The business partner I never had

When I started Megabite Computer Services back in 2008, there was one thing I desperately needed but didn’t have.

It wasn’t more money.

It wasn’t better equipment.

It wasn’t even more customers.

What I needed was someone to think with.

If you’ve ever started a business, you probably understand exactly what I mean. There are countless late nights when everyone else has gone home. You’re staring at a problem, trying to decide what to do next. Should you hire? Should you expand? Should you change your pricing? Should you take the risk?

Sometimes you just need another person to say, “Have you considered looking at it this way?”

Many entrepreneurs don’t have that luxury. Friends and family often want to encourage you, which is wonderful, but encouragement isn’t the same as constructive criticism. Employees may not have the experience or confidence to challenge your thinking. Mentors are invaluable, but they aren’t available at midnight when your mind refuses to stop working.

For years, I simply worked through those moments alone.

Today, that’s one of the reasons I appreciate artificial intelligence — not because it has the answers, but because it gives me someone to think with.

Notice I didn’t say someone to think for me.

There’s an enormous difference.

One of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that people use it to replace thinking. In my experience, the best use of AI is exactly the opposite. It forces me to think more clearly.

I’ll often take an idea that’s floating around in my head and explain it to AI exactly as I’m thinking it. Usually, it’s a mess. Half-finished thoughts. Incomplete ideas. Contradictions I haven’t even noticed.

AI helps organize those thoughts into something coherent. More importantly, I ask it to challenge me.

“Play devil’s advocate.”

“What am I missing?”

“What assumptions am I making?”

“Where could this plan fail?”

Those are far more valuable questions than simply asking, “Is this a good idea?”

I don’t want an AI that tells me I’m brilliant. Frankly, that’s useless.

I want one that pushes back.

I also feed it points of reference that have shaped how I think about business. Books on customer service. Marketing. Company culture. Leadership. Instead of giving generic advice, I want it to compare my ideas against principles that have stood the test of time.

The result isn’t that AI makes my decisions.

It doesn’t.

It simply helps me refine my thinking before I present an idea to another human being. By the time I discuss it with my team, a banker, a client, or a trusted advisor, the idea has already been challenged, reorganized, and strengthened.

That’s a remarkably valuable process.

Like any tool, AI can be misused. If you ask it to do your thinking, you’re probably headed in the wrong direction. If you expect it to replace wisdom, experience, or relationships, you’ll likely be disappointed.

But if you use it as a sounding board — as a patient listener that never gets tired of asking “What if?” — it becomes something surprisingly powerful.

Looking back over the past 18 years of building Megabite, I often wonder how many sleepless nights could have been shortened if I’d had a tool like this from the beginning.

Not because it would have built the business for me.

But because every entrepreneur needs someone to think with, and sometimes the most valuable conversation you’ll have is the one that helps you see your own ideas more clearly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deryck Burnett is the owner of Megabite Services in Fernandina Beach, where his team has been helping Nassau County residents and businesses with technology for nearly two decades. For questions or comments, visit Megabite.