The Startup Of The Future Contains Only One Person (You)

Source: Entrepreneur’s Handbook, Tim Denning
Photo: Gabriel Dizzi on Unsplash

You don’t need to be a startup founder anymore.

Paradigm shift: the transfer of power is going from the institution to the individual.

Investment legend Raoul Pal helped join the dots on the future of business with this recent realization.

Institutions are going to become the exception not the norm. How? Through the decentralization-of-everything that is going on right now. It started with decentralized finance. Smart contracts came soon after. Then it continued with dApps (decentralized apps). Now it’s continuing with the disruption of digital ownership through NFTs (digital asset scarcity).

Web 1.0 was read only.
Web 2.0 is read and write.
Web 3.0 is read, write, and own.

We’re at the inception of Web 3.0 right now. With a change of ownership enabled by technology, the old days of worshipping startups and their ping pong tables with beer and pizza are going to become out of fashion.

The rise of individual creators

If you wrote an email today then congrats — you’re an individual creator already. Email created a generation of unsuspecting content creators. Social media turned individual content creation into a bonfire.

Before the blockchain-enabled change in ownership, you had to work for the middle man. There were gatekeepers. The gatekeepers acted as captors of creatives. Creatives like us thought we were free but that was institutionalized thinking at play.

Once you’ve been a prisoner to a business entity you don’t own for a long time, you start to become punch drunk. A business can punch you square in the face and steal from you, and you won’t know it. You can’t feel anything.

This is changing. Business is going back to its roots. Business used to be an art form back in the day. Greed fuelled by places such as Wall Street made us forget how beautiful business could be.

NFTs were the 1st step.

The band “Kings of Leon” sold their album as an NFT (Non-Fungible Token).

Beeple sold a piece of art for $69 million via an NFT.

The co-founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey is selling his first ever tweet.

I’m considering selling my first popular blog post back in 2014 as an NFT.

Each of these events may seem insignificant. They’re not the norm, yet. But the tidal wave is coming. The rebellion against facebook was likely the last straw. Nobody wants to have their private information bought in return for likes, to have it sold to the highest bidder in the form of an ad.

Ads equal low-quality content. Content nobody wants to consume of their own free will, for free.

Low-quality content is what individual creators are rising up against. I can’t wait for a world where individual creators are more popular than a startup founder with another phone app.

The 2nd step is decentralized social media.

Individual creators don’t have this option. There is no mainstream, blockchain-powered social media yet.

There are experimental platforms though. There is one decentralized social media experiment called Sola. The mindless concept of following people that Myspace created isn’t a thing on Sola. Tech republic explains it eloquently:

AI and user reaction spread information, trying to match quality content with people who would be interested in it. [Sola] prides itself on being immune to blocking and censorship.

Once social media is decentralized, individual creators will have new ways to talk to an audience without feeling like they need to focus on the algorithm. Algorithm-free content is a radical change. With the barriers removed it will be so much easier to be a startup of one person (you).

Creating content is a form of entrepreneurship

Individual content creators suffer a branding issue.

Think back to the old days. If you told someone you were going to be a writer, poet, musician or actor when you were young, there was a good chance they would laugh at you. Artists were considered a quiet joke because they were “dreaming” of making it.

People would assume the chance of success was low and that you’d probably end up earning the minimum wage, living for “your art.”

Saying you were an artist never used to be entrepreneurship. Now it is. Content creation is allowing many free thinkers to quit their job.

Journalists are quitting media companies and starting newsletters on platforms like Substack.

TV presenters are leaving tv stations to setup Youtube channels.

Models are leaving modeling agencies to model on Instagram.

Radio personalities are quitting radio and doing their own podcast.

DJs are using Spotify to promote their music and then go on the road touring to earn an income.

Teachers are quitting university and creating online courses.

Writers (like me) are selling eBooks, earning royalties from blog posts, and promoting themselves through email lists.

There is no doubt a content creator is now considered an entrepreneur. Content creators are building their own empire, instead of building the empire of a business they don’t own.

“Digital nomad” becomes everybody’s a nomad

The migration of hermit crabs behind laptops to exotic beach locations was a huge thing a few years back. Bloggers like Jon Morrow defied the odds and took photos of themselves on a beach while creating content.

Some coined the profession “laptop lifestyle.” Writer Tom Kuegler became one of these digital nomads. He set up a Youtube channel to show his lifestyle in the Philippines. I thought it was creative. The comments section on youtube revealed a mixed reaction. Some praised his courage. Others showed their jealousy towards what he achieved. Tom and John were the OGs of the Digital Nomad life. This is changing too.

When you are able to be a decentralized content creator, you’re no longer tied to an office — or worse, a co-working space with happy-go-lucky ping pong champions. The rise of the virtual world means the physical world no longer has boundaries post-pandemic.

This is huge.

I’ve joked before that I can’t wait to goof-off in my virtual office, lounging around in Decentraland without a care in the world, holding a virtual Starbucks coffee I spill all over my virtual white shirt that compliments the whites of my virtual onscreen eyes.

All it takes is the 3-second commute of putting on my VR headset, or whatever other contraption you require in the future, to enter a fully virtual world.

The startup of the future is not just about working by yourself. It’s working without borders so you don’t need to buy a house in an expensive city, and get into huge amounts of debt that will crush your joy.

The life-changing power of you

Depending on other people is a pain in the butt.

The “startup of you” has no other employees. The value is measured differently. In this new world you have way more power to create whatever you want and be paid handsomely for it. Your value beats who you know, career experience, gatekeepers, and your ability to BS in a job interview.

There’s a downside though, there always is.

When your startup contains only you there is nobody else to blame. You have to take ownership. You have to have the discipline to get your work done. You have to do quality work. You have to make an impact. You can’t warm an office chair in this new paradigm shift and expect to get paid. I learned this lesson the hard way when I got fired and worked by myself for a while. The corporate paycheck didn’t motivate me. I had to motivate myself.

Good news: you can definitely learn the new ways of individual working.

The skills required for a startup with only you

Content creation — through writing, photos, video, and audio.

A passion for something.

A niche you can start with to experiment.

A basic understanding of Web 3.0 and its implications.

The ability to build a small audience online.

Knowing the different ways you can monetize your work.

Solo creators are the way of the future. Work without borders will become the norm. People leaving institutions to start solo entities will become more of a trend. Why? The work you do is changing because the ownership structure of the world is changing, through the rapid rise of blockchain technology.

People always wanted to be free from demotivating work. Now the structures needed to work solo are rapidly forming around you. The question is this: Will you take advantage of the individual creator movement?

You too can be a powerful startup with zero employees and make decent money to live well.

https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/the-startup-of-the-future-contains-only-one-person-you