We're really in the Golden Age of online business

Hey there, solopreneur!

I was sitting on my balcony here in Cyprus yesterday, watching the Mediterranean waves and thinking about something that's been on my mind:

We're living in what might be the Golden Era of startups.

There's endless doom talk about AI destroying jobs, but I'm seeing the complete OPPOSITE play out.

The barriers to building companies have never been lower.

2 years ago, you needed technical skills, capital, and connections to get anything off the ground.

Today? The only real limitation is your creativity and vision.

What's wild is how AI has transformed literally every step of the startup journey - from ideation to execution to distribution.

I'm just damn excited about building in 2025, and today I want to transfer some of this excitement to you too (by sharing why)…

I just spun up this fun side newsletter called “Built in Europe” 🇪🇺 

…and it’s taking off more than I expected.

Being from Germany, I always felt European tech and startups were under-discussed on X, so I wanted to create an easy way for people can stay on the cutting-edge of what’s being built on my continent.

Every week, I share:

• The most exciting startups in Europe

• Emerging trends shaping our continental ecosystem

• Real stories from founders about what it's like building here

So if you’re curious to keep up with the coolest things happening in European tech, join Built in Europe here.

Modern business is 100% permissionless

Remember when having the "right" background actually mattered? That world is dying fast.

No one cares if you're a 14-year-old kid or a 60-year-old veteran anymore. The gatekeepers have left the building.

All that matters in 2025 is your product and the emotions it evokes. Not your fancy degree. Not your resume. Not where you went to school.

All you need to figure out is how to build something that solves a real need and speaks to people's deepest desires and emotions.

Kids are launching AI tools from their bedrooms that outperform Fortune 500 products. Complete industry outsiders disrupting markets they had no business even entering.

The permission slip you've been waiting for? It was never coming. And now you don't even need it.

You're at 70% skill level at everything, instantly

Starting a business used to be soul-crushing because you'd quickly realize how little you actually knew about... well, everything.

Marketing? Clueless. Sales? No idea. Product development? What's that?

But here's what's changed everything:

Even with the free version of ChatGPT, you now have an advisor that helps you prevent 80-90% of beginner mistakes. Instantly.

You can go from complete novice to "dangerous enough" in virtually any domain in hours instead of years. The learning curve has been utterly demolished.

I've watched total beginners:

• Create landing pages that convert

• Write compelling marketing copy

• Build basic MVPs

• Set up accounting systems

• Draft legal documents

All with AI by their side, guiding them through each step.

Finding ideas has never been easier

The "I don't have an idea" excuse is officially dead.

Here's my exact toolstack for finding problems worth solving:

• GummySearch to mine Reddit for real pain points people are actively discussing

• Ahrefs for uncovering underserved keywords with high intent

• Uploading YC documents about great startups into Claude and jamming ideas with it

• Showing Claude a successful startup's model and asking it to extract the template and apply it to non-obvious niches

One approach I swear by is finding ideas that show "viral-content-market fit" first. If people are intensely engaging with content about a problem, there's likely a product opportunity hiding there.

But here's an even more powerful method I've been using lately:

AI-enhanced audience research.

Your audience (if you have one) will literally tell you what to build if you listen closely enough. Some tactical ways to do this:

1. After people sign up to your newsletter, ask them about their #1 challenge

2. Use an AI agent to analyze responses and create reports highlighting exact language, recurring patterns, and pain points (like lindy or gumloop)

3. Program multi-step email conversations to dig deeper into their needs

4. Let an agent scan all your social comments for common questions

I've seen products go from zero to massive traction because they were built directly from the language and desires of an existing audience.

Creating MVPs with No Code is the New reality

Only 1-2 years ago, you couldn't build anything meaningful without being a developer or hiring an expensive team.

That world is GONE.

Tools like Cursor and Lovable have completely changed the game, especially for non-technical founders like me. You can literally tell AI what you want to build, and it will generate the code for you.

Even if that's still too complicated for your taste, these tools are so readily available that you can find someone to build you an MVP for 2-5k max.

It was never easier to get going without funding. But here's a crucial principle I've learned:

You should never build more than an MVP because distribution has been democratized even more. Better to test with something simple than over-engineer a product no one wants.

You can get instant distribution w just ONE tweet

The biggest innovation TikTok brought wasn't short videos - it was their algorithm, (which is interest-graph based).

This means the algorithm uses AI to feed users content it thinks they're interested in, rather than just showing content from people they follow.

The result? On platforms like TikTok and X, you can test product ideas with zero following. If you have Content-Market Fit, your posts will spread regardless of who you are.

I've watched complete unknowns go viral overnight with the right message about the right product. The distribution playing field has been leveled in ways that were unimaginable even five years ago.

My advice? Always test multiple angles for your product idea on social to find what resonates most. Let the algorithm tell you which message hits hardest, then double down on that narrative.

People have never been more open to testing new apps

There's something fascinating happening with consumer behavior right now:

People are practically itching to try new software, especially if it has any novel AI features. You don't even have to call it "AI" explicitly – there's just an unprecedented openness to new tools.

We're seeing a massive explosion of new apps, and because the technology feels so fresh and exciting, it's easier than ever to get someone to download your product.

But I do believe this is an opportunity window that will close.

So its important to go hard now and strike while the iron’s hot.

You can mockup any product w AI Image-Gen

Sometimes you don't even want to build something before testing the idea on social.

With ChatGPT's new image generation… you can create realistic mockups without building anything at all.

This is game-changing for physical products especially.

Have an idea for a new device? A piece of furniture? A fashion item? Just generate photo-realistic mockups and gauge reaction.

One of the biggest risks in the past was investing tons of time and money into creating a prototype, only to learn nobody wanted it. Now you can test market reaction in literally hours, dramatically de-risking your entire process.

You can automate 90% of biz operations with AI

Once your startup gains traction, you should adopt an AI-first approach to operations.

Using tools like Gumloop, Lindy or Make, you can automate 80-90% of your customer support and virtually every other area of your business – from communications to accounting.

Being lean from the beginning and AI-first gives you tremendous leverage and growth potential because you can direct most of your resources toward areas that actually move the needle.

This is how tiny teams are competing with enterprises now.

Building landing pages takes minutes, NOT weeks

I remember setting up my first landing page for AI Solopreneur (product unavailable now) – it was a genuine pain in the ass.

Nowadays? You can use tools like Lovable to create a professional-looking website in literally minutes, one that's totally good enough to sell 99.9% of products.

Need compelling copy? Just use Claude or ChatGPT to draft the perfect landing page message. And if you followed my earlier advice about collecting audience data, you can even use your audience's exact language to sell them on your idea.

Their words will always convert better than yours.

The cost of content has plummeted

It used to be expensive to shoot videos – you needed professional equipment, lighting, editing software, and technical knowledge.

But in the era of short-form content, people actually prefer simple videos shot with an iPhone. Raw, authentic content often performs better than over-produced “MrBeastified” material.

It's all about the idea now, the authenticity and emotion you can deliver.

Every single step of creating your startup – from ideation to building MVPs to finding distribution and product-market fit – is 100x easier than it was just a few years ago.

The need for venture capital is substantially lower, and the risk is dramatically reduced because you can get market feedback by sharing early versions of your work.

I'm genuinely excited about this moment in time because the only real limiting factor now is your creativity and taste. The technical and financial barriers that held so many great ideas back have largely dissolved.

No matter what you end up building, I'm rooting for you. This truly is the golden age of startups – don't let it pass you by.

Ole's Bookmarks

This is an example of why you should be excited right now. The game is being completely rewritten as we speak.

I've been learning more about Chinese cities lately. I feel like I need to let go of the propaganda-influenced opinions about China in general. I'd love to travel there and see these futuristic cities myself.

Absolute value bomb podcast by Naval on Modern Wisdom.

Random end note:

I've realized this week that I'm really looking forward to meeting people in person again this year once I leave Cyprus. For the last year or two, I've been pretty secluded here, just grinding on my business and feeling kind of lonely a lot of the time. It’s so easy to get lost in an online world and lose touch with what really matters.

Try to counter some of that now.

See you next week 🫡 

Ole