Daniel Priestley's Two-Move Framework for Closing Deals You Have No Business Closing

Daniel Priestley walks through a problem most operators hit at some point: you land an opportunity that sits outside your current skill set or network, and you need to figure out how to actually execute on it. His answer comes down to two moves -- know the right structure, and use AI to fill the knowledge gaps you cannot fill yourself.

Move 1: The Advisory Board Play

Priestley needed AI expertise fast. Instead of hiring a full-time AI lead or trying to learn it himself, he created an advisory board and recruited Professor Andy Putto -- a PhD with 25 years in AI -- to join it. The structure gave Putto a clear role, a defined compensation, and a reason to say yes. Within two weeks, Priestley went from zero AI capability to having a senior advisor and a team of researchers working on his system.

The lesson: the deal itself was straightforward. What made it work was packaging the ask inside a structure the other party recognized and respected. "Would you like to join our advisory board?" lands differently than "Can you help me figure this out?" One sounds like an institution. The other sounds like a favor.

Move 2: AI as Your Virtual CFO

For people who do not have access to experienced dealmakers, Priestley argues the gap has closed dramatically. He walks through a specific ChatGPT workflow for structuring a business acquisition with no money down:

1. Frame the role. Prompt ChatGPT to act as a CFO with M&A experience.
2. Define the deal parameters. Tell it you want to acquire a 20-year-old business with seller financing and zero cash up front.
3. Get the structure. Let it lay out how to approach that transaction.
4. Draft heads of terms. Ask it to produce the actual document.
5. Self-review. Ask it to review its own draft for omissions or mistakes.
6. Iterate. Ask "Would you do anything differently?" and incorporate revisions.
7. Draft the outreach. Have it write the email to the finance director proposing the deal.

The workflow turns ChatGPT into a multi-pass collaborator rather than a one-shot answer machine. Each prompt builds on the last, and the self-review step catches errors that a single pass would miss.

Key Takeaways

• Structure unlocks access. An advisory board, a joint venture, a retainer -- the right container makes sophisticated people say yes to things they would otherwise ignore.
• Speed comes from knowing what structure to use. Priestley's AI advisory board took two weeks from idea to execution because the structure was already clear in his head.
• AI closes the knowledge gap on deal mechanics. You do not need a CFO on payroll to get CFO-level thinking on a transaction. ChatGPT with a well-crafted prompt sequence gets you a workable first draft.
• Multi-pass prompting beats single prompts. Draft, review, revise, then draft the outreach. Each step pressure-tests the one before it.
• The real skill is knowing what to ask for. Both moves -- the advisory board and the AI workflow -- depend on the operator knowing enough to frame the right question, even if they cannot answer it themselves.