Petar, this is the kind of post that makes solo founders nod… then immediately argue with their screen like it’s a cofounder they still don’t have.
What landed for me is your framing that solo speed is a phase advantage, not a strategy. The “scaling wall” section is the real tell. Once customers want reliability and investors want predictability, one person becomes the critical path for everything, and hustle just turns into a nicer word for bottleneck.
Also appreciate you naming the psychological load. People debate cap tables like it’s math, but it’s also nervous systems. Control feels safe. Compounding actually ships.
Thank you for sharing! Solo founders always have difficulty to start a business. And at later stage, finding people that believe in your vision, continue on with a faith that keeps you going, to see that dream come true and often ask yourself “How hard can it be?”. I admired solo entrepreneurs, their spirit and dedication but nowadays with so much changing, you need all the AI and teams to be competitive in the global market.
This is a great piece Petar. I always say “Teamwork makes the DREAM work.” It’s why starting my company, I have built a team and a partner ecosystem as I know that I can’t do it all and it’s better to do it with others.
Learned this concept from Daniel Priestley. Yes, you can go solo, but why suffer through entrepreneurship alone? It's much more efficient, and more fun, with a team. Excellent breakdown.
We love to reduce others success, and often that comes with a cover story of the "lone genius". But the real wonder of humans are our ability to organize en masse and align our work in order to reach a future goal.
Petar, so inspiring! Thank you for bringing this up. It really resonates.
And it also reminded me of those movie scenes where a superhero arrives at a harbor and meets the right people—a team where everyone complements each other perfectly. I used to admire those moments, but I've also come to believe there's an element of luck involved.
Yes, teams are built, not born. They require genuine interest, patience, and effort. But there's something beautiful about finding people who are on the same page, share the same vision, and walking side by side with them. That alignment—when it happens—is truly special...
And beyond all this, the question you raised is indeed vital as you put it perfectly: "Can this company function when this founder is not in the room?"
This is a brilliant breakdown of why Intellectual Vanity is the ultimate tax on growth. In the '22nd Century Frontier,' the complexity of the problems we face (AI, SpaceTech, Longevity) has outpaced the capacity of the 'Solo Genius.'
When we prioritize 'Being Right' over 'Winning,' we are essentially choosing a local maximum—a small hill we can stand on alone—instead of the mountain range we could conquer as a team. True leadership in this era isn't about having the right answers; it’s about building a system where the best answer can emerge from anyone, without the leader feeling threatened by it.
You know, Petar, I've been having some daunting thoughts about intelligence vs AI, and I can see how a single individual couldn't possibly outsmart AI sustainably. But having AI is also an incredible positive shift in leadership, where leaders can focus on vision, accountability, and orchestration, and move away from the narcissistic impulses that are tempted by the position.
We can be smart, geniuses even, but we need to be aware that we will never be as smart as the tech anymore.
Petar, this is the kind of post that makes solo founders nod… then immediately argue with their screen like it’s a cofounder they still don’t have.
What landed for me is your framing that solo speed is a phase advantage, not a strategy. The “scaling wall” section is the real tell. Once customers want reliability and investors want predictability, one person becomes the critical path for everything, and hustle just turns into a nicer word for bottleneck.
Also appreciate you naming the psychological load. People debate cap tables like it’s math, but it’s also nervous systems. Control feels safe. Compounding actually ships.
Well said Mark! Solo speed gets you started, but teams are what remove the bottleneck and carry you through scale
Thank you for sharing! Solo founders always have difficulty to start a business. And at later stage, finding people that believe in your vision, continue on with a faith that keeps you going, to see that dream come true and often ask yourself “How hard can it be?”. I admired solo entrepreneurs, their spirit and dedication but nowadays with so much changing, you need all the AI and teams to be competitive in the global market.
Thank you for sharing with us! :)
Agreed but if the solo founder happens to be good at building systems and hiring it can work.
True!
Solo founders can move fast early, but complementary teams scale, endure, and attract serious investment.
That’s the core idea. Speed early, resilience and credibility later through complementary teams
This is a great piece Petar. I always say “Teamwork makes the DREAM work.” It’s why starting my company, I have built a team and a partner ecosystem as I know that I can’t do it all and it’s better to do it with others.
Thank you for putting out this important piece.
Thank you Maribeth! Building with others it’s a strategic advantage from day one
Solo founders can move fast, but lasting impact comes from complementary strengths, shared judgment, and distributed risk
Distributing judgment and risk is what allows real scale and long-term impact
Leverage usually matters more than raw effort.
Exactly
Amazing piece!
Thank you Laura!
Learned this concept from Daniel Priestley. Yes, you can go solo, but why suffer through entrepreneurship alone? It's much more efficient, and more fun, with a team. Excellent breakdown.
Completely agree. Building with a team is not only more efficient, it’s far more sustainable
Right! Having a team is what I'm working towards :)
Excited for you! Building the right team early will pay off in both speed and impact
Thanks for a excellent piece Petar.
We love to reduce others success, and often that comes with a cover story of the "lone genius". But the real wonder of humans are our ability to organize en masse and align our work in order to reach a future goal.
That should be the story.
Progress is rarely the work of one genius, but of aligned people moving together
100%
Yet we only cover 1 person on the magazine cover.
Petar, so inspiring! Thank you for bringing this up. It really resonates.
And it also reminded me of those movie scenes where a superhero arrives at a harbor and meets the right people—a team where everyone complements each other perfectly. I used to admire those moments, but I've also come to believe there's an element of luck involved.
Yes, teams are built, not born. They require genuine interest, patience, and effort. But there's something beautiful about finding people who are on the same page, share the same vision, and walking side by side with them. That alignment—when it happens—is truly special...
And beyond all this, the question you raised is indeed vital as you put it perfectly: "Can this company function when this founder is not in the room?"
Alignment is rarely accidental, but when it’s built with intention, it becomes one of the most powerful forces behind enduring companies
This is a brilliant breakdown of why Intellectual Vanity is the ultimate tax on growth. In the '22nd Century Frontier,' the complexity of the problems we face (AI, SpaceTech, Longevity) has outpaced the capacity of the 'Solo Genius.'
When we prioritize 'Being Right' over 'Winning,' we are essentially choosing a local maximum—a small hill we can stand on alone—instead of the mountain range we could conquer as a team. True leadership in this era isn't about having the right answers; it’s about building a system where the best answer can emerge from anyone, without the leader feeling threatened by it.
Intellectual humility and systems thinking unlock far greater outcomes than solo brilliance ever could
You know, Petar, I've been having some daunting thoughts about intelligence vs AI, and I can see how a single individual couldn't possibly outsmart AI sustainably. But having AI is also an incredible positive shift in leadership, where leaders can focus on vision, accountability, and orchestration, and move away from the narcissistic impulses that are tempted by the position.
We can be smart, geniuses even, but we need to be aware that we will never be as smart as the tech anymore.
It's a humbling moment for humanity.
AI raises the bar in a way that shifts leadership from outsmarting the system to orchestrating it effectively and responsibly
I liked the emphasis on decision latency over decision quality alone. Speed without shared context just shifts cost downstream.
Exactly. Speed is meaningless without shared context. A strong team turns decisions into coordinated, scalable action
I endorse this fully!