Three Types of OPC: Research, Consulting, and Software Development
One-person companies are not one form, but three distinctly different business models. Their core capabilities, monetization methods, cost structures, and growth bottlenecks are completely different.
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When people say "one-person company" (OPC), they often treat it as a single concept. But in reality, OPCs can be divided into at least three completely different business models: research OPC, consulting OPC, and software development OPC. Although they are all "one person + AI system," their core capabilities, monetization methods, cost structures, growth bottlenecks, and risk characteristics are all very different. Confusing these three types of OPC is one of the root causes of difficulties many OPC founders encounter.
01Research OPC: Producing Cognitive Products
The core product of research OPC is cognition—articles, reports, analysis, opinions. Its customers are people who need high-quality judgment and deep insight. The cost structure of research OPC is very light: mainly time and attention. Its monetization methods: subscriptions, paid reading, courses, speaking. Its bottleneck is attention—the high-quality cognition one person can produce per day is limited. Its growth ceiling: if the research process can be automated, output can increase dramatically; but the quality and depth of cognition are still limited by one person's judgment.
02Consulting OPC: Producing Decision Services
The core product of consulting OPC is decision support—helping clients make judgments, develop solutions, and make choices. Its customers are people facing important decisions but lacking sufficient experience or judgment. The cost structure of consulting OPC is medium: requires significant time invested in understanding the client's specific situation. Its monetization methods: project-based billing, hourly billing, retainer. Its bottleneck is trust—why would clients trust your judgment? Trust takes time to build. Its growth ceiling: consulting OPC is hard to scale, because every client needs personalized service; but through AI, some standardized consulting products can be productized.
03Software Development OPC: Producing Software Products
The core product of software development OPC is software—SaaS, tools, plugins, APIs. Its customers are users who need a specific function or solution. The cost structure of software development OPC is heavier upfront: requires developing and maintaining software. Its monetization methods: subscriptions, licenses, pay-as-you-go. Its bottleneck is distribution—the software is built, but how do users find out about it? Its growth ceiling: software development OPC has the highest growth ceiling, because software can be replicated at zero marginal cost; but distribution costs and competition are also the largest.
04Comparison and Selection of the Three OPC Types
Which type of OPC to choose depends on your core capabilities and resources: if you are best at deep thinking and writing, do research OPC; if you are best at understanding client problems and providing solutions, do consulting OPC; if you are best at turning ideas into runnable software, do software development OPC. But note: many people overestimate their software development ability and underestimate the difficulty of distribution; many overestimate their consulting ability and underestimate the time to build trust; many overestimate their research ability and underestimate the scarcity of attention.
The three types of OPC are not mutually exclusive, but can be combined: research OPC can branch out into consulting services, consulting services can be productized into software, and software products can feed back into research cognition. But the key is: you must be clear about which type is currently your core, and focus your main energy on that core bottleneck. Confusing the three types of OPC is the root cause of many one-person company founders "doing everything but doing nothing well."
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