One thing is for certain: the next wave of billionaires will be AI billionaires. It’s already happening. Entrepreneurs who have been looking out for an opportunity are taking the widespread awareness of artificial intelligence as their sign that this is it. Their time to shine. Forget how you ran a business before because new skills are required for this playing field. Before you had to bang on doors, hustle and grind. Now you have to think smart, adapt fast and uncover every stone until you find product market fit.
This technology is creating new opportunities for those with their eyes open wide enough to spot them. Here’s what’s out there for ambitious AI entrepreneurs and how to make use of it.
The rise of AI entrepreneurs: how technology is creating new opportunities
Access to funding
Existing funds are looking to invest in AI businesses and more funds are popping up. Governments are starting competitions, angel investors are having a flutter, and entrepreneurs are investing in their own skills to bootstrap their way to gamechanging products and tools.
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Lack of money is not an excuse. If you want it enough, you can find the funding. Ask around, ask Twitter, phone a friend. Go on a deep dive of Google to find those pockets of cash that you can plough into development. The excitement is at its peak, so act now to get your termsheets signed and your suppliers lined up and working on your ideas. You can even validate an idea before spending any money at all; create a basic landing page, test value propositions with Reddit ads and see what kind of initial interest you get.
More trust in AI
Those working in AI long before now were ahead of the curve. That curve has caught up, but where do they stand? At best, the early movers have a solid foundation on which to build. At worst, they peaked too soon and ran out of money, energy or both.
Along with the hype has come a new openness to AI. Business owners are testing platforms out and sharing their findings. People are willing to give it a go. This marks the perfect time for your new business to have its first wave of customers. Make the most of the exploration phase and create the tool they experiment with and stick to for life. You don’t need decades of AI experience to do this. You can start from scratch and learn as you build. If you have the decades of experience, the floodgates are now open and you have a head start.
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The rise of AI entrepreneurs: how technology is creating new opportunities
More tools available
With the growing number of entrepreneurs taking AI into their own hands, there are more tools available with which to run your business. Even if you’re not planning on pivoting into an AI business, you can leverage the technology to surpass the competition or scale much faster. A new company once needed a new person for every department, now you could feasibly have just one employee, as long as they are proficient in handling the tools.
With your fixed costs potentially far lower, you can take more risks. You can simmer below the surface for longer, you can fund your development with consultancy if you like. Use tools for graphic design, copywriting and marketing. Use tools for data analysis and outreach. Hire one person to run five platforms, not five people to do five separate tasks. Make good use of the bigger profit margin and build better products that people love to use.
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The space is wide open
Artificial intelligence has entered the collective consciousness of far more entrepreneurs, so we’re thinking in different ways. Problems can be solved by prompts. Challenges eliminated by Chat GPT. The fact that technology is providing so many solutions is leading to a technology-first approach. In turn this leads to new ideas for AI products that can be codified into existence.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by author Al (Albert) Ries, explains basic marketing principles that, ideally, your business conforms to. A quick glance down the list with AI in mind makes it clear that this is very possible. Act now, act fast, and you can be the first in the market, the first in the category and the first in the mind. You can own a word, you can own an entire rung on the ladder, and you can adhere to the law of unpredictability with your nimbleness and quick thinking.
New opportunities for entrepreneurs are everywhere you look. Make use of the new funds, the enhanced levels of trust, the new tools out there that you can use to lower costs and the collective consciousness in coming up with the next flurry of ideas. Surf this wave or wait another decade for the next, the choice is yours.
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