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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Uncertainty, layoffs, mean uncertain futures for professionals.
- AI has made starting a business easier.
- Tried-and-true rules of entrepreneurship still prevail.
Launch an AI app, do some vibe coding, and start a business, right? If it sounds too good to be true, it is. However, AI is beginning to remove some of the up-front obstacles to getting a business off the ground.
This is good news for those either stuck on a career treadmill or facing layoffs, as the time may be right to consider staking out a new career in venture as a solopreneur or as part of a small team. And AI-based tools and platforms have never made it easier to do so.
Take a look at the bigger picture: Lately, opportunities for tech professionals in larger companies appear to have been shrinking. For example, US-based employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October, up 175% from October 2024, and up 183% from one month prior, according to estimates from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Many of these lost jobs are in tech fields, and AI takes at least part of the blame, analysts at Challenger state.
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AI taketh away, and AI giveth. With AI tools, launching one’s own startup is easier and cheaper than ever before.
“Solo founders will become a huge thing,” said Bindu Reddy, CEO of Abacusai, in a recent post on X. “Vibe code an AI start-up,” she urged. “Pick a good agentic platform. Select a specific vertical or niche (e.g., AI girlfriend). Launch your product and start vibe marketing. Apply to Y Combinator and get accepted. VC funds you, and you are off to the races.”
But hold on. Vibe coding and vibe marketing and vibe funding your way into a scalable new business will only get you so far. Creating a product — whether digital or non-digital — is only the first step of the process.
Thanks to AI, the initial phase — launching a business idea — is now relatively easy. Of course, entrepreneurship requires business skills beyond simply designing a product, cautioned Zvonimir Sabljic, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Pythagora, in an interview with ZDNET.
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“That’s the one thing people don’t get. They think once I have an idea and launch it, that’s it, I’m done. When in reality, that’s when it starts,” he said.
Still, AI development tools are shifting economic power from corporations to individuals, Sabljic pointed out. “The barrier to company creation has lowered. When you think about it, WhatsApp was sold for $19 billion — and they only had 30 employees. Fifty years ago, it would have been unimaginable to have 30 people create the value of a $19 billion.”
Along those lines, Sabljic — who has launched three digital businesses — offered some practical steps for stepping out of the corporate hamster wheel:
Set realistic expectations, not Silicon Valley-inspired hype
Don’t go in with expectations of being the next WhatsApp, but think in terms of a $100,000-a-year business, and go from there. The concept of a solopreneur-run billion-dollar business is a fun idea, but real-world concerns will slow that down. “You still need to overview AI, you need to manage it,” said Sabljic. “Imagine you’re in a cockpit, and you have all these knobs and whatnot. But if you’re a single person and you’re tweaking the knobs in finance, development, customer research, and marketing and all these things, it would be too much.”
Recognize that AI can now solve most up-front problems
A good first step in creating a product or service is to “just use AI,” Sabljic advised. In many cases, starting a venture doesn’t require assembling teams of developers and other back-end work. “At that moment when you think about that, something is hard to do, think about how can you solve it with AI?”
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Seek professional advice and assistance
Look to business incubators that provide advice and resources for building a business. Sabljic’s latest venture, Pythagora, was launched under the aegis of Y Combinator, based in Silicon Valley. Similar incubators can be found in most metro areas — such as TechNexus in Chicago, Capital Factory in Austin, and MassChallenge in Boston.
Conduct a small demonstration project
An example of launching a new venture may be a new type of search-engine optimization tool, Sabljic illustrated. Look at websites, and use AI to “create your motivational letter with potential improvements,” he suggested. “This will take 10 minutes, and with those 10 minutes, you could skyrocket above all the other applications.”
Remember, the key is in execution
Having a great idea — or even a demonstration project — will only get you so far. It’s the execution of the idea that matters. Sending something out into the market is the true test of the value of the idea to customers. If it doesn’t do as well as hoped, it’s a learning experience to go back and adapt. AI hasn’t changed that part of the entrepreneurial journey.
Don’t rely on vibe coding
Vibe coding may help get an idea started, but serious thinking and backend work is still required to make the idea viable. “Say I tell AI I want some kind of CRM — and it builds it,” said Sabljic. “But is it secure? A lot of things are happening and it’s not certain where the data is coming from, and if it’s critical.”
