Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2026?

4 pointsvekker2mo ago1 comments

This question seems to be asked almost annually on here (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=successful%20one-person%20online%20businesses&sort=byPopularity&type=story), and I'm curious what it looks like in 2026.

> How many people on Hacker News are running successful online businesses on their own? What is your business and how did you get started?

> Defining successful as a profitable business which provides the majority of the owners income.

I am also interested in how this looks today given the current tooling. With generative AI, fast code generation, and agentic workflows, it seems easier than ever for one person to build and operate things that previously required a team.

> For those running solo businesses today, how are you using LLMs or agent workflows in practice, if at all?

1 comments

zkmon2mo ago

Everyone is just looking the stage to understand what's going on. No one has a script in hand that tells you what role you are going to play on that stage. The stage is full of smoke and fog. Hardly anything is visible. The entire play is being constantly re-scripted, redesigned, new pactors jumping in from nowhere, actors suddenly growing up to be monsters and filling up entire stage.

Nope we just reading HN and getting amazed. Seriously, any serious commitment requires g9od enough visibility into future prospects. You can't simply throw half a million into a garage project and then struggle to keep up with the fast changing scene on the stage.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse