Jimmy Bijlani, founder and CEO of AI Momentum Partners, joins Stu Willson to explain why so much AI spend never reaches the P&L. He works almost entirely with PE-backed companies, underwriting the AI opportunity against the P&L before anyone spends a cent, then staying in the building to deliver the margin. The conversation covers why "AI adoption" is a feeling not a number, the shift from the rule of 40 to the rule of 60, who should actually own AI, why adoption metrics can hide a structural zero, and how one automation on software the client already owned produced about $700K in NPV.

Chapters:
00:00 – Activity vs. a real AI program
00:27 – Who Jimmy is and who AMP serves
01:21 – The one takeaway: tie AI to the P&L
03:08 – What AI Momentum Partners actually does
05:24 – Where the AI-to-profit gap first showed up (inside Google)
07:52 – Who should own AI? The Chief AI Officer problem
11:26 – Where to start: the P&L before the platform
14:31 – Case study: a PE-backed vertical SaaS company
17:29 – Why the CEO brought them in
18:14 – What the diligence found: 90% licensed, 60% legacy
22:00 – Telling people the hard truth without losing them
25:34 – Getting managers onside when headcount is at stake
28:42 – Why they built on tools the client already owned
32:00 – The first automation: pro-serve docs and $700K NPV
34:08 – The after-state and the real return
36:49 – What "sticking around to deliver" looks like
40:16 – Why PE targets don't connect to AI work
42:28 – What boards will demand in a few years
45:28 – Close

🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3OlTNvh2FGlE4VJyCrMJVE

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