52 essays
IBM lost 13% in a day when AI learned COBOL. If clients pay you because the work is hard, AI is coming for that premium. Here are the moats that hold.
Before you buy an 'AI-powered' feature, ask to see it with the AI switched off. Three vendor questions that separate real AI tools from a new sticker.
Small firms can't hire and won't fire, so the team you have is the team you'll grow with. That calls for designing the work, not running more job ads.
OpenAI just signed McKinsey, BCG, Accenture and Capgemini to sell its agents. Most AI consulting is training in disguise. Here is what to buy instead.
AI startups are announcing ARR figures that just aren't revenue. How the metric got stretched, why it matters, and what to ask vendors before you buy.
Ten articles on Gerber's E-Myth, condensed into one practical read: capability maps, role specifications, governance, and why founders now stay close.
Most AI adoption just speeds up work that shouldn't exist. Drucker wrote the test for this back in 1963 — AI has finally made the answer cheap to get.
Execution discipline is just the order you do things in. Why most owner-operators lose the sequence, and three practical things worth doing this week.
AI adoption is a people problem, not a tools one. A practical guide to getting your whole team using AI without panic: boring pilots, safety, buddies.
IAC paid $26m for CollegeHumor, then gave it away for nothing. What that says about the scoreboard we use to judge whether a business is worth owning.
Buyers now ask an assistant who your alternatives are, and get a table you never wrote. Your competitive set is no longer argued for — it is assigned.
Consultants tell owners to delegate and step back. Chesky's hands-on Airbnb just posted 18% growth — the instinct to stay close to the work was right.
Growth spends money months before it pays you back. Five simple habits that keep the cash gap from closing a business that was doing everything right.
Relabelling ordinary automation as 'AI' is tempting, but buyers now discount the word. Honest, specific positioning beats the rebrand for small firms.
The 'AI replaces a $50k hire' lists see only tasks. A salary also buys judgement and accountability: the real work you can't hand to a stack of tools.
Bootstrapping is a stage, not a virtue. Here's how to spot when refusing outside capital stops protecting your growing business and starts capping it.
The annual plan soothes more than it predicts. When volatility is the baseline, get good at deciding well and often, not at forecasting it any better.
Growth doesn't kill small businesses on a bad idea. It exposes operational debt — and it breaks in a predictable order. Here's how to get ahead of it.
When owners feel overwhelmed, a senior hire looks like the fix. Usually it's a process failure in disguise, so diagnose the breakdown before you hire.
Deep work sprints make founders better at being indispensable. The discipline that matters makes you less essential — and that's the old E-Myth point.
GitLab's restructuring spends $35m turning a 2,500-person business into 60 small teams. Small firms already have that shape. Here's how to keep yours.
A nine-staff firm now pays £25,850 more a year in employment costs. Why that's the new floor, not a blip — and how to rebuild your business around it.
Being needed built the business. Around twenty people, it starts to cap growth. How to audit your week and choose what genuinely needs your judgement.
AI advice helps the best entrepreneurs and hurts the rest. A 2026 MIT Sloan Kenya field study, plus a five-step kit to second-check AI before you act.
The US military couldn't stop using Claude even after a presidential ban. If they can't switch AI providers overnight, what chance does your business have?
The E-Myth series finale. Gerber said build the system and step back. When the system thinks for itself, stepping back isn’t freedom — it’s neglect.
Capability maps, bounded intelligence, placement decisions — what building an AI-first business operating system looks like over twelve months.
Systems don't fail dramatically in AI-first firms. They drift quietly until intent and reality diverge. The founder's irreducible role is stewardship.
AI lets small firms scale output without adding headcount. But scaling decisions without scaling governance creates drift. Here is the design problem.
Takeaways from The E-Myth: how to decide where judgement belongs in your business, clarify roles, and build systems that actually work.
Job descriptions assume humans fill gaps. Bounded intelligence specifications don't. Here's the mechanics of delegation that works.
Your AI agent will ruthlessly optimise any metric you set — including the loopholes you didn't see. Goodhart's law and the AI governance trap most teams miss.
Task-masking isn't laziness. It's rational behaviour in systems that reward activity over outcomes. AI removes the last places it hides.
Org charts show who reports to whom. Capability maps show where decisions actually happen. In AI-first businesses, only one reveals how work gets done
The businesses that will have AI-literate workforces aren't waiting for someone to train them. They're building the capability themselves.
Gerber's technician, manager, and entrepreneur personas hold up. But they no longer map to people — they map to capability layers in AI-first firms.
Gerber taught founders to replace themselves with systems and people. AI changes what that means. Here's where the original insight breaks.
Knowledge used to be scarce and valuable. Now it's instant and free. The real question: how well can you think when knowing is cheap?
Companies adding AI to old structures fail. Learn why organisations must be redesigned around AI—not just enabled by it—to gain exponential advantage.
Why an AI-first strategy is essential for business leaders to boost productivity, competitiveness, and future-proof growth
Explore the essential role of a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) in differentiating SMEs in the market, offering customers compelling reasons to choose your business.
Explore the power of personifying company values for a robust culture with practical insights on implementing the 'GARTH' and 'CLARA' models
Discover why rethinking is key for small business success. Embrace adaptability and innovation to stay competitive. Read more for practical tips.
Navigate the complexities of small business growth with the Ansoff Matrix. Learn to choose the right strategy for market penetration, product development, market expansion, and diversification. Make informed decisions aligned with your business goals
Unlock the potential of service innovation for your small business. Discover actionable strategies, the role of AI, and how to measure success effectively
Discover how curiosity fuels innovation in business. Learn practical steps to cultivate an innovative mindset for meaningful growth and success.
Explore the enduring relevance of Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth Revisited" for modern entrepreneurs while considering updates to adapt it for today's digital and socially-conscious business landscape.
Explore the nuanced role of customer feedback in business. Learn when to seek input for iterative improvements and when to lead with innovation.
Unlock the keys to business excellence with insights from 'Chasing Perfection.' Learn how its principles can transform your SME into a powerhouse
Explore how the Blue Ocean Strategy can revolutionise SMEs by creating new market spaces and unique value. Learn actionable steps to implement this framework for sustainable growth.
Explore the Innovator's Dilemma through the lens of SMEs. Learn why this concept is crucial for smaller firms and discover actionable strategies to navigate the complexities of business innovation
Clients or customers? The word you choose sets expectations on both sides and shapes the kind of business you build. Here's how to pick the right one.