Abstract Essay, now in its sixth season, welcomes Thomas Addison—an accomplished AI strategist and serial entrepreneur as my special guest.

Thomas AddisonNot Just Talk! I have been there. Business Consulting Services for Growth Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), and Duke MBAThomas Addison is an exit planning advisor, AI strategist, and serial business owner who has been on every side of the transaction table. He lost $1.55M on a business re-entry that looked right on paper — then used what he learned to acquire a garage door company, make money and sell it, execute a 2x exit on a sandwich franchise, and build a federal contracting company with a GSA Schedule and SDVOSB designation. The loss wasn't the end. It was the education that made everything else possible.Today Thomas holds the CEPA certification from the Exit Planning Institute, a Duke MBA, and a CISSP, and owns a commercial PCB repair company that runs without him — because he built it that way deliberately. He works with business owners $2M+ in enterprise value to close the operational and technology gaps suppressing their valuation before a sale, using AI tools he has built and deployed in live businesses. He speaks on exit readiness, the real cost of owner dependency, and how AI is changing what buyers actually pay for.