How AI Is Redefining Solo Entrepreneurship—And What It Takes To Succeed
Source: Forbes, Tyler Hochman
Photo: Getty
Tyler Hochman is the founder and CEO of FORE Enterprise, a premier AI solutions architect and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree.
Solo entrepreneurship is on the rise, with AI enabling a surge in new, independently owned and operated businesses. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 117,060 solopreneurs achieved $1 million in revenue in 2023, more than double the number just two years prior—before the release of ChatGPT. AI tools and point solutions for nearly every facet of a business give founders unprecedented opportunity to bring ideas to fruition even without the resources to hire any help.
In a recent interview, Jensen Huang, co-founder of Nvidia, predicted that AI will create more millionaires in the next five years than the internet did in two decades. The reasoning: AI enables people to create without all the skills and capital they once needed.
Take the success of Base44, the startup helping users build fully functioning apps without writing code. Earlier this year, Wix acquired Base44 for $80 million. But the company started with just a single founder, Maor Shlomo, who handled everything himself, “using no-code tools and AI APIs to launch an early prototype.”
Nevertheless, solopreneurs need to understand how to leverage AI effectively to transform aspirations into reality.
Apply AI to do what you can’t do alone.
In 2024, before one of my colleagues joined our company, he worked on his own to develop a health and fitness app. Without AI, he would have faced a massive data problem. Programming the app required inputting product data from a database, where the information was labeled in awkward, scientific terms.
He used AI’s data annotation abilities to translate the scientific datasets into readable product and ingredient lists. By feeding AI information from the dataset, it derived recognizable product names. Sorting through this data without AI would have required significantly more time or a larger team. But in just 30 minutes, AI derived accurate names for thousands of products.
While technical skills still matter, the cost of execution has dropped significantly. AI has massively transformed the job of a software engineer, which is increasingly about overseeing the code written by AI rather than writing the code themselves. Again, a project that once took a month to complete, such as coding a video game prototype, can now be completed in just days.
Guide AI with precision.
The benefits of AI don’t just apply to tech companies and engineers. AI provides everyone, regardless of background and skill set, with the opportunity to learn information quickly, receive advice and find solutions to a variety of problems.
You can ask large language models (LLMS) to conduct a competitive analysis and structure business plans. Or ask it to determine which advertising channels are most effective and which customers you should target at launch. You can even ask what types of questions you should be asking.
It’s essential to remember that the structure of your prompt communications impacts performance. You can’t just ask AI to build your business or code your app and expect a stellar output. AI often shines when you break a large task into a series of small, well-defined problems.
Recognize the trade-offs.
Solo entrepreneurs also face obstacles. Without a team, founders lose access to joint skill sets. In a traditional business, a technical CEO lacking marketing expertise may hire a marketing specialist to fill the gap. As a solopreneur, the CEO runs all aspects of the company alone, starting from the ground up to learn about their areas of weakness. Although AI can provide substantial insights, working alongside experts can save significant time spent researching.
Furthermore, without foundational knowledge and experience, AI can lead you astray. That’s because LLMs react to the language you provide them. If you don’t have highly accurate or nuanced context to share, the LLM likely won’t give you the best possible output. While AI can certainly fill gaps, its real superpower is expediting understanding and processes in areas of expertise.
Solopreneurship also lacks natural checks and balances. A founder’s idea may be weak from the start, and without anyone to challenge it, they can waste time building something with no market fit. Many AI chatbots are programmed to validate, so unless you ask the AI to critique your ideas, you may miss out on valuable feedback.
What’s the bottom line?
AI is transforming entrepreneurship, enabling a much larger number of solo founders to succeed in creating and managing their own businesses. Still, as a founder, you need to be flying the plane. AI should always be your copilot. When you combine AI’s speed with your strategic vision and domain expertise, you can move faster and compete with companies that have far more resources.
I believe that is the future of entrepreneurship—empowering individuals to do what once required an entire team.