A solo expertise business sells what you already know to the clients who need it, with no staff and no investors. It is the natural first step into business after a corporate career.
A solo expertise business is a one-person business that sells your professional judgment. That can be consulting, a fractional role, advisory work, coaching, workshops, a course or a paid newsletter, as long as it is built on what you learned in your career. You own all of it, and you keep it small on purpose.
Your expertise, network and track record are what clients pay for, so you start with assets most new founders lack.
“Prior experience in the specific industry predicts much greater rates of entrepreneurial success.” Azoulay et al., AER: Insights, 2020
You keep 100% of the company, with no board, investor or manager approving your prices or your calendar.
You need a laptop, a website and a way to take payment. Among US businesses without employees, 58% started with no start-up debt.
LinkedIn, YouTube and newsletters put you in front of buyers directly, at no cost.
Every solo expertise business we know of went through these steps, in roughly this order.
Rank your ideas and commit to the one your expertise supports best.
Decide what you sell, to whom, in what format and at what price.
Narrow to a niche small enough to become the obvious name in it.
Get found through content, your network and referrals, with no ad spend.
Turn conversations into paid work, even with no sales background.
Run your business on a lean model that sustains itself while it grows.
Raise your prices, add offers and decide when to bring in help.
If you want to set up your business quickly without guessing, we made the Uncommon Toolkits for you. There are 6 step-by-step toolkits built on the same method we coach in Plan A, covering every step from building your model to keeping it lean and sustainable. Each is $199, or you can get all 6 for $849.
They came from product management, sales and accounting. Each built a large audience on a different platform, and each sells their own expertise.
newsletter subscribers (March 2025)
A paid weekly newsletter, a sponsored podcast and a paid community, all on product management and growth.
7 years at Airbnb in engineering, product and growth roles. He left in 2019 to write full time.
CNBC reported that his newsletter and his podcast each bring in over $500,000 a year. He has no full-time employees and works with freelancers.
He wrote about what he learned inside Airbnb, grew mainly by word of mouth, and sold the same expertise as a newsletter, a podcast and a community.
lennysnewsletter.com (4 Mar 2025) and CNBC (11 Jan 2024).
LinkedIn followers (March 2024), and 1.5M+ across platforms
Low-priced courses and templates, a free weekly newsletter and sponsorships.
A healthcare software sales leader who became a Chief Revenue Officer at a venture-backed company by 33.
“A $15M one-person business with no employees and no investors,” with about 89% profit margin in June 2025.
He posted on LinkedIn every day about the sales topics he knew, then sold several low-priced products to that single audience.
Self-reported on justinwelsh.me and his LinkedIn (checked 26 Sep 2026). Works with contractors.
YouTube subscribers
Career and confidence coaching, online courses, keynote talks and a book, for professionals who want senior roles.
A chartered accountant who started in audit at a Big Four firm, then recruited accountants. She went solo in 2016.
By her count, over 4,000 professionals helped into senior roles, 2.5 million learners on her LinkedIn Learning courses, and a book with Wiley in October 2025.
She answered the questions job seekers search for, using what she learned as a recruiter. Her “Tell Me About Yourself” video passed 17 million views.
Speakers Canada (checked 26 Sep 2026) and Canadian Accountant (24 Oct 2017). Revenue not disclosed.
Solo expertise business
Traditional business with staff
Venture-backed startup
What you need to start
A laptop, a website and a way to take payment. Among US businesses without employees, 58% started with no start-up debt.
A lease, equipment, stock and payroll, usually funded by loans. Among businesses with employees, 29% started with no start-up debt.
Investors first. Fewer than 1% of new US firms reported venture capital at startup.
How much you own
100%
100%, with lenders’ claims on the assets
The median founding team keeps about 36% after a Series A.
Biggest fixed cost
Software and your own time
Staff. Benefits add 30% to every private-sector employee hour.
The monthly spend your investors expect you to keep up
When you first earn
From your first client
Once the premises and the team are ready
Often after several rounds of funding
Who you answer to
Your clients
Lenders, landlords and your team
Your board and your investors
What success looks like
A profitable business that pays you on your terms
A stable business that employs others
A sale or public listing. About 3 in 4 venture-backed firms don’t return investors’ capital.
Sources: SBA Office of Advocacy (Oct 2024) · Kauffman Foundation (2019) · Carta (Mar 2026) · BLS (June 2026) · Shikhar Ghosh, Harvard Business School, via WSJ (2012). No official survival figure exists for one-person firms. For businesses with employees, 65.9% are still open 2 years after opening (BLS, March 2025).
Accelerators are built for startups that aim to grow very large, and most invest money for a share of your company. If you want full control of your business, Plan A is built for you.
What you want
Venture accelerators
Free startup programs
Plan A
Complete control
Most take a share of your company
No equity taken
You keep 100%
No barrier to entry
About 1% of applicants get into the best known
Open to anyone
No team, product or track record needed
Fully remote
Mostly in person, often in San Francisco
Online
From anywhere, even while employed
Hands-on 1:1 guidance
Partners shared across a large batch
Self-paced videos or email
16 hours, just you and your coach
Built for expertise businesses
Built for venture-scale startups
Built for startups
Consulting, fractional, coaching, courses
Program
What it costs you
Length and format
Start with no idea?
Built for
Plan A
$3,800, or 4 payments of $950. You keep 100% of your company.
8 weeks, remote, 16 hours of live 1:1 coaching
Yes. You start by choosing your direction.
Solo expertise businesses
Y Combinator
Invests $500,000: $125,000 for 7%, plus $375,000 on an uncapped SAFE
3 months, in person in San Francisco
Yes. 40% of each batch is “just an idea.”
Venture-scale startups. About 1% accepted.
Techstars
Invests $220,000: $20,000 for 5% common stock, plus $200,000 on an uncapped SAFE
About 3 months, mostly in person
Needs a startup, which can be pre-product
Scalable startups. Under 1% accepted in most programs (2023).
500 Global
$35,000 program fee plus travel. Invests up to $50,000, with up to $1M more possible.
4 months, in person in San Francisco
Yes, “as early as day 0”
Venture-scale tech companies
Antler (US)
Invests $500,000 to $1M. US equity share not published.
Residency of up to 3 months
Yes. “It is not necessary to have an idea.”
Venture-scale startups
Founder Institute
$1,199, plus a 2.5% equity warrant
10 weekly sessions, mostly online
Yes, from “I have an idea”
Tech startups. It “typically does not accept” consultancies and agencies.
YC Startup School
Free
Online, self-paced, about 7 weeks
Assumes you are already building
Early-stage startups
Half Baked
Free
A daily email of startup ideas, plus a free 10-day online hackathon in Nov 2025
It supplies ideas, with no program
Startup builders who want ideas
Terms change often, so check the program before you apply.
US businesses with no employees in 2023, with $1.8 trillion in receipts
US Census Bureau, released 20 Nov 2025
yearly growth in businesses with no employees, 2012 to 2023, against 1.1% for employers
US Census Bureau, 30 Jul 2025
of US businesses with no employees used personal savings to start
SBA Office of Advocacy, Oct 2024
The Census count includes every business with no paid employees, side businesses too. MBO Partners is an industry survey.
A solo expertise business suits you if you want to sell your judgment and keep the company small. If you want to build a product for millions of users, raise investment or manage a large team, a venture-backed or traditional business fits you better, and the accelerators above are a good place to start.
From your first idea to a business that keeps growing, we have a way to help at every stage, with a coach or at your own pace.
Know when you can afford to leave.
Plan a successful move out of your 9 to 5.
Find the idea your expertise supports best.
Narrow them to 1 direction in a live workshop.
Start an idea from the expertise you already have.
Choose how much guidance you want.
8 weeks of 1:1 coaching, with all 6 toolkits included.
Build faster with a proven framework for every step.
Get a second opinion on the big decisions.
Mentors who run solo businesses, 2 or 4 sessions a month.
Meet founders at your stage in person.
Salons, Summit and Retreats with founders like you.
Freelancers usually sell hours on someone else’s brief. A solo expertise business sells a defined offer at a set price, to a market you choose, and it can include products that don’t need your hours.
No. Your first clients usually come from your network and from direct conversations. Content helps you grow after that.
Yes. The Solo Founder Roadmap shows how to plan your move out of your 9 to 5, and Plan A works for professionals who are still in a job.
Check your employment contract for rules on outside work.
Software and a website usually cost little. The bigger cost is the months before your income covers your living costs, which the Roadmap works out for you.
Yes. Many solo founders use contractors for editing, design or support and stay a company of 1.
If you have skills others already pay for and several directions you can’t rank, we run The Shortlist, a free 60-minute live workshop once a month. You leave with 1 direction and the method to test it. A few attendees get their own list narrowed live.
Already have paying clients? See Uncommon Mentorship
Questions about the toolkits, Plan A, mentorship, or whether any of this fits where you are right now. Send it here and a real person answers, usually within a day.
