Nearly any small business can scale if demand exists because modern digital tools make it easier than ever to reach large audiences,according to serial entrepreneur Chris Koerner.
Koerner who has launched more than 80 companies, said aspiring entrepreneurs should focus less on finding a passion project and more on building businesses with clear customer demand, even if the work itself is not exciting at first.
“I like to say follow the profit until you can afford to follow your passion,” he said in December on “The Diary of a CEO“.
“Ignore passion for a time,” he said. “Try to build your passion around commerce.”
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Start With What Works
Koerner says that many entrepreneurs fail by trying to invent something entirely new. Instead, he studies existing successful businesses and copies proven models before innovating.”When I see it exists, I’m like, ‘Yes, this is it,'” he told podcast host Steven Bartlett.
He uses tools like the Wayback Machine and SimilarWeb to research competitors, then simply replicates what’s working.
Koerner said finding existing competitors is often a positive signal rather than a warning sign because it confirms customers are already willing to pay for the product or service.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “I don’t need to do it better. I don’t need to do it differently. I just need to do the same thing.”
As an example, after seeing a company buying broken iPhone screens and remanufacturing them overseas, Koerner built his own version using the exact same model.
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Why Validation Matters
Entrepreneurs should validate ideas quickly instead of spending months building products before testing demand, according to Koerner.
He described using Facebook Marketplace, Facebook groups and simple AI-generated mockups to measure customer interest before investing heavily in production or inventory.
“If I had to pick one tool, it’s one that one in four humans use every day, and it’s Facebook,” Koerner said on the podcast.
Koerner said momentum matters more than perfect planning in the early stages of entrepreneurship. “We all have ideas,” he said. “The more we shrink the amount of time between doing something about that idea and having the idea, the more often we’ll do that.”
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Small Businesses Can Become Big Businesses
Koerner said
“Any side hustle could be a multimillion dollar business,” he said. “We live on a planet with eight billion people and we’re all connected and anything can be scaled.”
Side hustles are increasingly becoming meaningful income sources. A 2026 survey from Side Hustle Nation found that 31% of side hustlers earned at least $1,001 per month, while 6% reported earning more than $10,000 monthly.
Koerner also pushed back on the idea that entrepreneurs must quit their jobs immediately to pursue new ventures.
“There’s enough time in the day to do this on the nights and weekends,” he said, arguing that founders should …
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