INTHEBLACK November 2026 - Magazine - Page 40
FEATURE
His approach to winning customers,
for example, is fundamentally human.
“I do it extremely old-school,” he says.
Rubeck estimates that he spends half
his time developing and fine-tuning
the ChaseFlow product and the other
half building relationships.
The contrast highlights an important
but little recognised fact about the
solopreneur business model. As technology
makes execution cheaper, faster and more
efficient, it means competitive advantage
comes from the passion of the entrepreneur
and their human abilities.
“The technology is good enough,”
Rubeck says. “Now, the most important
challenge lies in distribution.”
Technology, he says, can be copied.
Relationships, networks, brands and
distribution strategies are considerably
harder to replicate. “Technology is
just the tool for productivity, it is not
the proposition,” he says. “You are
not selling technology and you are not
selling AI.”
For finance professionals accustomed
to seeing assets on a company’s register,
there is a fascinating conversion with
OPCs that likely have little in the way
of infrastructure but potentially outsized
value in the founder’s relationships,
experience, processes and skill set.
This poses challenges for lenders
and investors, too. Jin says some
Chinese financial institutions are
beginning to experiment with credit
products suited to these businesses,
moving away from collateral-based
assessment and making greater use
of digital and operational data.
“Even so,” he says, “systemic valuation
frameworks for their intangible digital
assets are still under development,
creating persistent financing gaps for
many solo-run businesses.”
40 INTHEBLACK November 2026
