Value Cycle – Forget about value chains
I’ll start by sharing my main strategy or value cycle: create real value (copy and improve is OK), be the best at selling (communicating the value is everything), and ensure delightful value delivery every time you sell. Simple! Now, imagine using this method to grow your business to $200M in annual revenue within 12 months, using a team of merely 20 people. Sounds impossible? Not anymore. Startups like Cursor ($200M ARR in 12 months, 20 people), Mercor ($50M ARR in 2 years, 30 people), and Lovable ($10M ARR in just 2 months with 15 people) are proving that the prophecy of small, hyper-efficient teams leveraging AI has indeed been fulfilled.
Small teams now have a remarkable compounding advantage: lower burn rates, faster iteration cycles, less dilution, and more joy in the work. The reality is clear: with next-generation AI tools, a handful of exceptional individuals can create and scale software-centric businesses rapidly and efficiently, driven by automation, not headcount.
What Makes This Dream Team?
1. The Business Visionary (Value)
Detects customer needs and seismic tech shifts and aligns product strategy with market direction. Their expertise spans agentic AI and deep infrastructure.
2. The Tech/Product Sales Rock Star (Sales)
Crafts strategic moats, masters go-to-market strategies, and quickly validates ideas with real users.
3. The Systems Builder (Delivery)
It could be a CTO, but I prefer the CAIO, a savvy automation manager, or a systems expert who transforms chaos into streamlined, repeatable systems.
How Small Teams Scale Big
Develop faster using AI-powered coding co-pilots.
- Optimize sales, marketing, and customer success through intelligent AI tools.
- Manage legal, compliance, accounting, and analytics effortlessly, with greater speed and lower costs.
- Automate data pipelines and workflows, creating self-sustaining, self-healing systems.
With fewer people, complexity drops dramatically. Simplicity compounds efficiency, meaning fewer distractions and a sharper focus on building and selling.
AI Is Powerful, but Talent is Irreplaceable
Does the rise of AI mean teams matter less? Quite the opposite.
AI can automate nearly everything—except the human elements that truly matter. AI cannot:
- Identify truly exceptional talent.
- Ignite excitement in the right people.
- Convince top talent to join early, before funding and hype.
- Generate those crucial sparks of insight that can change the trajectory of a startup.
These uniquely human capabilities represent the crucial 10% that AI can’t replicate. These moments of clarity and intuition are invaluable and must be acted upon decisively.
The Bottom Line
Today, there has never been a better time to launch and scale quickly with a small, empowered team. The age of AI-native startups has begun, unlocking unprecedented opportunities to achieve extraordinary growth with lean resources. Are you ready to pivot your business, build your dream team, and scale faster than ever?
By Jay X Anaya @jayxanaya, Chief AI Officer and advocate for responsible AI innovation.
AI assisted the author in drafting and editing this article, and the author reviewed it accurately based on professional experience.