James is a former founder and investor who is now one of three partners at DQventures, which helps senior professionals transition from the corporate world into owning and running their own company.
They their startup experiences, successes and failures to de-risk the entrepreneurial journey for others.
Guest Author: James Green
I’ve read many predictions of how AI will transform entrepreneurship, but this is the first time I’ve seen it first-hand…
I met a chap before Christmas, who was introduced to me as “a gifted entrepreneur”.
He’d recently left a startup he founded, despite it growing to >$20m ARR and running at a profit. (He still owns a decent stake and hopes the new CEO will deliver an exit, but he couldn’t stay involved any longer.)
When I asked him why, he said the following:
•–
“𝘞𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 $35𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘝𝘊𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘔𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 – 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐’𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵 – 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘙 – 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 $20𝘮 𝘈𝘙𝘙 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘝𝘊𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵.”
•–
So, what’s this entrepreneur doing next?
He’s already started a new company with a single employee – him. Armed with Chat-GPT and a few freelancers, he’s built a highly profitable business by automating complex-yet-valuable processes, turning what was previously several days of work into minutes.
He showed me everything – his processes, and even his prompts. It was seriously impressive, and yet surprisingly simple.
This gentleman has no intention of raising capital. He’s keeping it small, retaining 100% control, picking customers he likes and delivering as much value as possible, all while spending more time with his family and making more money than ever.
Are we returning to an age of self-employed “tradespeople” (only this time, the tools of the trade have become understanding complex processes and prompt writing)?
Just as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube transformed wannabe media personalities and celebrities into rich and powerful influencers, it seems AI is about to unleash a new generation of highly successful solopreneurs.
𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝘄𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺…
I showed my new friend this post and asked if he wanted to be named, to promote his new business. He declined. Like many bootstrapped founders, he didn’t want to attract unnecessary competition.
Anyone else witnessed this?
