By Andrew Miller
One of the most important parts of entrepreneurship is solving problems.
That’s what Bill Gross, founder of the Idealab Incubator, had in mind when he rolled out his new business idea platform Idealab.ai.
“My whole goal is to cause more entrepreneurship to happen around the world, to lower the bar for entrepreneurship, and to help entrepreneurs be successful at tackling world problems,” said Gross.
To that end, his new platform contains 1.2 million AI-generated business ideas drawn from 17 million sources such as expired patents, news stories, research reports, company filings, and complaints posted to online forums.
Anyone can search by industry, skill set, location, or interest, then use the site’s tools to test an idea or spin off a hundred variations. Business ideas are organized by how urgent the need is, whether the technology is ready, how crowded the market already is, and whether the timing is right.
Gross believes AI will significantly change the direction of entrepreneurship, while enabling more solo founders and more nimble companies.
The internet took about twenty years to remake business, and mobile took around ten. He puts the AI version at one to three years, fast enough that one founder with the right tools can attempt what used to need a team of a hundred.
The goal for Idealab.ai is to seed 1 million new businesses and 100 million new jobs.
The second figure is deliberate. It roughly matches a Goldman Sachs estimate of the jobs AI could remove from existing companies by 2030.
Now, the technology taking jobs could also generate the companies that replace them.
P.S. Starting a business has never been easier. Growing an established one still takes capital.
If you’re past the early days and ready to fund what’s next,let’s talk.