Fun fact: startup-building goals that seemed ridiculous until a couple of years ago are now very much within reach. One such thought that has stuck with me over the years: "What would it take to build one or more million-dollar (revenue) companies with 1 person?".
"What would it take?"
In my view, achieving this audacious goal would need 2 main things mainly:
- A full-stack AI-first builder - someone good enough across multiple things that a tech product startup needs to be successful. Someone who can start from scratch and learn to use AI effectively. Most importantly, someone resilient.
- A system, a method, a framework, a way to build in a structured manner. Without this, everything is ad-hoc, nothing is repeatable, learning loops are too slow, and network effects don't kick in. I'm not talking about a formula or process here, strictly a system.
15 years of solopreneurship does have it's benefits
The year 2025 marks 15 years of entrepreneurship for me. 15 years of:
- making a wide variety of startup mistakes, and learning a lot in the process.
- going very deep on consulting, analytics, BI, tech, product, UX and data storytelling.
- going nowehere near deep enough on validation, experimentation, growth, selling, marketing, evangelism and distribution.
- honing my survival skills, not losing my mind, and learning how to manage life while building.
But there's a silver lining ... What seemed like a disjointed, disconnected and disparate set of experiences is now coming together into something meaningful. As a founder, it sometimes feels like you need to bend to the "ways of the world" when nothing is going your way. Then there are those rare times when it seems like the world has magically moved in a way that aligns with you. This feels like one of those times for me. The age of the generalist is here - AI has made sure of that.
Nett: Do I believe that I fulfil both the criteria I listed above (good-enough skills and a system)? You bet I do!
What's left to do, but get started?
The first venture I'll put through this system is ChartBoss, my data visualization add-in for Microsoft Excel. It's been built with a lot of love, but I suspect with a lot of inefficiency as well.
The focus will be on systematically evaluating where we are, understanding what we know vs what is an assumption, speaking to prospects to validate what we have assumed, and then going all out on commercializing it.
The core product has already been built - any further development will only be done after getting customer feedback. And this is the last time that any product of mine will be developed without first validating.
So join me, as I experiment, learn and most importantly, move!
