Building a one-person business in the United States, from first customer to venture scale, in the age of AI.
Josh Wolf · the living edition: every worked example runs your numbers, every state has a page, every fee has a date on it.
A working product used to be evidence. Now it is a receipt for a few evenings with an AI coding tool. That shift rewrites the early stage of company building, and most of the advice online has not caught up with it. This manual starts there and goes all the way through: customer discovery, business models, federal law, money and tax, raising capital or not raising it, selling, operating with AI agents, running your own week, staying well, scaling or choosing not to, and the rules in every state.
The 13-week cash forecast, the living cap table, the S-corp break-even, QSBS, the 7(a) loan, unit economics, market sizing. Each opens on the chapter's worked example and swaps in yours.
All 51 jurisdictions on one map, re-shaded by formation fee, yearly cost, income tax or sales tax. Mark your states and the chapters show your rules.
597 of them, each with its "done when" test and a notes field. Your record stays on your device. No streaks, no scores.
691 source links. Anything the official source could not confirm carries a visible verify mark. The whole book was re-checked against primary sources in October 2026.
Read Volume 1 now, free, no email
Volume 1 is open to anyone. For the rest of the book and the calculators, leave your address. I'll send you a note with your personal link, and now and then I'll write when the book changes or when I've made something else for people who work alone. One click stops it.
"Profitable companies die of cash shortages all the time. A solo business is more exposed than most, because one late invoice can be a third of the month's income."
Chapter 5.2, Cash Flow and Runway
If you're struggling, Chapter 10.9 lists crisis and support lines, and it is open to everyone without an email. In the US you can call or text 988 any time. The directory.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures were checked against official sources in October 2026 and change constantly; confirm before you rely on one.