SAN FRANCISCO: Artificial intelligence is reshaping how organisations work, enabling small teams to compete with far larger ones and forcing companies to rethink strategy, productivity and execution, business leaders said.
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman said that AI is fundamentally changing what small, focused teams can achieve, arguing that technology is narrowing the advantage traditionally held by large organisations.
“Fifteen people using AI can compete with 150 people without it,” Hoffman wrote in a recent post on LinkedIn.
“AI fundamentally changes what small teams can accomplish.”
AI amplifies small-team advantage
Hoffman expanded on the idea during an episode of the Possible podcast, hosted by AI engineer Parth Patil, which aired on Wednesday.
He said small teams benefit from a shared context that is difficult for large organisations to replicate.
“Small teams have clearer shared context,” Hoffman said.
“AI amplifies this because it allows you to build systems that capture and surface patterns within that shared context.”
He added that AI-native startups approach problems differently from traditional firms.
Instead of searching for existing software tools, they ask what the ideal solution would look like for their specific situation and then build it themselves, even if the result is imperfect at first.
“They then build it, even if it’s rough around the edges,” Hoffman said.
From costly ideas to easy prototypes
During the podcast, Hoffman cited an example from Patil’s own workflow. Patil used a combination of Codex and Claude Code to build a French-language translator for the podcast.
The two then tested and refined the AI agent to improve localisation.
Patil said the system also offered the option to create translation pipelines for 68 additional languages.
“This is an example of something that was previously a massive stretch — maybe too expensive to do — becoming easy to start prototyping,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman’s comments echo remarks made by Steven Bartlett, host of The Diary of a CEO podcast, at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
Bartlett said using AI to translate his podcast into multiple languages, initially an expensive experiment, became a turning point for his business.
“There’s nothing more important than what we’ve done for our business than translations,” Bartlett said at the panel discussion.
Jobs, productivity and AI
Hoffman’s views come as several technology leaders acknowledge that AI is already replacing or reducing the need for human labour in some areas.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s most recent earnings call that AI is allowing individuals to do the work of entire teams.
The trend has raised concerns about job losses, but some executives argue that AI’s biggest impact lies in accelerating decision-making and execution rather than simply cutting staff.
AI and commercial execution
Speaking separately on the 2026 global market outlook, Fernando Ventureira, chief executive officer of Stratence Partners, said companies are operating in an era of permanent volatility driven by geopolitical shifts and rapid technological change.
He said traditional business strategies are no longer sufficient to protect profit margins and valuations.
“Simply being a large company does not guarantee safety anymore,” Ventureira said. “Valuation now really hinges on commercial excellence.”
That, he said, means integrating pricing, sales governance and data-driven decision-making into a single operating system, with AI embedded directly into core processes.
“Artificial intelligence is not redefining competition on its own,” Ventureira said. “Its real impact lies in acceleration.”
Measurable financial impact
Ventureira said organisations that focus on execution discipline and pricing governance can achieve tangible financial gains.
According to him, such companies often see net price improvements of up to 3% and increases of around 7% in earnings before interest and taxes within 18 months.
“These results are not dependent on exceptional market conditions,” he said. “They are achieved through execution discipline and cross-functional alignment.”
While applications vary by sector, Ventureira said the objective is consistent across industries: using AI and disciplined governance to ensure every commercial decision adds value.
“The era of abstract strategy is over,” he said. “The era of AI-accelerated, results-driven execution has arrived.”
