You can run departments you could never hire.
In 1937 Ronald Coase asked why companies exist at all. His answer: getting work done inside a firm was cheaper than buying it outside, deal by deal. That is why firms grew. It is also why a ten-person shop could never run a marketing team, a support desk, and a sales floor. The overhead ate it.
This note is drawn from Salim Ismail on Moonshots EP #258 with Peter Diamandis. This is the minute where Coase breaks, 5:32 to 6:27.
Salim Ismail's line on the Moonshots podcast (exhibit 1): this rule breaks in the face of agentic AI. Building the feature is now cheaper than the meeting about it. A task that took a department takes an agent five minutes. The thing that made big win, cheap coordination, is now free for everyone. Big still carries the meetings (chart 2).
“Building the feature is cheaper than having the meeting about the feature.”
A line Salim Ismail quoted on Moonshots EP #258, 6:06
| Getting work done | What wins | |
|---|---|---|
| 1937 to 2024 | Cheaper inside a firm than buying it outside, deal by deal. | Size. The department you can afford. |
| Now | Bought by the minute from an agent, no meeting needed. | Speed. The shop that skips the meeting. |
For a one-to-ten person business that flips the table. You do not grow until you can afford a department. You rent the work. A front desk that answers at any hour. Follow-ups that never go cold. A site that changes when you ask. Being small was the handicap. Now it is the head start.