Can Two Consultants and AI Compete with Big Consulting Firms?
What if two experienced consultants, working alongside a team of AI assistants, could deliver the kind of strategic thinking traditionally reserved for companies with million-dollar consulting budgets?
It's an idea I've been exploring with my long-time collaborator, Alan Majer of Goodrobot. And it has the potential to change how we think about consulting, innovation and the competitive advantage of small businesses. I call it the Power of Two, Plus AI.
Why Two Minds Can Be Better Than One
In 2024, Nature Biotechnology published a paper titled It Takes Two to Think, exploring how collaboration and conversation can improve human thinking and innovation.
The premise is interesting: putting ideas into words and sharing them with another person forces us to organize our thinking, challenge assumptions and make connections we might not discover on our own. Sometimes, two minds really are better than one.
This connects with economist Joseph Schumpeter's seminal 1934 work, The Theory of Economic Development, where he described innovation as creating "new combinations" of existing knowledge and ideas. He recognized that entrepreneurs excel at seeing patterns and opportunities others miss.
As Isaac Newton famously put it, we see further by standing on the shoulders of giants. But what happens when you combine two entrepreneurial minds with artificial intelligence? I think we may have a new model for innovation: two people plus AI.
From the Power of Two to the Power of AI
For almost a decade, I've been working with Alan Majer of Goodrobot on consulting and research projects focused on how emerging technologies create competitive advantage. We've had success, delivered value to clients, earned a living and had fun along the way. It's truly been "the Power of Two" at work!
But we've also faced the challenge of competing with much larger consulting organizations, including the Big Three management consultancies and the Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG. These firms have enormous advantages: large teams, specialized expertise, institutional knowledge, established client relationships and proven strategy frameworks.
However, scale comes with trade-offs. Traditional consulting can be expensive, slow and sometimes constrained by bureaucracy or groupthink. A finance and accounting perspective is valuable for optimizing existing businesses, but discovering the next big technology opportunity often requires a different lens. So we're experimenting with a different approach.
Meet the Claudes
Our new model combines the Power of Two with an extended team we affectionately call "the Claudes." That's right: multiple instances of Anthropic's Claude AI, alongside Google Gemini, OpenAI and other AI models.
We use these tools to extend our research, analyze information, explore scenarios, identify patterns and challenge ideas. Essentially, we're bringing additional intelligence and analytical horsepower into our consulting process without having to build a massive human team. The humans still matter. Our experience, entrepreneurial thinking, judgment and client relationships are what turn all that intelligence into meaningful business outcomes.
We also operate differently from traditional consulting firms. Rather than charging for large teams of consultants by the hour, we're focused on delivering outcomes and value. We're not suggesting that two people and AI can replicate everything a Big Four consulting firm does. But we're testing whether this model can deliver comparable strategic value in the right types of engagements, at a fraction of the traditional cost. Early feedback has been positive, and we're excited to see where it goes.
What Could This Mean for Small Businesses?
This is where I think things get really interesting. Small businesses have traditionally lacked access to the resources, expertise and strategic intelligence available to larger corporations. AI is beginning to change that.
Imagine being able to research new markets, analyze competitors, explore business models and develop sophisticated strategies without needing a large internal team or an expensive consulting engagement. Combine AI capabilities with experienced people who know how to ask the right questions, and the playing field starts to look very different. Could AI-empowered entrepreneurs compete with corporate giants? Could smaller businesses innovate faster, experiment more freely and unlock opportunities that were previously out of reach?
Perhaps we're approaching a Cognitive Cambrian Explosion: a period of rapid innovation driven by the widespread availability of intelligence, creativity and analytical capabilities. If two smart humans plus advanced AI can reshape consulting, what else could they reshape? We're about to find out.
What do you think? Can two people and AI compete with corporate giants?
About Paul
Paul Barter is an entrepreneur, technology strategist and consultant focused on how emerging technologies create competitive advantage. He works with businesses to identify opportunities, navigate technological change and turn innovation into practical business outcomes.
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