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Guest Introduction
Gal Barzilay is the CEO and Co-Founder of Legacy AI, an AI-native technology platform built for business brokers and M&A advisors. Her background is in software engineering, including work at IBM in cybersecurity, WalkMe with B2B enterprise clients, and Monday.com, where she worked with the startup ecosystem. Her path into M&A was also personal: her parents owned a marble factory for 36 years, and their experience trying to sell the business gave her a firsthand view of how complex and emotional the process can be for an owner.
Summary
In this episode, John Marsh sits down with Gal Barzilay to talk about where AI is already changing the M&A process and where experienced human judgment still matters.
Gal explains how Legacy AI is designed to function as an operating system for business brokers and M&A advisors, bringing deal management, buyer and seller communication, marketing materials, financial processes, and other workflows into one environment. She and John discuss the practical applications already showing up in deals, from buyer screening and client FAQs to marketing materials and financial analysis.
But the conversation is just as much about the limits of AI. Gal compares it to a junior employee: useful for doing a meaningful amount of the work, but not something an advisor should trust blindly with sensitive documents or send directly to a buyer without review. Legal documents, LOIs, and later-stage deal work require even more caution.
They also look at what happens as buyers get faster. Private equity firms, strategics, and individual buyers have more tools to screen information and analyze opportunities quickly, which means they can come back with questions sooner.
The episode closes on one of the biggest mistakes Gal sees advisors making with AI: getting overwhelmed by everything it can do and then doing very little with it. Her recommendation is to start with the specific parts of the business that consume the most time, solve those use cases one by one, and build from there.
You’ll Learn
- How Legacy AI is being used across deal management, marketing materials, financial workflows, buyer and seller communication, and other parts of the transaction process.
- Why Gal recommends thinking of AI like a junior employee rather than a replacement for an experienced advisor.
- Why sensitive documents, legal information, and LOIs require additional review when AI is involved.
- Where Gal sees some of the strongest progress in AI today, including financial analysis.
- Why faster analysis on the buyer side is creating higher expectations for speed and responsiveness from M&A advisors.
- The mistake advisors make when AI feels too overwhelming, and how to start with individual use cases instead.
- Why Gal recommends Claude as a tool for M&A advisors who want to become more sophisticated in how they use AI.
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