Sales calls · negotiations · partner talks

Grow the pie: the Kushner deal playbook

What Jared and Josh Kushner do in deals, turned into lines you can say on a call for the AI OS roll-ups. Each card gives the line, why it works, and the source you can open.

"Five years from now, what has to happen for both of us to say, 'I'm glad we did this'?"

Jared Kushner

Real estate → White House → Affinity Partners
  • Ran the family real estate business. Learned partnership in the 2008 crash.
  • White House: the Abraham Accords. Went around formal channels and built direct ties with leaders.
  • Affinity Partners: one of three buyers of Electronic Arts (about $55B), with Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's PIF.
  • Brain Co: built with Elad Gil to put AI into big companies and governments.
  • His style: go into the details, talk to the people who disagree, be the partner you'd want, solve for every side.

Josh Kushner

Thrive Capital → Thrive Holdings
  • Thrive Capital: early in Instagram, GitHub, Stripe. Led OpenAI's round at $157B (Oct 2024).
  • Few big bets, held long. Backs the founder first. Capital is a commodity; trust is the business.
  • Thrive Holdings is your model, already running: buys accounting firms (50+) and IT firms (about 20), puts its own engineers inside. Reported raise about $2B at a $12B value.
  • Owners sell a majority and keep a minority. OpenAI researchers now work inside the companies.
  • His style: speed plus conviction, one decision maker, long hold, hire the hungriest.
The one idea from both: don't win this deal. Win the next ten. The seller, the operator, the investor and the broker should all be better off for working with you, because you will need every one of them again.

Lines for the call

Josh's buy box, for each AI OS roll-up

Thrive Holdings picks industries that pass all four (TNW). Run every roll-up idea through the same four.

LargeBig enough that ten firms is a start, not the whole market.
FragmentedThousands of small owners, no giant. Buying is cheap.
Mission-criticalClients can't stop paying: taxes, IT, compliance, HVAC.
Operationally complexLots of repeat human work AI can cut, like a third off each tax return.
Josh's roll-up, up close

Inside Thrive Holdings

The closest live version of your AI OS roll-up. Launched 29 April 2025 as a permanent capital vehicle. Raised over $3B in total; the August 2026 round valued it at $12B. Owns more than 70 businesses. OpenAI became an owner in December 2025 and sends its own engineers in.

Their companies

PlatformWhat it isSource
Current (was Crete)Accounting firms. 50+ firms, 2,000+ people. CEO Steve Stagner. Picks firms for culture and "entrepreneurial spirit", firms that hit a growth wall, not for size or client list.Accounting Today ↗
Shield Technology PartnersIT firms (MSPs). Launched June 2025 with $100M+ from Thrive Holdings and ZBS Partners; 20 MSPs by Sept 2026. CEO Jim Siders, ex-Palantir CIO. Buys founder-led MSPs that have stalled. No quota.Channel Dive ↗
Built-environment servicesNew platform (Aug 2026): the technical and permit work to get buildings and infrastructure approved, built, certified and run.Thrive Holdings ↗

Their offer to an owner

TermWhat they doSource
OwnershipThey buy a majority (control). The owner keeps meaningful equity. An owner who wants 100% cash today is turned away: they want owners who think the firm is worth far more in ten years.Long Humans ↗
LeadershipThe owner keeps leading. They don't clear out management or force change from the top.Long Humans ↗
BrandStays local. Clients keep calling the same person. Their pitch: local trust, national capability.Long Humans ↗
ToolsNo rip-and-replace. Shield's AI platform (Forge) sits on top of the tools the firm already uses.Channel Dive ↗
Hold periodForever. No fund to wind down; profits are reinvested.Long Humans ↗
AdoptionOpt-in. A tool built with one firm is offered to the others; nothing is forced on anyone.Accounting Today ↗

How they run it

Sit with the accountants or technicians and find the one bottleneck.
Engineers go on site and keep coming back. At one firm, eight engineers took the train out together.
Build on the real workflow and test with the real staff.
Roll it out to every firm they own in that industry.

Sources: Long Humans, The Pioneers, MSP Summit keynote.

Results they report

WhereResultSource
AccountingOne partner's tax prep: 180 hours down to 15.Long Humans ↗
Accounting7,000 returns through their Tax AI; about a third less time per return.TNW ↗
ITForge closes tickets about 25× faster than technicians; one firm cut resolution time about 70%.Channel Dive ↗
ITThe most reused AI agent reconciles billing, not tickets.Channel Dive ↗

These are Thrive's own numbers, not audited.

Case: RRBB, New Jersey. A 65-year-old accounting firm and the first to join Current. Current bought a majority; CEO Dave Roth and his partners kept a good chunk and he stayed CEO. He wanted some money off the table and a bigger future. RRBB now buys smaller firms itself, and it piloted the Tax AI in the 2026 tax season. (The Pioneers ↗)
What this means for your offer. Thrive turns away owners who want all cash. Your share swap (10–30% cash day one, the rest in shares) is the same filter. One difference to say out loud: Thrive holds forever; your plan is an IPO. Tell owners that, and sell the IPO as their second payday.

What not to copy

About the sources. "Your notes" means your Apple Note "Jared Kushner book", written from his memoir Breaking History. Every other line is written in your voice from what the brothers said or did. The link shows where it comes from; the words are not a direct quote.