Fastest Path to One Million USD

At bld.ai we work with builders. Product managers, designers, data scientists, data engineers, mobile developers. Hands-on, flat, and fast. Our overhead is software. People come for money, yes, but they stay for interesting work. Work that is project-based, non-repetitive, and challenging.

The question for this post is: what is the fastest way to make a million dollars? I want to frame it in a way that is not just about the million, but about creating more value and setting yourself up for ten or a hundred million. This applies at any age. It applies to my own kids, who are 11, 9, and 6.

First principle: ignore the million. A million is just a proxy for value. You cannot get there fast by pure hard work. You can grind through school, debt, and salary, and eventually get there, but that is following a set path.

Second principle: do not be a follower. You need to be contrarian. Entrepreneurial. You have to do something different.

Third principle: accept that it will be hard. If you want to move fast, you first have to move slow. In Jiu Jitsu you do not learn a move by going fast. You drill one move slowly, again and again, until it becomes sharp. At first you lose. You keep showing up.

Fourth principle: focus on one problem. Not on one fixed solution. Fall in love with the problem. Solve it over and over for different people. At the start, do it manually. Sell it yourself. Deliver it yourself.

Fifth principle: start from an unfair advantage. Use what you already know or have access to. A family business, an industry you touched early, or a personal struggle that gives you insight. How well you solve that first round opens the next doors.

Put all of this together and the answer is: start a business. It is the most direct way to create a million in value. It is closer than you think, because the world pulls on people who are contrarian, who work very hard, and who obsess over solving a real problem.

A concrete example. I know a Gen Z who grew up around entrepreneurs and who struggled with mental health as a teenager. The problem she understands deeply is being heard. Many people cannot afford therapy. They do not need answers. They need a human who will listen for ten minutes at a price they can afford. Ten or twenty dollars. Anonymous if needed.

The fastest path is not to build an app. The fastest path is to start listening. Every day. Even for one minute a day at first. Post simple office hours in communities where people already are. Offer to listen for ten minutes. Do it consistently. Take notes. See patterns. After ten people you learn. After one hundred, the model emerges. Then you can build a way to book and pay.

At the start you do not optimize CAC or LTV. Your only job is to help real people with a real problem. If you keep showing up, the money follows. Ten becomes one hundred, then one thousand. Investors, partners, and developers show up too, because you proved the problem is real and you solved it.

That is how you make a million dollars fast. Not by chasing the number, but by solving one problem with focus, hard work, and an edge.