OpenAI and Anthropic could bring a new wave of investor attention to artificial intelligence. But waiting for future IPOs may mean overlooking companies already benefiting from the boom.

Publicly traded businesses are already supplying the chips, cloud infrastructure, data centers and software needed to build and deploy AI at scale.

This free report 7 AI Stocks to Invest in Today identifies seven companies positioned across this expanding market. Each profile explains what the business does, how it makes money, the catalysts that could drive future growth and the risks investors should understand.

You don’t have to wait for the next blockbuster AI IPO. See which seven stocks are already trading today.

See All 7 Stocks

I used to think my biggest problem was unique to me.

Other business owners seemed to have it figured out. They were posting wins, talking about their "team" and their "systems" and their "growth." Meanwhile, I was buried in work, wondering why I couldn't seem to get ahead no matter how hard I pushed.

What I eventually realized: it wasn't a me problem. It was a phase problem.

Every business that has ever existed — from a solo freelancer to a Fortune 500 — goes through the same four phases. And each phase has one specific mistake that kills most businesses that make it that far.

Once I could see the phases clearly, I stopped fighting the wrong battles.

There are no shortcuts through these. No skipping steps. But there ARE ways to move through each phase faster — and the main lever is avoiding the mistake that ends most businesses at that stage.

This is where every business starts. You have an idea, a skill, or an offer, and you're trying to turn it into money for the first time.

The objective: Get five to ten paying customers who are not your friends or family.

The mistake that kills you here: building before you sell.

This is the phase where most people spend six months building a website, designing a logo, writing a business plan, setting up accounting software — and still haven't talked to a real prospect.

The validation problem is never a branding problem. It's never an operations problem. It's a "will someone actually pay you for this" problem.

To win in Phase 1: Talk to real prospects. Make offers before you're "ready." Get a yes — or a no that teaches you something. The goal is signal, not polish.

You're done with Phase 1 when you have paying customers who found you through something other than personal favors.

You've proven the idea works. Now the challenge is making it work consistently.

This is the phase that trips up more businesses than any other, because it feels like you should be stable by now — but revenue is still feast-and-famine, referrals are unpredictable, and the business basically stops when you stop.

The objective: Build one repeatable engine that brings in leads and converts them to customers reliably — without heroics every time.

The mistake that kills you here: hiring before you have a working system.

I see this constantly. Revenue goes up for a month or two, the owner panics about capacity, hires someone, then revenue dips — and now they're paying a salary they can't afford on a pipeline that wasn't reliable to begin with.

The problem is never the person. The problem is that there was no repeatable process for them to run.

To win in Phase 2: Document what you do before you delegate it. Pick one marketing channel and go deep on it instead of dabbling in five. Build the machine before you put people in the machine.

You're done with Phase 2 when you can point to a specific, repeatable path that takes a stranger and turns them into a paying customer — and it doesn't require you to pull a rabbit out of a hat each time.

This is the phase that looks like success from the outside. Revenue is up, the team is growing, the calendar is full.

Inside? It's usually chaos.

The objective: Build enough structure that the business can grow without the owner doing everything.

The mistake that kills you here: staying in delivery.

The founder who was the best salesperson, the best service provider, or the best technician in Phases 1 and 2 is now the biggest bottleneck in Phase 3. Every hour you spend delivering work is an hour you can't spend making the business better.

The cruel irony of Phase 3 is that the more successful you are, the more trapped you become — unless you make the shift.

To win in Phase 3: Your job is no longer to do the work. Your job is to build the team and the system that does the work. That means hiring for capability, not just capacity. It means creating standards so the output doesn't depend on who's delivering it. It means letting some things get done at 80% by someone else instead of 100% by you.

The hardest part isn't the strategy. It's the identity shift.

You're done with Phase 3 when the business can run for two weeks without you and still hit its numbers.

If you make it here, you've built something real. Revenue is stable, the team is solid, and the business mostly runs on its own.

The trap? Coasting.

The objective: Stay relevant and keep growing in a market that's always changing.

The mistake that kills you here: competing on price.

Mature businesses face intense competition from cheaper, newer competitors — often with lower overhead, younger talent, and more aggressive offers. The instinct is to match them on price to protect revenue.

It's the wrong move every time.

Businesses in maturity don't survive by being cheaper. They survive by being better, more specialized, or more trusted. They innovate their offer. They double down on the segment they serve best. They build proprietary advantages — relationships, reputation, community, brand — that a new competitor can't copy overnight.

To win in Phase 4: Stay close to your customers. Keep asking what they need next. Invest in brand and innovation, not in a race to the bottom on price.

Most business problems aren't business problems. They're phase problems.

When you're frustrated, stuck, or grinding harder than ever with nothing to show for it — the first question to ask is: What phase is my business actually in? And then: Am I making that phase's signature mistake?

The advice that's right for Phase 3 will wreck you in Phase 1. The habits that made you successful in Phase 2 will trap you in Phase 3. The map is different at every stage — and the mistake is trying to apply one map to all of them.

Here are three questions to sit with this week:

Until next time,

Steven

P.S. Which phase are you in, and what's the toughest challenge you're facing there? Hit reply — I read every response.

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