This is the MOST asymmetric window I've ever seen in business.
It's honestly hard to comprehend. Never in history have this many categories opened at once, ALL ripe for the taking:
1. Take a boring business doing 20% margins, an accounting firm, an IT shop, a local service company, and swap the human labor for agents until it runs at software margins with customers it already has.
This is the Thrive Holdings model.
2. Build the picks and shovels, the clean API or data source that agents call 1000 times a day, and get paid per call instead of per user.
I call this being in the building blocks business.
3. Buy a sleepy SaaS with real customers and a tired founder, then rebuild it AI native and 10x what it can do while building a media machine along side it.
4. Run a service business that looks like an agency on the outside but is really you plus a team of agents doing the delivery, priced like consulting, delivered like software.
5. Watch what people are still hiring for on Upwork, the "data entry specialist," the "appointment setter," the "research assistant," and build the productized agent that replaces that exact role, then sell it to every company posting the job. Vertical agents are here!
I could keep going forever but you get the point.
Contrary to what a lot of people believe (AI is coming for us, you need to raise venture to compete etc), the opportunity right now is endless.
You don't need to quit your job. Finally, you can build a real startup on the side.
It's starting season.
If you've EVER thought about starting a something of your own, this is the moment to stop thinking about it.
Seasons like this don't last forever.
Start.
- This is the MOST asymmetric window I've ever seen in business. It's honestly hard to comprehend. Never in history have this many categories opened at once, ALL ripe for the taking: 1. Take a boring business doing 20% margins, an accounting firm, an IT shop, a local service company, and swap the human labor for agents until it runs at software margins with customers it already has. This is the Thrive Holdings model. 2. Build the picks and shovels, the clean API or data source that agents call 1000 times a day, and get paid per call instead of per user. I call this being in the building blocks business. 3. Buy a sleepy SaaS with real customers and a tired founder, then rebuild it AI native and 10x what it can do while building a media machine along side it. 4. Run a service business that looks like an agency on the outside but is really you plus a team of agents doing the delivery, priced like consulting, delivered like software. 5. Watch what people are still hiring for on Upwork, the "data entry specialist," the "appointment setter," the "research assistant," and build the productized agent that replaces that exact role, then sell it to every company posting the job. Vertical agents are here! I could keep going forever but you get the point. Contrary to what a lot of people believe (AI is coming for us, you need to raise venture to compete etc), the opportunity right now is endless. You don't need to quit your job. Finally, you can build a real startup on the side. It's starting season. If you've EVER thought about starting a something of your own, this is the moment to stop thinking about it. Seasons like this don't last forever. Start.
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Picks and shovels is the ultimate business and the one that actually brings the most real demand. Tools for agents in the form of an API, MCP or CLI are booming.