For leaders of real estate finance and investment companies.
Empower your business to harness machine intelligence.
We teach your people to harness AI and redeploy their time to cutting costs, growing revenue and reaching your strategic goals.
90
days
Your people are your most valuable asset.
In 90 days, you'll have an AI strategy tied to your business goals, a prioritized implementation plan, and people across your company learning to put AI to work in ways you can measure.
Our goal is to help you increase the value of your business by making it more profitable and more automated.
01 The Computer v.2
The computer has changed. The way we work with it should change too.
For decades we've worked with computers through a keyboard, a mouse, a screen and a set of applications. AI changes that relationship. A computer can now understand what you say, work with what you show it, help you work a problem through, and carry out tasks under your direction.
Every company I talk to still does work by hand that agents could take over, freeing its people for higher-value work. People experiment with tools, but the way the business operates has barely changed.
The opportunity is much bigger than using AI to write an email or summarize a document. It's changing how your people work with computers, how they work with each other, and how the computers work with each other. That's what we help you do.
02 The human side
The human side of AI
We focus on making your people more capable.
We teach your people to direct the machine: to manage it, to structure working with it, to judge its output, and to set the rules it works under. People stay in control. They review and approve the work, make the decisions, and own the results.
This works with the people you already have and the AI tools anyone can buy. What changes is how your people work with those tools. And that capability stays with your business as the technology evolves.
03 What we do
What we do: The Harness Method™
We've developed The Harness Method™ to make AI adoption a structured, business-led process. We begin with a 90-day program that combines a business assessment, an AI strategy and an implementation plan with The Harness Method™ Workforce AI Training Sprint, applied to your company's own work.
It takes real commitment from the top to take a company into the future, which is why the person we work with is the leader, the owner or the CEO. At the end of the program, our aim is for you to be able to say three things to your stakeholders that you likely can't say today.
1
We have a clear AI strategy.
An AI strategy aligned with your business objectives, supported by a prioritized implementation plan that names the opportunities worth pursuing, the resources required and the next steps.
2
Our leaders and people are using AI and learning to put it to work.
Your leadership and your team have been introduced to a new way of working: hands-on training applied to their own jobs, and measurements showing where AI is making a difference.
3
We're ready for what comes next, including AI agents, and we have an adviser to help us get there.
You have an adviser on AI who's native to real estate and finance, knows your business, and is positioned to guide your next AI initiatives.
After the program, the relationship can continue as strategic advisory. We help architect the AI solutions the strategy identifies, define the workflows and requirements, evaluate the resources to build them, and guide the contractors and internal teams who do the work.
04 How it works
How the method works
- 1
First, we understand your business.
We start with leadership, your business objectives and the way work actually gets done across your company. We assess your existing AI capabilities, business processes, people, technology and opportunities. That assessment gives us the foundation for an AI strategy and a prioritized implementation plan specific to your business.
- 2
Next, we develop the capability of your people.
We run The Harness Method™ Workforce AI Training Sprint on your company's own work: your industry, your people and the jobs they do every day. We start with what your people already know and teach them how to get more out of that knowledge with AI. They learn how to direct the machine, structure tasks, work with AI, review its output and improve the results. We help them see how their existing knowledge and workflows can be organized into forms AI can work with, making the work easier to understand and improve.
- 3
Then, we refine the strategy and prepare for implementation.
The training workshops reveal opportunities that are difficult to identify from management interviews and business assessments alone. Your people discover what AI can do in the context of their own jobs. We learn more about how your business operates and where the greatest opportunities may be. We bring those discoveries back into the AI strategy and implementation plan, refine the priorities, and identify the projects worth pursuing next.
By the end of the 90 days, you have a clearer strategy, a workforce beginning to develop practical AI capability, and a foundation for the next stage of implementation.
05 Voice
The first door is voice
For many knowledge-work tasks, talking to an AI system is a faster way to begin than typing. That's why we start with voice.
We show your people how to speak to their computers and mobile devices, and how speaking compares with typing as a way to get started.
It's not just about entering words faster. Your people learn to explain a problem, give the machine direction, let it assist with the work, then review and improve the result. That shift in working habits is the beginning of a much broader change in how people work with computers.
06 Built for
Built for real estate finance and investment
We understand the business processes of real estate investment companies, lenders and commercial mortgage brokerages. The Harness Method™ can be applied to the work involved in loan origination, underwriting, syndication, funding, asset management and portfolio management.
And because every company also runs on business functions, we look across marketing, sales, customer service, operations, human resources, finance and accounting, legal and compliance, and IT.
We don't arrive with a predetermined list of AI tools to install. We assess the work, understand the business objectives, identify where AI could create the most value, and prioritize the opportunities worth pursuing.
Your business strategy determines the AI strategy.
07 Agentic workflows
The pathway to agentic workflows
AI is moving beyond answering questions and producing content. Today's AI tools can increasingly plan tasks, use software, work through multiple steps and carry out work under human direction. These are agentic capabilities, and many businesses already have access to some of them through the AI assistants their people use every day.
But having access to an AI agent is not the same as having an effective agentic workflow operating inside your business. For that, you need well-understood processes, accessible and properly managed information, clear responsibilities, appropriate technology, and people who know how to direct and supervise the work.
That's why we start with your people, your knowledge and your workflows. The initial 90-day program builds the strategic and human foundation. From there, we can pursue specific AI implementation projects, preparing your business for more capable, integrated and agentic ways of working.
The goal isn't simply to give your business AI tools. It's to make your business capable of putting them to work.
08 Boundaries
Strategy first. People in control.
Whether you want to improve profitability and efficiency, reduce manual work, or give your people more time back for higher-value work, we build the plan around what matters to you.
Our approach has clear boundaries.
Your systems stay under your control.
Harness provides the assessment, the strategy, the roadmap, the training and the advice. Work on your systems is done by your staff, your IT team or the contractors we help you source.
Your team maintains responsibility for your systems, tools and data-handling controls.
Approved tools, access permissions and data-handling rules are assessed with your team before sensitive information is used with AI.
You're not locked into one AI vendor.
We teach capabilities and ways of working that carry over as the tools improve.
People stay accountable.
AI can help produce the work, but a person reviews, approves and takes responsibility for anything that leaves your company.
09 Why Mike Fortier
20+
YRS real estate finance
Why work with me?
I'm Mike, the founder of Harness AI Partners.
I've spent more than twenty years in commercial real estate finance and investment, including as a managing director at Trez Capital, a diversified real estate investment firm with more than $5 billion under management, with billions of dollars of funded transaction experience, and I've structured individual commercial real estate financings of more than $100 million.
I've also spent more than thirty-five years as a technology enthusiast and power user, and I've boiled agentic technology down to first principles: what AI power actually is, and how a business puts it to work.
The combination matters. I understand the work, the responsibilities and the commercial realities of real estate investment and lending businesses, and I understand how AI changes the way that work gets done. I'm the bridge between technology and real estate investment and real estate lending companies.
I created The Harness Method™ by applying it to my own work and my own business first. Every part of our business runs on it. Now I'm bringing it to the industry I know.
10 About
About Mike
My interest in computers began when I was a child, sitting beside the technician who came to fix our family computer and learning how it worked so I could fix it myself the next time. That fascination stayed with me even as my career took me into business, real estate and finance, where I worked my way up from intern to managing director at Trez Capital.
Harness AI Partners brings those two passions together: technology and the real estate finance industry. My mission is to help the people and businesses in this industry take advantage of a fundamental change in how work can be done.
Finance
- Owner and principal broker, a BC mortgage brokerage, since 2013.
- Licensed mortgage broker in BC for over twenty years.
- Former Managing Director, Trez Capital.
- B.Comm (Hons), UBC, real estate finance.
Based in Vancouver, BC. Serving real estate investment companies, lenders and commercial mortgage brokerages in Canada and the United States.
11 Endorsements
What people who've worked with me say
The following are personal professional endorsements from colleagues and industry leaders who have worked directly with Mike over his 20+ year career. These are character and competency endorsements, not client engagement results.
“His perspective is one I have trusted and valued over our time working together.”
During the many years I worked with Mike Fortier, I came to respect him as a disciplined and highly credible professional. He is diligent, loyal, and approaches demanding situations with a calm and thoughtful demeanor.
Mike brings strong judgment to his engagements, with particular strength in valuation, risk mitigation, and project management. He is consistent, dependable, and operates with integrity. His perspective is one I have trusted and valued over our time working together.
“Mike is persistent, thoughtful, and solutions-oriented, even when matters become challenging.”
I worked with Mike Fortier on numerous complex financing transactions over many years and consistently found him to be a determined and effective deal-maker. He understands the big picture while remaining highly attentive to detail, which is essential in getting transactions closed properly. Mike is persistent, thoughtful, and solutions-oriented, even when matters become challenging. He conducts himself with integrity and care for the people involved, and he is genuinely a pleasure to work with.
“Mike is transparent, thorough, and straightforward in how he works, and he brings a strong sense of professionalism to every engagement.”
I’ve worked with Mike Fortier over many years, including on Baydo’s first multi-story residential project, which helped set the foundation for our growth. Mike is transparent, thorough, and straightforward in how he works, and he brings a strong sense of professionalism to every engagement. He communicates clearly, pays attention to the details that matter, and approaches relationships as long-term partnerships. I’m grateful for the role he played early on and the consistency he brought to our work together.
“Mike has a strong ability to keep stakeholders aligned and focused, particularly as conditions evolve and priorities shift.”
In my tenure as President of Trez Capital, I enjoyed working with Mike Fortier through dynamic business environments and came to know him as an open, upfront, and highly principled professional. He brings a high level of care and accuracy to his work, while leading teams and projects with clarity, transparency, and accountability. Mike has a strong ability to keep stakeholders aligned and focused, particularly as conditions evolve and priorities shift. He consistently demonstrates honesty, sound leadership, and genuine respect for the people he works with.
12 Questions
Questions people ask
Who is The Harness Method™ for?
Leaders of real estate finance and investment companies in Canada and the United States of America. We change the way your people work with a computer, by teaching them to harness AI.
What is the 90-day program?
A business assessment, an AI strategy and an implementation plan, combined with The Harness Method™ Workforce AI Training Sprint and applied to your company's own work, over about 90 days.
Who do you work with?
The leader, the owner or the CEO of real estate investment companies, lenders and commercial mortgage brokerages, and the people who work there.
What happens to our systems and our data?
Your systems stay under your control. We teach and advise your people; we don't take administrative access to your systems or run them.
Are we tied to one vendor?
No. You choose and license your own AI tools, and we teach capabilities and ways of working that carry over as the tools improve.
Who is accountable for the work the AI does?
A person, not the machine. Your people direct it, review what it produces, decide, and own the outcome.
Where are you based?
Harness AI Partners Ltd. is based in Vancouver, BC, and works with companies across Canada and the United States.
How do we start?
Book a call on the calendar on this page, or open the booking page if the calendar doesn't load.
Last reviewed: 14 November 2026.
13 Individuals
Not a business? Not a problem.
Coming soon
A program for individuals
Not everyone who wants to learn this works at a company we serve. We're building a version of the program for individuals: professionals who want to learn to direct the machine in their own work.
Join the wait-list and we'll contact you about the program.
Email us and we'll contact you about the program.
Our mission
We are changing work to change the world.
Empower your business to harness machine intelligence.
14 Book a call
Let's talk about your business.
If you lead a real estate finance or investment company and want to understand what AI could make possible for your people, let's have a 25-minute conversation. I'll walk you through where the opportunities may be, what working with us looks like, and what the first 90 days could look like at your company.
We'll also talk about the projects that could follow, and how to prepare your business for the next generation of AI-powered workflows.
Book a call
Pick a time below. If the calendar doesn't load, open the booking page.