Ten years ago, the hard part of starting a company was building the product. Today I can build a working tool in a weekend with AI. Building got cheap. Trust didn't.
That changes the order of operations. If anyone can build, the scarce thing isn't code, and it isn't capital. It's people who already trust you enough to try what you make.
The old sequence
Idea, pitch deck, raise, build for a year, then go looking for users. Every step is a bet placed before anyone has asked for the thing. I've lived this: my first startup, Mogz, failed. It's the lesson I teach most.
The new sequence
- 1Solve your own problem. The best first customer is you.
- 2Build it with AI. A weekend, not a funding round.
- 3Share it in public. Distribution starts the day you post.
- 4Let people ask for it. "Can I use it?" is the start of a business.
Market research didn't die. It moved into public building.
What would prove me wrong
A hypothesis you can't fail isn't a hypothesis. Here's the scoreboard I'll check at the end of February 2027:
If nothing moves, I won't reframe the brand. I'll sharpen the point of view and keep publishing. Months one to three are invisible; I'm giving it twelve.
You don't have to quit
This isn't an "escape the 9-to-5" pitch. Employees are builders too. The best startups of the next decade will start as someone's personal tool, often built on evenings and weekends by people who still have a job.
I'll share every number, including the failures. Follow along.