Five years ago, if you wanted to build a SaaS product, you needed:
- 2-3 engineers ($300K/year)
- 1 designer ($120K/year)
- 1 product manager ($150K/year)
- 1 marketer ($100K/year)
- Support staff as you grew
Minimum burn rate: $670K/year
Today, one person with AI can do all of that.
Not theoretically. Actually.
The Thesis
One person with AI can achieve what previously required ten people.
This isn't about AI replacing your job. It's about AI replacing the need to hire for the tasks that job entailed.
The implications are massive.
What Changed
Before AI (2018-2022)
To build a product company:
- Raise money to cover 18-24 months of runway
- Hire a team across engineering, design, marketing
- Burn through capital trying to reach product-market fit
- Fail 90% of the time because you ran out of money first
The model was simple: hire your way to growth.
After AI (2023+)
The equation flipped:
- Engineering: Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor
- Design: Midjourney, Figma with AI plugins
- Copywriting: ChatGPT, Claude
- Marketing: AI-powered SEO, content generation, social media
- Support: AI agents with human oversight
- Analytics: AI summarizing metrics, suggesting optimizations
You don't need to hire. You need to know how to use these tools.
The Math That Matters
Let's say you're building a SaaS product.
Traditional Approach
| Role | Annual Cost | What They Do | |------|------------|--------------| | Senior Engineer | $180,000 | Build product | | Frontend Dev | $140,000 | Build UI/UX | | Designer | $120,000 | Design system | | Marketer | $100,000 | Content, SEO, growth | | Total | $540,000 | Minimum viable team |
You need $900K-1.2M in funding to cover 18-24 months.
AI-Powered Approach
| Tool | Annual Cost | What It Replaces | |------|------------|------------------| | Claude/ChatGPT Pro | $480 | Engineering support, copywriting | | GitHub Copilot | $120 | Code generation | | Midjourney | $360 | Design work | | Hosting (Vercel) | $240 | DevOps | | Email (ConvertKit) | $588 | Marketing automation | | Total | $1,788 | 300x cost reduction |
You don't need funding. You need skill and time.
Real Examples
Example 1: Pieter Levels (@levelsio)
Built multiple 7-figure products (Nomad List, Remote OK, PhotoAI) as a solo founder.
His approach:
- Builds everything himself (PHP + AI assistance now)
- No employees
- Ships fast, iterates based on users
- $100K+/month in revenue with near-zero overhead
Example 2: Danny Postma
Built dozens of AI products in 2023:
- Headshot AI ($1M+ revenue)
- Interior AI
- Resume AI
Solo founder. No team. Just AI tools and execution.
Example 3: Marc Louvion
Shipped Product Hunt's #1 product using mostly Claude. Revenue in month one: $10K.
The pattern: All these founders used AI to do the work of a team.
What This Means for You
If You're a Solo Founder
You no longer need co-founders or funding to build a real product.
The blockers before:
- "I can't code well enough" → Claude Code can
- "I can't afford a designer" → Midjourney can design
- "I don't know marketing" → ChatGPT can write content
The bottleneck now is your ability to use AI effectively.
If You're Running a Small Team
You can compete with 50-person companies.
A team of 3 people with AI can:
- Ship faster than a 20-person team (no coordination overhead)
- Maintain higher quality (AI doesn't get tired)
- Operate at 10% of the cost
If You're in a Corporation
The writing is on the wall.
Companies hiring 10 people to do work that 1 person + AI can do won't survive. The market will punish inefficiency.
The future belongs to radically leveraged teams.
The Skills That Matter Now
It's not about knowing how to code or design. It's about knowing how to:
- Prompt effectively - Get AI to do exactly what you need
- Break down problems - Give AI clear, specific tasks
- Review critically - Know when AI output is good or needs iteration
- Integrate AI outputs - Combine AI-generated code, copy, designs into a cohesive product
- Ship relentlessly - Use speed as your advantage
These are learnable skills. They're not innate talents.
What We're Building at BetterStory
We're proving this thesis by living it.
BetterStory is:
- Built by 1-2 people + AI
- Publishing content daily
- Shipping AI tools for subscribers
- Teaching the exact playbook we use
Revenue per employee target: $300K-600K (vs industry average of $100K-150K)
Every piece of content we publish, every tool we ship, every course we create—it's all done with AI as our team.
And we're showing you how.
The Backlash
People will say:
- "But AI can't replace human creativity!"
- "You still need a team for complex products!"
- "This is just hype!"
They're missing the point.
AI doesn't replace creativity. It replaces repetitive work.
Designing 50 button variants? AI. Writing boilerplate code? AI. Creating social media posts from one article? AI. Drafting customer support responses? AI.
This frees you to focus on:
- Strategy
- User research
- Creative direction
- What features actually matter
AI is the best junior employee you've ever had. It works 24/7, never complains, costs $20/month, and gets better every week.
The question isn't whether to use it. It's whether you'll use it before your competition does.
How to Start
Week 1: Pick one task you hate doing. Use AI to automate it.
- Customer support responses
- Social media posts
- Code reviews
- Meeting notes
Week 2: Build something small with AI. A landing page. A simple tool. Anything.
Week 3: Document what you learned. Share it publicly.
Week 4: Repeat. Build the next thing.
In 6 months, you'll be doing work that used to require a team. In 12 months, you'll be unrecognizable.
The Future Is Already Here
One person with AI can do what ten people did five years ago.
This isn't a prediction. It's already happening.
The only question is: will you be one of the people who takes advantage of it?
Want to learn how? Subscribe to BetterStory. We're building a platform that teaches you exactly this—with tools, courses, and content that show you the way.
The 1→10 future is here. Let's build it together.