optimising for Google.

John demonstrates a tool his team has developed that can automatically analyse a company's competitive landscape and provide insights based on the data, without relying on the company to manually gather and synthesise the information. He explains how this type of AI-powered analysis can be applied to various business functions, such as RFP responses and lifetime value calculations.

Kevin raises concerns about the potential risks of using AI-generated content, such as the ability to verify the accuracy and provenance of the information. John discusses efforts to address these issues, including watermarking content and providing audit trails for AI-powered decisions.

John and Kevin discuss the broader implications of AI in the enterprise. They cover the importance of data stewardship, security, and the role of human expertise in augmenting AI capabilities. They explore how AI can be used to automate and enhance various business processes, while also highlighting the need to carefully manage the integration of these technologies.

Kevin and Graham reflect on the evolution of The Next 100 Days podcast over the past 10 years, noting the shift in focus towards AI and technology. They express their enthusiasm for continuing the podcast and exploring the latest developments in this rapidly changing landscape.

Graham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you...

Dan Norcross helps landlords, investors, and agents across Cheshire and the North West maximise property Income. There is hassle-free income and exceptional returns through expert property management, guaranteed rent, and serviced accommodation solutions. Tune into episode 499 of The Next 100 Days podcast to get the insights from Dan Norcross.

Kevin and Graham welcome Dan Norcross to the podcast. Dan introduces himself as a property entrepreneur who has been in the business for less than a year. He has already built up a portfolio of 6 rental properties. He explains that he is focused on the "rent to serviced accommodation" model. This provides short-term housing for contractors working on a major construction project in the local area.

Dan discusses how he has been able to scale his rent to serviced model quickly. He leverages investor financing to acquire additional properties. He explains the economics of the model, noting that he is able to generate around £1,000-£2,000 per month in profit per property. Dan also shares his plans to expand into other property investment strategies like title splits and purchase lease options.

Dan describes how he has been able to raise significant investor capital, around £400,000 over the past 6 months, to fund his various property deals. He discusses his approach to pitching deals and structuring the investments to provide attractive returns for his investors, often in the 30-50% range.

Dan shares that he is now looking to take on larger, more complex property deals, including a title split project on a block of flats in Devon. He explains the mechanics of the title split strategy and how it can add significant value. Dan also discusses a purchase lease option he is pursuing on a hotel in Scotland, which will involve raising £140,000 from investors.

Kevin raises the question of what would happen if something were to happen to Dan, noting that he is a single point of failure in the business. Dan acknowledges this as a potential risk and agrees that he should consider putting safeguards in place, such as partnering with a management firm to ensure business continuity in the event of an unexpected absence.

Graham and Kevin reflect on the interesting and innovative property investment strategies that Dan has shared, noting that it has opened their eyes to new models beyond the traditional buy-to-let approach. They express admiration for Dan's ability to structure win-win deals that benefit investors, tenants, and himself, and wish him continued success in his property ventures.

Graham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin Appleby

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing...