Independent Minds

The Future Belongs to Independent Minds

AI will change how every business competes.

The advantage will belong to the owners who learn how to question it, direct it, and use it to build beyond what they already know.

Independent Minds helps business owners use AI to understand unfamiliar problems, build new capabilities, and turn ambitious ideas into practical next steps.

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Looking for a deeper working relationship?Explore The Independent Minds Partnership.

The difference is not using AI. It is how you use it.

The difference is not a secret prompt. It is a different way of thinking.

Real operators. Real problems. More capable ways forward.

See what business owners say after working through a problem with Independent Minds.

"Have been working with Independent Minds over the past 6 months and have had great success. Have recommended them to several small business owners and they are also super excited about this! Connect with Sam, you won't be disappointed!!"

- Neal H.

"There are so many tools and strategies out there that you can waste a lot of time trying to figure it all out. Sam cuts through the noise, helps you figure out what actually makes sense for your business, and gets you moving. Highly recommend working with him!"

- Shawn M.

Everyone is using AI. Few are using it to its full potential.

Knowledge, capital, and time still matter. But they are no longer the barriers they once were.

Today, the greater dividing line is the willingness to learn, experiment, and persist long enough to figure things out.

If you have those qualities, you already think like an Independent Mind.

The average AI user asks AI to:

  • Rewrite an email.
  • Generate a social post.
  • Summarize a document.
  • Produce a list of ideas.

Then they take the output and return to doing the actual thinking, deciding, and implementing themselves.

There is nothing wrong with using AI that way.

It is simply a fraction of what is possible.

The difference is not a secret prompt.

It is a different way of thinking.

AI is advancing faster than most people are learning to use it

A conceptual comparison of AI capability and how people apply it over time. The research-based AI capability curve rises sharply from 2023 toward a projected 2027 value. An illustrative average-user path remains low and represents isolated tasks such as rewriting and summarizing. An illustrative Independent Mind path rises as the user applies AI to questioning, planning, building, testing, and improving. The space between the paths and available AI capability is labeled unused capability.

CAPABILITY PUT TO WORK

What becomes possible

AI capability compared with how people apply AI over timeAI capability rises sharply to a projected 116x by 2027. An average-user path remains low, while an Independent Mind path rises by applying AI to more of the work.1x20232024202520262027116x projectedWhat AI can doBased on METR’s historical task-horizon trendHow an Independent Mind uses itAI helps build the outcomeHow most people use itAI helps with tasksUnused capabilityRewriteSummarizeDraftQuestionBuildImprove

THE DIVIDE IS ALREADY FORMING

Access is common. Capability is not.

The advantage comes from learning how to think, build, and solve with AI beyond the first answer.

Based on METR, Anthropic, and Microsoft research

Bring a real problem. Learn how to move through it.

Private Sessions

Bring the business problem you need to work through. Your 60-minute session gives us enough room to understand the context and work it properly.

  • 60-minute working session
  • Structured intake
  • One primary issue
  • Full recording
  • Working materials

Starting at$199

Choose Your Session

THE INDEPENDENT MINDS PARTNERSHIP

For work that requires more than one session.

The Independent Minds Partnership is a selective three- or six-month engagement for people pursuing meaningful goals who want sustained challenge, direct access, and a higher standard of thinking.

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Every Partnership begins with a Private Session.

Leave with a clear next step, or your session is free.

You do not need someone who claims to know everything about your field.

You need a guide who knows how to enter an unfamiliar problem, ask useful questions, and help make the path clearer.

Independent Minds was built through practical use.

We have used AI to understand unfamiliar systems, break down complicated projects, develop business tools, build digital experiences, and turn broad ideas into working products.

Our role is not to replace your judgment or pretend that AI has every answer. It is to help you use AI to think more clearly, explore the problem from more angles, and make decisions you understand and own.

Our role is to help you:

Understand the problem more clearly.

Ask stronger questions.

Use AI more effectively.

Recognize weak assumptions.

Determine the strongest next step.

Know when outside expertise is still required.

The goal is not to make you dependent on Independent Minds.

It is to make you more capable without us.

— Sam Ernst, Founder of Independent Minds

Bring the problem you have been telling yourself you are not qualified to solve.

You may not know the terminology.

You may not understand the technical side.

You may not even know which questions to ask yet.

That is enough to begin.

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