Felipe Corcuera: From Goldman Sachs Banker to Agentic AI Shop Entrepreneur

Felipe Corcuera’s path to entrepreneurship began in the tense world of investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Born and raised in Mexico City, Corcuera started as an engineer before transitioning to finance, splitting his time between Mexico City and New York, working on billion-dollar M&A deals.

While at Goldman, he learned about search funds—a model where entrepreneurs raise capital to acquire a single company. The concept intrigued him, leading him to leave banking for an MBA at MIT Sloan. There, he interned at Relay Investments, a prominent search fund investor, which he eventually joined full-time after graduation.

For three and a half years, Corcuera evaluated hundreds of deals from the investor’s seat. However, he realized that the best investors were former operators who had "war stories" to tell. Craving that frontline experience, he partnered with Antonio Elosua, a fellow MBA, to launch a traditional search fund in 2021.

Corcuera and his partner took a unique approach to their search. Instead of running two parallel funnels to double their deal flow, they built a single "macro funnel" that played to their complementary strengths.

Top of Funnel: Elosua, whom Corcuera describes as a natural salesman, handled lead generation, initial outreach, and intro calls. He never touched an NDA or a financial model.

Bottom of Funnel: Corcuera, with his banking background, took over once an NDA was signed. He handled financial modeling, due diligence, and deal structuring.

This specialization allowed them to reach out to over 600 companies per week. They focused heavily on lead quality, tracking the conversion rate from intro calls to signed NDAs (aiming for 20%).

In December 2022, just 12 days after the public release of ChatGPT, Corcuera and his partner acquired Beecker, a process automation services firm based in The Woodlands, Texas.

The Business at Acquisition:

The Deal: They paid 1.6x Revenue, valuing the business at approximately $8.5 million. The deal structure included a $1.7 million seller note and $1.2 million in rolled equity, with the rest funded by investor equity.

Corcuera justified the revenue multiple because heavy reinvestment into R&D artificially depressed EBITDA.

Upon taking over, Corcuera’s immediate priority was improving the quality of revenue. The business was heavily reliant on non-recurring project work (30% of revenue). To fix this, they introduced "Robots as a Service" (RaaS).

Instead of charging a large upfront fee (e.g., $20,000) for a custom automation project, Beecker began charging a smaller setup fee (e.g., $5,000) combined with a monthly subscription (e.g., $1,000/month) for ongoing support and maintenance.

This transition was painful. It created a "J-curve" effect where immediate cash flow dipped because revenue was pushed into the future.

But the strategy worked. By late 2024, non-recurring revenue had dropped to ~7-8%, while recurring revenue (RaaS + AI agents) grew to ~40%.

While ChatGPT’s release initially seemed like a novelty, the rise of Agentic AI in 2024 fundamentally shifted Beecker’s landscape. Customers began demanding AI solutions, but few were ready for them.

Corcuera leaned into the disruption. He established an internal AI Lab, hiring AI and Machine Learning engineers to build proprietary tools. This investment allowed the company to move beyond basic robotic process automation (RPA) into sophisticated AI Agents.

Unlike traditional bots that follow rigid rules, AI Agents use Large Language Models (LLMs) to handle complex, unstructured tasks. Beecker now sells pre-trained "modules" that can handle specific workflows, like employee onboarding. For example, an AI agent can read a driver’s license, update the ERP system, register the employee with the IRS, and enroll them in insurance, correcting human errors along the way.

This shift has unlocked a new, high-value revenue stream. AI Agent contracts are priced based on value and transaction volume, commanding significantly higher multiples than traditional IT services.

Corcuera views Beecker as a long-term hold. He argues that the value created in years 6 and 7 of a holding period often exceeds the value created in years 1 through 5 due to compounding.

"I’d rather reinvest everything and have a tougher story to tell today," Corcuera said in an appearance on the Acquiring Minds podcast.

Because he isn't looking for a quick exit, he is comfortable reinvesting almost all profits back into the business. This depresses current free cash flow but builds a formidable engine for future growth. Corcuera is betting that the pain of transformation will yield exponential rewards in the decade to come.