The End Of Business As Usual: AI And The Fall Of Slow Companies

Forbes

6 days ago

In the AI era, speed and adaptability now beat size and structure as individuals and small teams ... More outpace the giants.
In a recent story, Shelly Palmer shares the example of a 19-year-old college dropout from Detroit who built a $30,000-a-month SaaS business in just ninety days. He did it solo, in six hours, using Claude, ChatGPT, and no-code platforms. This isn't an exception. It's a signal of what's next
Palmer puts it simply: when anyone can execute instantly, the real advantage shifts to how fast you can generate ideas and get to market. Speed, not scale, wins.
For more than two decades, I've operated like a street fighter. From launching creative ventures to advising Fortune 500 leaders, the mindset has always been the same. Be quick. Be lean. Be relentless. Generative AI has taken that approach and multiplied its impact. It compresses research into hours, turns prompts into prototypes, and gives individuals the power that used to belong only to large, well-resourced teams.
While solo builders are accelerating, traditional enterprises are hitting resistance. The very structures that once helped them scale, such as annual planning, layered approvals, and institutional process, now slow them down. Palmer's warning is clear. Big companies should be nervous. If it takes you months to greenlight a project, you will lose to someone who builds and pivots daily.
Harvard Business School found that companies using small, cross-functional teams to explore AI outperformed their peers by 25 percent in revenue growth within eighteen months. This approach works because it grants minimum viable autonomy. When teams can move quickly within smart constraints, they generate momentum faster than those stuck in outdated hierarchies.
So, what does it mean to be an AI street fighter today?
Start by collapsing the idea-to-execution cycle. Don't wait for permission. Build now. Use GPT-4, Claude, or Gemini to create a landing page, model a pricing strategy, or write a pitch. Run it past customers immediately and adjust. What used to take months now takes days.
Rethink how you learn. Street fighters lead with curiosity, not credentials. They ask why not instead of can we. They are quick to unlearn what's obsolete. Slow-moving workflows and top-down project plans are often the first to go when speed becomes the goal.
Develop deep expertise in one area, like natural language processing, while building enough knowledge in related fields to collaborate effectively across teams. The most valuable contributors today are AI-literate individuals who can bridge the gap between technology and business.
Work is no longer confined to office walls or org charts. The most agile leaders are building hybrid teams with freelancers, independent specialists, and fractional executives. These setups bypass the friction of hiring cycles and give teams the flexibility to scale up or down as needed.
The smartest organizations are also treating talent like a community, not a commodity. AI might handle the matching, but it takes people to build connection and trust. Platforms that combine automation with mentorship, training, and human support are creating long-term engagement that goes far beyond a single project.
Experimentation has to become a habit, not a special initiative. This means allocating resources for small, fast tests and tracking indicators like cycle time or feedback loops rather than just financial results. Progress today is often measured in learning velocity, not just revenue.
The future will favor those who move quickly, stay curious, and embrace change as a constant. If you see yourself as scrappy, resourceful, and unafraid of uncertainty, AI is not your competition. It is your edge.
The bell has rung. We are in a new arena. The winners won't be the biggest. They will be the ones who learn the fastest and punch above their weight.