We Are All Becoming Operators:
The Historical and Technological Evolution of the Company
Introduction
We stand at an inflection point where the convergence of technological innovation, economic restructuring, and historical precedent is transforming every individual into an operator of their own enterprise. This shift, from traditional employment to micro-entrepreneurship, is not sudden but the culmination of centuries of economic evolution. Enabled by digital platforms and AI, we are entering an era where "company" no longer implies size or hierarchy but signifies autonomous agency in a global marketplace. This article traces the historical arc of this transformation and examines why the tools now exist for anyone to become a company of one, and anticipates companies becoming cellular networks of human-centric micro-organizations.
I acknowledge that current outcomes are unevenly distributed, embedded risks are plentiful, and that much history still needs to be lived on the topic, but I strongly believe what I am outlining is indicative of how vast share of the total global, working economy will function and grow into the future.
I. Historical Foundations: From Commons to Corporations
Pre-industrial models established the bedrock for shared economic activity. Medieval commons systems allowed villages to collectively manage resources like farmland and forests, governed by rules ensuring equitable access. This ethos of shared ownership resurfaced in 19th-century mutual aid societies and cooperatives, where communities pooled resources for insurance, credit, or equipment, operating on principles of reciprocity and communal benefit.
Industrialization reconfigured economic organization, replacing artisanal production with mechanized factories. Corporations emerged as centralized entities optimizing for scale and efficiency, while franchise models (like Ford's assembly lines) standardized operations. Yet even here, precursors to modern platforms existed: 19th-century grain exchanges functioned as physical matchmaking platforms, connecting buyers and sellers through trusted intermediaries.
The digital revolution's first wave transformed peer-to-peer exchange. eBay (1995) digitized flea markets and classified ads, enabling global trade in secondhand goods, while Craigslist expanded into services and housing. These platforms introduced reputation systems, digital proxies for community trust, that later became foundational to sharing-economy giants like Airbnb and Uber. We have also seen similar activity on the platforms Etsy and Fiverr have developed. It’s impossible to exit this section with a proper tip of the hat to Amazon’s successful digitization of Walmart’s physical concept which revolutionized how we all shop, thought the same platform dynamics don’t exist in quite the same way for this behemoth, but the scale economies certainly do.
II. The 2008 Crisis: Accelerant of Platform Entrepreneurship
The financial crisis triggered a structural labor-market shift. As unemployment spiked globally, online labor platforms like Freelancer saw registrations surge by 6.4% for every 1% rise in joblessness. Workers displaced from traditional roles turned to platforms not just for income but as entrepreneurial launchpads. Uber, Airbnb and TaskRabbit, founded during this period, exemplified this shift: they leveraged underutilized assets (cars, homes, labor) and thrived precisely because traditional systems faltered.
This period normalized three critical trends:
Fragmentation of work from stable employment to project-based "gigs"
Rise of micro-enterprises, with self-employment driving 40% of UK job growth post-2008
Digital-first business models that prioritized access over ownership
III. COVID-19: The Great Accelerator of the Operator Economy
The COVID-19 pandemic marked a historic turning point in the evolution of work, catalyzing trends that had been slowly emerging and propelling them into the mainstream at unprecedented speed. Chief among these was the rapid normalization of remote work. Between 2019 and 2021, the share of Americans working from home more than tripled, from 5.7% to 17.9%, an increase of nearly 19 million workers. This shift was not limited to a single sector: across all major industries, remote work participation rose by an average of 14.9 percentage points, contributing directly to measurable gains in productivity and fundamentally altering business operations.
Initially, remote work was a necessity, a response to public health mandates and office closures. However, as the pandemic progressed, the impetus shifted. By 2022, a majority of remote-capable workers were choosing to work from home for reasons of flexibility, lifestyle, and autonomy rather than out of necessity. In fact, 76% of such workers cited personal preference as their primary motivation, compared to just 60% in 2020. This preference for autonomy and the ability to design one's own work environment became a defining feature of the post-pandemic labor market.
The sudden, widespread adoption of remote work also democratized access to global talent pools. Companies, now untethered from geographic constraints, began hiring from a worldwide pool of skilled professionals. Conversely, workers realized they could access opportunities far beyond their local markets, leading to a "borderless talent pool" and a new era of global competition and collaboration. This shift was particularly pronounced in sectors like professional, scientific, and technical services, where digital tools and virtual networking made it easier than ever to launch and scale solo businesses.
The entrepreneurial response to the pandemic was stunning. The number of solo businesses in the U.S. surged, with million-dollar solo enterprises jumping from 47,000 in 2020 to 58,000 in 2021, a record-breaking increase. Overall, the number of independent workers (including freelancers, gig workers, and contractors) soared to 64.6 million in 2022, up 57% from pre-pandemic levels. This growth was driven by both necessity, many turned to self-employment after layoffs or business closures, band by choice, as workers sought greater control over their professional destinies and the flexibility to align work with personal purpose.
At the same time, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital tools and platforms that empower individuals to operate as companies of one. Virtual services, online marketplaces, and gig platforms saw surging demand as businesses and consumers alike adapted to a more digital world. The digital economy thus became both a safety net and a launchpad for new ventures, with perseverance, adaptability, and technological fluency emerging as critical markers of success.
Yet, as with previous inflection points, the benefits were unevenly distributed. Those with digital skills and access to technology thrived, while others risked being left behind. The rapid expansion of the gig and digital economies also introduced new challenges, including increased competition, downward pressure on earnings, and persistent precarity for many independent workers.
IV. The Creator Economy: Vanguard of the Operator Revolution
Beyond Influencers to Economic Transformation
While the creator economy has thus far been synonymous with social media influencers and digital entertainers, this is merely the most visible tip of a much larger iceberg. The infrastructure, tools, and cultural shifts that enabled the rise of the influencer are now being adopted by a far broader swath of the population. In the coming years, the creator economy will expand well beyond content creation, coming to house a significant share of household economic activity. As platforms democratize access to audiences, monetization, and operational tools, the line between creator, operator, and entrepreneur will continue to blur, signaling a profound transformation in how individuals and families participate in, and shape, the economy.
The creator economy's current infrastructure (audience-building tools, direct monetization systems, AI-powered content creation, and global payment processing) is becoming the operational backbone for diverse forms of individual and small enterprise, not to mention startups that will become larger with time. This model is rapidly expanding beyond traditional content creation to encompass:
Professional services (consulting, coaching, specialized expertise)
Digital craftsmanship (design, development, custom solutions)
Knowledge work (research, analysis, education)
Hybrid enterprises that blend content, products, and services
Projected Economic Significance
Current trends suggest that by 2027, over 50% of U.S. households will derive some portion of their income through creator-economy channels and platforms. This represents not merely a side-hustle phenomenon but a fundamental shift in how economic value is created, distributed, and captured. The creator economy is evolving from a niche entertainment sector into a core economic engine that will reshape household income structures, community formation, and even the operational models of traditional corporations.
V. Modern Infrastructure: The Platform Stack
Today's operator economy rests on three layers of infrastructure, each solving historical constraints:
1. Social Networks as Marketplaces
Platforms like LinkedIn and TikTok democratized audience-building and distribution. What once required corporate marketing budgets can now be achieved through organic content, transforming individuals into media entities. Instagram's storefronts and TikTok's creator funds enable direct monetization, dissolving barriers between creator and entrepreneur.
2. AI as the Operational Backbone
Tools like ChatGPT and Claude automate tasks that historically demanded specialized departments:
Content creation (replacing copywriters)
Data analysis (replacing business intelligence teams)
Customer service (via AI chatbots)
This allows solo operators to focus on high-value strategy and creativity.
3. Payment Systems as Financial Rails
Stripe and Square reduced transaction friction to near-zero. Their APIs enable instant global payments, recurring billing, and multi-party revenue splits, functions that once required banking partnerships or accounting teams.
VI. The Operator Economy in Practice
From gig workers to creators
The gig economy commoditized labor (e.g., Uber drivers), but the creator economy inverted this: individuals build audiences around unique skills, then monetize through courses, subscriptions, or products. Platforms like Substack and Patreon formalize this, providing business-in-a-box tools for solo operators.
AI-enabled scaling
A graphic designer today uses Midjourney for rapid prototyping, Calendly for client scheduling, and QuickBooks AI for invoicing, operating at capabilities rivaling small agencies. This "scale without mass" allows individuals to leverage algorithms and a tech stack instead of employees.
Case study: The history-informed operator
Consider a historian launching a research service:
They source archival data via digitized collections (overcoming pre-internet access barriers)
Use Perplexity to synthesize sources
Monetize through LinkedIn thought leadership and Calendly-Zoom-Stripe-powered consultations
Their operation embodies 500 years of economic evolution: the communal knowledge-sharing of guilds, the specialization of industrial crafts, and the platform-enabled autonomy of the digital age.
VII. Historical Parallels and Critical Differences
History offers both inspiration and caution. The medieval commons and 19th-century cooperatives were governed by shared rules and mutual oversight; today's platforms, while global in reach, are often controlled by centralized corporate entities whose algorithms and policies are opaque. Whereas risk and reward were once distributed across a community, the platform economy often places risk squarely on the individual operator, with little recourse or collective bargaining power.
Power dynamics have fundamentally shifted: Historical cooperatives operated on democratic principles with members having voice and vote. Modern platforms operate more like feudal systems, providing infrastructure in exchange for data, fees, and compliance with unilaterally imposed rules. The scale is unprecedented, but so is the concentration of control.
The challenge is to ensure that the digital commons of the 21st century do not replicate the inequities of the past under the guise of innovation.
We must ask: Are we truly democratizing entrepreneurship, or simply shifting old power structures into new, more efficient forms of extraction?
VIII. The Reality Check: Inequality and Access
While the operator economy promises unprecedented autonomy and opportunity, it is not a universal equalizer. Access to digital tools, stable internet, and the skills needed to leverage platforms remain unevenly distributed, both within and between countries. Many operators face income volatility, lack of benefits, and the ever-present risk of platform rule changes.
Barriers persist: Digital literacy, reliable internet access, and the financial cushion needed to weather early-stage uncertainty are prerequisites that exclude many potential operators. The most successful platform entrepreneurs often come from privileged backgrounds with existing networks, capital, and risk tolerance.
Platform dependency creates new vulnerabilities: Algorithm changes can instantly devastate livelihoods, as creators and gig workers have repeatedly discovered. The promise of autonomy can quickly become a reality of algorithmic management more invasive than traditional employment. For some, the dream of entrepreneurship can quickly become a struggle for survival, with less security than traditional employment provided.
IX. Implications and Future Trajectories
Opportunities
Democratized entrepreneurship: Lowered barriers enable global participation
Flexibility: Operators choose projects aligning with values or expertise
Economic resilience: Diversified income streams buffer market shocks
Challenges
Platform dependence: Algorithm changes can disrupt livelihoods
Regulatory gaps: Labor and tax systems lag new business models
Inequality: Access to tools remains uneven globally
What is the future of companies?
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) hint at a future where operators collectively govern platform infrastructure. AI agents may soon handle administrative and operational tasks entirely, freeing humans for creative and strategic work.
X. A Roadmap for Aspiring Operators
For those navigating this new landscape, resilience and strategic thinking are essential:
Build Antifragility:
Diversify your presence across multiple platforms to reduce dependency
Cultivate direct relationships with your audience or clients to maintain control over your brand, email capture is critical on this front
Invest in continuous learning to stay ahead of automation and changing market demands
Leverage Technology Wisely:
Use AI as an assistant, not a replacement for human judgment and creativity
Focus on developing uniquely human skills: emotional intelligence, creative problem-solving, and relationship building
Build systems that can scale without compromising quality or authenticity
Advocate for Better Systems:
Support platforms with transparent algorithms and fair revenue sharing
Advocate for portable benefits that travel with workers across platforms
Consider collective action with other operators to negotiate fairer terms
Push for regulatory frameworks that protect operators while preserving innovation
Think Long-term:
View platform participation as one element of a broader business strategy, not the entire strategy
Build owned assets (email lists, websites, intellectual property) alongside platform presence
Develop multiple revenue streams to weather platform volatility
XI. Conclusion
The shift toward an operator-centric economy is both revolutionary and deeply rooted in economic history. From medieval commons to digital platforms, the drive to democratize production and exchange has persistently reshaped business. Today, armed with AI tools and global connectivity, individuals wield capabilities once exclusive to corporations.
Yet this transformation is neither inevitable nor universally beneficial. The operator economy's promise will only be realized if we actively work to address its inequities, dependencies, and risks. We are not just entering an era of side hustles; we are witnessing the rebirth of the company, smaller, nimbler, and profoundly human. But whether this evolution empowers or exploits will depend on the choices we make today.
The operator age is here, and it belongs to anyone ready to build, but building wisely requires understanding both the opportunities and the obstacles ahead.
XII. What's Next
The operator and creator economies are not static—they are rapidly evolving, reshaping the very nature of work, entrepreneurship, and value creation. As platforms, AI, and global connectivity continue to lower barriers and expand opportunities, several critical questions and frontiers emerge:
How will regulatory frameworks adapt to protect and empower operators and creators without stifling innovation?
What new business models and forms of collective action will arise as more individuals become companies of one?
How will the expansion of the creator economy influence household income, community formation, and even the structure of traditional companies?
What skills, mindsets, and safeguards will be essential for thriving in an economy where autonomy and precarity coexist?
And, crucially for this community:
What role will polymaths, individuals who blend expertise across disciplines, play in the future of the operator and creator economies? As AI and automation absorb specialized tasks, will the ability to connect ideas, synthesize knowledge, and innovate across boundaries become the most valuable skill of all?
In the coming months, I will dive deeper into these questions, exploring the future of company structure, the evolution of digital platforms, the realities of platform dependence, the strategies that will define success for the next generation of operators and creators, and the resurgence of polymathic talent as a driver of innovation and adaptability.
I invite you to join the conversation:
What are you seeing in your own work or industry?
Are you already operating as a company of one, or considering the leap?
What challenges and opportunities do you foresee as the operator and creator economies mature?
Do you consider yourself a polymath, or are you working to become one? How has the ability to connect ideas across fields shaped your work, and what do you see as the future for polymaths in this new landscape?
Your insights, experiences, and questions will help shape this ongoing exploration. Subscribe, comment, and share your perspective as we chart the future of companies, together.
As always, thank you for making the time to read this article.
It means a great deal.
John
John Brewton documents the history and future of operating companies at Operating by John Brewton. After selling his family’s B2B industrial distribution company in 2021, he has been helping business owners, founders and investors optimize their operations ever since. His frameworks have generated over $100M in enterprise value. He still cringes at his early LinkedIn posts.
