The Visual8

“What new jobs will emerge in the AI Era?” is a good question.

“What new business models does AI unlock?” is a better question.

One which could make a solo entrepreneur (solopreneur) worth a billion dollars. Within the next five years.

Here are a five factors which lend credibility to this prediction.

A. AI has proven that it can deliver business functions as well as, or better than a human.

Consider the reasons why.

Efficiency and speed are in AI’s favor because silicon labor does not get tired. Accuracy and error reduction come from superior mathematical computation capability. Productivity and cost savings emerge when routine tasks are automated at a scale beyond human capacity. And customer personalization is derived with the level of intimacy of an old friend using multi-factor, behavioral analysis.

NC Department of Commerce sees white-collar jobs most at risk from these conclusions.

B. Agentic AI shows how a virtual workforce can specialize, reason, and self-organize.

This means that entire departments like HR, Finance, Engineering, and Manufacturing could be composed of bots that have situation awareness and communication skills.

It’s the HR bots who determine whether the organization needs more Engineering bots or Program Manager bots.

C. Flow of credit and payments are completely automated.

Money transfer is not just a big bank function. Peer-to-peer fund transfers have been easy and quick with Zelle, PayPal, and Venmo. It has proved that the tipping point for elections by crowd sourcing campaign funds. Ask Barak Obama, among many elected officials, for details.

And how many GoFundMe efforts have turned tragedy to triumph? Access to capital is no longer in the hands of a few, well-connected Venture Capitalists.

D. Manufacturing moves towards an entirely robotic means of production.

Look towards the automotive, electronics, food and beverage, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, aerospace, metal fabrication, consumer goods, and logistics for examples.

The robot density is highest in the Republic of Korea with 932 robots for every 10,000 employees in the manufacturing sector according to the 2020 study. The figures suggest it growing at a geometric rate.

Repetitive tasks, danger to humans, and precision-made goods inspire this new model of building.

E. Compute and storage are readily available across the globe, securely and with scale.

Two words: Public Cloud.

Anyone with an idea and a credit card have access to the same compute power of any large enterprise. It’s secure. It’s available across the globe. It can be purchased in small amounts without commitment.

What is missing from this picture is access to start-up capital and a mastermind to command the Agentic Army.

Let’s review the first part: access to capital.

Given the gold rush in the Tech Sector happening now, as we have seen before, it makes sense that a well-refined business model would be able to secure the line of credit to build the virtual business empire.

The value proposition to the investor would be attractive. The company could onboard talent quickly because they are spawned, not hired. It could, create new products or services over night because computer code is easy with Generative AI. It could avoid the friction of human labor because there are no annual performance reviews or career ladders. It side steps building or buying physical plants because it negotiates with contract manufacturers across the globe.

In other words, here is a company which can skip past crawl and walk and go straight to run. Without the extra weight to stair-step to the next phase of growth.

Now consider the genius solopreneur.

This person would have a curious mind, a ton of grit, excellent language skills, and be quite persuasive. They would be able to keep a lot of details in their head, but not be bogged down.

However they only have to be mildly technical.

Their job would be keep a systems of systems point of view, then quickly command the AI to execute with carefully articulated instructions. In natural language, of course.

In other words, this person would a life-long learner with a broad mindset. He / she would be tools-based and not skills-based. That position allows them to leverage other people’s skills without the burden of full domain expertise.

The business would exhibit certain attributes as well.

Customer engagements would be experience-driven and friction-free.

This means that the product or service connects to positive emotions. Whether they moments of relief, wonder, or joy matters not. What matters is strong emotional connection. Something which ties into the buyers needs for identity or belonging or growth.

This also suggests the the buying process moves at the speed of the customer. It also means that problem resolution happens effortlessly. That the customer has agency in the flow of things.

Means of production move at the speed of the market, securely.

This would involve decoupled production: one which could be staged in any location and moved at a moments notice.

Intellectual property would be encrypted and air-gapped, following the full extent of the NIST protocol for cyber resiliency. Encryption keys would be out of the jurisdiction of any national government.

Any necessary human labor is done so with a contractual workforce. Physical production might find affinity to countries or parts of countries with those available skills.

Regardless it would all be executed through Agentic Talent Acquisition.

The business would limit the control or influence of government bodies.

Therefore it is likely to operate an unregulated industry. It might be advantaged with subsidies, but are not dependent on them.

It specifically navigates past all committees as these slow down execution. When humans need to talk it out, progress slows.

Therefore businesses models which have little to no government oversight are preferred.

Lastly this business would never be the same company year after year.

This is not about exceeding revenue targets. This is not about growing headcount. Nor is it about new countries served.

This is about adaptation. Evolving with the demands of the market or ahead of the market.

It would build Creative Destruction into the very fabric of the operating model. A kind of electric-guitar slinging Bob Dylan at a folk concert.

Unpredictable at first, then timeless.

To those who would point out that large scale enterprise require people, please note.

Accounting functions can be outsourced. General council can be outsourced. Manufacturing can be outsourced.

This is not to say that there are no other humans involved.

It is to say that their participation is as the sole discretion of the solopreneur. And done so on a contractual basis. Contracts which are written, negotiated, and enforced by Agentic Lawyers.

Bottom line: there has not been a better time for an entrepreneur to realize their wildest dream: to make a difference and make a fortune. All within a short amount of time.

Are you such a person? Do you have the vision and the veracity to make it happen? You are only limited by your imagination.