Leverage Over Group Cognitive Function: The Silent Power Shift

Imagine a competition to build the largest sandcastle. There are four teams of ten, three teams of seven, and two teams of five. Then there's you—working solo. Why? Because you didn’t read the rules. You’re competing blind, unaware that this is a team-based game. It’s almost as if you’re playing without knowing the objective, putting yourself at a clear disadvantage.

Now, the goal is straightforward: build the biggest sandcastle. Do you rush to build it as fast as you can, hoping sheer effort will make up for the lack of help? Or do you realize that working alone might not cut it against well-coordinated teams?

Now imagine this competition happens monthly. After a few tries, you finally read the rules. What would you do differently? Would you build a team first? Seek out people who excel at castle-building to form an all-star group. Especially if there’s a big cash prize at stake, would you keep competing solo, knowing you have no real chance, or would you play smarter and find the right partners? What if, in the era of AI and automation, you had the hardest workers, you just had to guide them?

Group cognitive function refers to the collective thinking processes, problem-solving abilities, and decision-making behaviors that emerge when a group of individuals works together.

In life, you compete not as an individual but against teams. Most people are oblivious to this. Your relationships, your wealth, your emotional stability—it is all team-building. Those who are around you contribute to that aspect of your life.

This is the reality of starting a business. It doesn’t matter if you're running an agency, launching a startup, drop-shipping, or trading stocks—the domain is irrelevant. What history has proven, over and over again, is this: People who try to do everything alone fail more often, move slower, and suffer longer. Humans are terrible solo operators. We’re wired for collaboration, feedback, pressure, and support. Even the so-called “solo founder” isn’t really solo. They’re in Discord servers, Slack groups, X threads—absorbing ideas, testing frameworks, and refining their system. That’s their team. You’re never truly alone. But if you are, you’re playing this game on hard mode.

The most important skill you can develop is learning how to build a team—one that operates like a sports team, not a family. I’ve never liked when people compare business teams to families. Family-like bonds absolutely exist on a sports team, too. However, the difference is in how accountability is handled. Families tolerate non-performance. Sports teams don’t. In business, build like a team that plays to win, not one that plays not to lose.

On a sports team, though, the dynamic is different. A team thrives on performance, shared goals, and accountability. When someone becomes a weak link or starts bringing down the group, it doesn’t just affect them—it impacts the entire team. In that scenario, you don’t ignore it. That person either needs to step up or be replaced. It might take days or years to find the right solution, but the team can’t let a toxic or unproductive member stay just for the sake of preserving the bond. Many don't pay attention to those dynamics.

The point is this: Build a team that operates with the structure and fluidity of a championship sports team. You can still create strong, meaningful connections, but make sure accountability is the priority. A winning team can’t afford to carry someone who isn’t pulling their weight.

Many entrepreneurs, since before the future of intelligence, viewed team building as one of the optimal ways to build large-scale projects. The shift from “how to do it” to “who can do it” Is a pivotal moment in everyone’s journey.

This idea of leveraging top-tier talent doesn’t only apply to humans anymore. We're entering an age where intelligence—once exclusively human—is becoming programmable and distributable.

Welcome to the automation layer. Intelligence has the ability to automate many of the tasks we complete in our daily lives. In the next 5 years, the job market will be divided by who understands artificial intelligence and who does not. As of today, the ability to replace a living human consciousness with a human consciousness stored on a machine may seem far-fetched, but we must not ignore the fact that Artificial General Intelligence(AGI) and Artificial Collective Intelligence(ACI) are coming.

AGI Definition: A hypothetical type of AI that possesses human-level intelligence is capable of understanding, learning, and applying knowledge across a wide range of tasks and domains, much like humans.

ACI Definition: a distributed framework that orchestrates multiple AI models and resources through a Master Control Program (MCP), aiming to achieve intelligence beyond the capabilities of individual AI systems or humans

The Shift From Group Cognitive Function to Leverage Machine

We live in a very interesting time where we are going to see various aspects of the world adjust, change, and falter. There are too many people out there building with revolutionary technology. So, back to the premise of this piece. We know that building a team is the optimal route. Does the team need to be human? Now, we don't have enough data at the time of writing to be able to show proof that one is better than the other. Because over the course of human history it has been team vs team.

I am comfortable making the following assumption, just from utilizing any LLM such as ChatGPT or Gemini: We are at the brink of a paradigm shift in which the solo founder is no longer truly solo. AI has unlocked the ability to simulate a virtual team capable of offering domain-specific insight across nearly every function that once required multiple human minds. This is not some abstract idea—it is tangible, and it’s happening now.

To harness this new reality, we must begin breaking down how to structure this AI-powered virtual team. I attached example prompts to each one so you can try them yourself.

• Critical Thinking & Strategy Feedback: Use LLMs as sounding boards for ideas to test logic, poke holes in assumptions, or simulate debate. This becomes your partner in clarity.

• Marketing Feedback & Ideation: You can now brainstorm brand positioning, ad copy, audience segmentation, and channel strategy with a machine that understands tone, culture, and trends. This is your marketing team.

• Product or Service Design Feedback: From UI/UX principles to technical architecture to user stories and customer pain points—AI can provide early validation and iterative input. This is your product manager and designer.

• Customer Support & Operations: From generating onboarding flows to drafting SOPs and even automating answers to customer questions, your AI assistant becomes your operations department.

• Emotional & Psychological Support: Surprisingly, these models can help regulate your thinking. They remind you to zoom out, stay grounded, and not drown in chaos. That is your cofounder-level energy check.

We are entering an era in which your advantage is not how hard you work but how smartly you leverage intelligence—human or artificial. The most successful entrepreneurs of the next decade will not have the biggest teams but the clearest systems, sharpest tools, and most adaptable minds.

You’re no longer alone. You just have to learn to lead differently.

In the age of AI, your virtual team is already waiting. Now it’s your move.

Thank you for being here. We are just getting started.

Nikhil Mohanty