Can AI help entrepreneurs?

July 22, 2023

AI will help humans become better entrepreneurs.

An entrepreneur is a living organism that undertakes a project or enterprise. Entrepreneurs can start new ventures (startups) or take over existing ones (mergers and acquisitions). Entrepreneurs can operate in new industries or in established ones. Projects and enterprises can be for profit commercial activities or  nonprofit organizations. While most entrepreneurs and their ventures fail over time, all entrepreneurs play a vital role in sustaining socioeconomic progress.

The skills or resources vital for entrepreneurship can be summarized as: vision, innovation, technology, adaptability, and leadership (VITAL).

    Vision: seeing opportunities  

    Innovation: diverse solutions  

    Technology: tools and methods 

    Adaptability: navigating changes 

    Leadership: helping others

        

Artificial intelligence (AI) is computerized problem-solving ability

Intelligence is problem-solving ability (PSA). Artificial intelligence is computerized PSA. The three pillars (3Ps) of intelligence are: processing, patterning, and predicting. Organisms and systems can be viewed as intelligent when they can process information, identify patterns, and make predictions. All living organisms are intelligent. Some non-living systems like computers equipped with neural networks and machine learning programming can increasingly be viewed as intelligent. 

AI or computerized intelligence supplements and expands human intelligence. AI can enhance the "VITAL" skills of human entrepreneurship for generations to come. 

    Vision  

    Where most people see problems, entrepreneurs see opportunities. When entrepreneurs hear complaints, they hear a call of action to develop marketable solutions. Generative AI systems like ChatGPT are already helping entrepreneurs identify social problems that can be tackled to create commercial and social business opportunities. Anyone wishing to become an entrepreneur can prompt AI systems to generate a list of social problems. Entrepreneurs can pick and choose what problems to work on to develop business opportunities and market innovative solutions. 

    Problems and opportunities are practically infinite (pi). Wherever there is a problem, there is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop and market solutions. The bigger and more difficult the problem, the bigger the potential reward. Moreover, solving one problem typically generates more problems to be solved, generating a virtuous cycle of economic growth and development opportunity. For example, climate change is said to be one of the biggest problems nowadays. Entrepreneurs who can market solutions to combat climate change can reap lucrative socioeconomic rewards. The implementation of climate change solutions will invariably create other problems that will need solutions. 

    The problem solving cycle is practically infinite. AI or computerized intelligence can certainly help entrepreneurs process large data sets to identify patterns and model predictions. Entrepreneurs can use AI generated information to continuously identify problems, develop solutions, and trade them for socioeconomic profit. AI can help entrepreneurs increase their vision for success.

    Innovation

    For many, if not most, entrepreneurs success comes from replacing tradition with innovation. Instead of accepting tradition, many entrepreneurs look for ways to upgrade the operating system of society (i.e. culture) and push "social software" updates in the marketplace.

    Generative AI systems can be programmed and trained to "think outside of the box", helping entrepreneurs find clever innovative solutions to offer in the marketplace. Sometimes all it takes is to mix and match problems and solutions across different platforms, industries, and sectors. Solutions that work in one industry may be extrapolated for application in a different industry. For example, the airline industry may adopt costumer service practices of the hospitality industry whereas the hospitality industry may adopt safety practices of the airline industry. 

    Prompting generative AI models to make bizarre connections between seemingly unrelated data sets may lead to innovative solutions. When used cleverly, AI systems may quickly become the #1 innovation advisor of modern entrepreneurs. 

    Technology

    Technologies (tools and methods) are the fundamental keys to human success. Human history can be seen as an account of the technological advancements developed over time. Generally, whoever employs the most suitable technologies (tools and methods) wins the competition, whatever it may be. 

    In the long run, however, independent of technological advances, most entrepreneurs fail. Entrepreneurs tend to underestimate risks and overestimate rewards. They also decay and become victims of entropy like everything else in this universe. For many entrepreneurs, what brings them early success tends to lead them eventually to failure as variables change in the marketplace. 

    Many, if not most, entrepreneurial startups are stillborn ventures that never get to see the light, more less be profitable in the competitive and evolving marketplace. The ventures and enterprises that succeed do so for a while, until they eventually decay and die.  

    AI technologies can help entrepreneurs cope with the realities of entrepreneurial life and the high odds of failure. AI systems can help entrepreneurs identify, asses, and mitigate risks. AI can help entrepreneurs identify changes changes in the marketplace and the economy. AI systems can help entrepreneurs establish more accurate risk / reward assessments for faster/smarter entrepreneurial decision-making. AI systems can also generate models to forecast business scenarios and challenges. AI's potential to serve as the premier technology for entrepreneurs is practically infinite (pi). 

    Adaptability

    As the old adage goes, change is the only constant in life. The universe is in constant expansion, acceleration, and change. Entrepreneurs must develop adequate skills to adapt to constant changes. Regardless of present conditions, our collective reality matrix or "creatix" will generate changes.

    

    Smart entrepreneurs learn to appreciate the inevitability of change, and appreciate it as a constant opportunity stream.  Changes will bring new problems, which are opportunities for entrepreneurs. Smart entrepreneurs learn to mentally adapt to continuous change and enjoy it not unlike a surfer enjoys riding a continuously changing wave. 

    AI systems can run predictive models that entrepreneurs can use to forecast upcoming "waves". Not unlike a surfer studying wave patterns and practicing moves, entrepreneurs can improve their projects and enterprises learning to adapt to continuous change. 

    Leadership

    Leadership, just like entrepreneurship itself, is all about taking care of people. People follow those who take care of them. 

    Effective entrepreneurs / leaders are those who take care of their production teams and stakeholders as well as they take care of their customers. Entrepreneurs solve problems for their customers and solve problems for their production teams and stakeholders. 

    AI is all about using computers to solve problems. Intelligence, biological or artificial, is all about solving problems. Taking care of people is all about solving problems for people. Therefore, AI will definitely become an essential technology for entrepreneurs wanting to become better leaders for their customers and stakeholders.

AI and entrepreneurial convenience

A final note about entrepreneurship, AI, and convenience. In this universe, maybe as part of the law of conservation of energy, convenience always prevails in the end. In essence, convenience is whatever is easy rather than difficult. Whatever takes little effort or no difficulty is convenient. 

Customers go for convenience. Entrepreneurs succeed by bringing convenience to their customers and stakeholders (i.e. employees, lenders, investors, regulators, etc.).  AI is succeeding and will continue succeeding by bringing convenience to all users. 

Convenience is always king and queen, and always wins in the long run. AI is proving very convenient for humans and for entrepreneurs. The use of AI in general consumer applications and all entrepreneurial ventures, projects, and enterprises will only continue to rise in the coming years and decades. 

We are living in the most exciting and thrilling times in the history of humanity and technology. This is the time to jump into everything having to do with entrepreneurship, technology, and AI. 

    

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