The 1830 Six‑Shooter Strategy: Why One GenAI Tool Leaves You Outgunned

What does the year 1830 have to do and teach us with what we are experiencing in GenAI today? It’s the year the revolver was invented. It leveled the playing field in the west. Per minute, a single shot pistol was no match against multiple arrows. Using one GenAI tool only gives you a pistol. I’ll show you how to stop using a pistol and fire a revolver.

Using this method is the vision of how I see productive success for people or organizations in the near future (less than 2 years).

1830

A precocious 16 year old name Samuel Colt invented the revolver in 1830 which leveled the playing field in the West. Small bands of Texas Rangers were able to defeat larger adversaries.

Today, think of each GenAI LLM (such as ChatGPT or Claude) as a single shot pistol. However, by combining the capabilities of multiple GenAI tools on projects you are that Texas Ranger unlocking a collective intelligence and team of thought partners.

If you are using one AI tool you will soon be a relic just like the a single shot pistol. Those who adapt and utilize multiple GenAI capabilities and orchestrate them together will have a strong advantage over those who do not.

Put aside your bias, your criticisms and embrace how to orchestrate solutions using multiple tools working in unison.

This is already happening in the market. There are hundreds of founders today who utilize multiple AI tools and are punching above their weight. Companies like Senja and Cursor are small yet have many customers translating to a high ARR.

Why does this matter?

This is how you demonstratively impact your work immediately and your job opportunities. It is a personal differentiator. Be the revolver in which you no longer need to reload. This is regardless of field you are in, technical, sales, teaching, industrial. Enterprise company or one person startup.

GenAI Tool Stack

This is the main tool stack that I use and pay for today:

• Perplexity: I find it the best research tool to uncover information that is verified. It puts together the information in a manner that can be consumed by numerous tools. In addition, you can pick the models you want the tool to consume.

• Anthropic Claude: Three flavors: Code, Cowork, and Chat. One of the best if not technically the best tool for coding (Claude code) AND getting work done for and with business end users (Cowork).

• Google Gemini: Google has an amazing ecosystem – no one comes close when looking at end-users.

  • Personal Note: NOTEBOOKLM is THE best tool that everyone should be utilizing – hands down. There are endless use cases for this and if you utilize it EVERY day you will learn faster and synthesize information better. I would make this mandatory for every person to utilize.

• Microsoft Copilot: This is part of my 365 license. It is a solid tool that I use for fact checking, quick answers, and using it as a foil for the other tools.

There are other tools and they are solid: ChatGPT and Grok. I don’t pay for them so the limits are hit pretty quickly. The tools you use are personal to you and just like wearing clothes, find what works for you. You may not agree with my choices and that is fine, there is personal preference and experience.

The point is: Using these tools together becomes muscle memory. I can now say after one year of doing this. I don't have to think about how I prompt, what tool to use and when. It is second nature.

To borrow from another analogy: Going to the gym. If you are the guy who has big arms, chest, training daily, looking great, but those legs look like sticks. Clearly leg day was skipped. No balance.

The same can be said with these AI capabilities at your disposal. They solve different pain points. Using them in a coordinated orchestrated manner makes your "metaphorical" body strong.

Cost

TOTAL COST - $90/month. This is the cost of one solid dinner for two.

Real World Use Case Example

How do you utilize these tools in orchestration. I always start with a business problem that has customer impact.

The problem in this case is the need for an AI voice assistant for a business. Someone calls and wants to get information or schedule an appointment. Additionally, the platform should be flexible for other use cases that are very different but utilize an AI voice assistant. Think of support, knowledge base questions, ordering parts.

A modern day RFP, in a large enterprise may have 10 people doing this work and coordinating. This type of research takes weeks of time. One has to gather, collate, curate, and produces scoring of the vendors which then produces the top three of which one is chosen.

In the case of AI voice assistants on the market there are more than twenty vendors at an enterprise level. More popping up every day. How does one person get this done?

Using Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and NotebookLM together I was able to do this completely in less than one day!

• Perplexity did the deep research

• Claude did some of the complex tasks like scoring, picking the right questions to ask.

• NotebookLM brought all the components together under one "roof" synthesizing output.

• Copilot was used as a foil for the other projects intermittently.

I could have utilized one of these GenAI tools and got the work done. However, work like this is intensive and takes tokens. Which equals cost. Depending on the plan I may have maxed out that day. But if multiple models are used you do not need a subscription to each. This is extremely cost effective.

How should you proceed

Today, pick three models. At no cost you can start testing and finding what works for you. Develop your muscle. The use cases will come naturally as will the use of the tools.

Multiple models, no reloading equals ability to punch above your weight.