In an exciting twist to the tech industry, the AI revolution is paving the way for a new type of startup: the one-person unicorn. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has even given his stamp of approval for the idea. During an interview with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Altman revealed that he and his tech CEO friends have a betting pool for when this will happen. “In my little group chat with my tech CEO friends, there’s this betting pool for the first year that there is a one-person billion-dollar company,” Altman shared. “Which would have been unimaginable without AI and now will happen.”
This revolutionary idea challenges the conventional wisdom that a company needs to hire more employees to grow. Instead, the new trend suggests a shift towards smaller, more efficient teams powered by AI. “There’s going to be a new phenomenon where CEOs and founders are going to be so excited to get up and go to work with much smaller, much more performant, much more culturally strong teams,” Ohanian predicted.
Many believe it’s just a matter of time before we see the first one-person unicorn. James Currier, a partner at venture capital firm NFX, is one of them. “I don’t know many people who don’t believe this,” he stated.
The rise of the one-person unicorn
The emergence of the one-person unicorn is a beacon of hope against the backdrop of tech unicorns facing a reckoning. Many have failed, leaving founders, employees, and investors in the lurch. The prospect of a one-person unicorn, therefore, represents the pinnacle of entrepreneurial spirit that the tech industry values.
The notion of a one-person company using technology to build a billion-dollar enterprise is the ultimate realization of the founder myth that Silicon Valley thrives on. It’s the logical evolution of the vision that technological leaps are thrust upon society by determined founders.
From the early days of Stanford pals David Packard and Bill Hewlett building their first product in the famed HP garage, to the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and the internet pioneers like Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, the tech industry has always cherished the idea of visionary founders.
AI’s pivotal role in this new era
The rise of AI has been instrumental in this shift. Alex Gurevich, a managing director at Javelin Venture Partners, believes we are entering a new ‘golden age’ of start-ups. “A start-up’s inherent advantage over an incumbent is its ability to move quickly, experiment faster, perform data-driven decision making and test through a bunch of different hypotheses on their way to product market fit,” Gurevich explains. “GenAI puts these inherent advantages on steroids.”
With AI, startups can automate many processes that traditionally required more manpower. This means a startup can iterate thousands of different product ideas, marketing taglines, and cost scenarios with a fraction of the time and personnel.
However, despite the potential, not all tasks should be left to AI. According to NYU professor Vasant Dhar, who researches trust in AI systems, founders may not entrust AI with critical tasks where a mistake could have drastic consequences.
What it takes to be a one-person unicorn
Despite the promise of AI, the role of the founder remains crucial. Visionary ideas, a genius stroke, and the audacity to act on these impulses are still the elements that propel the most successful founders.
According to Dan Sutera, co-founder and chief product officer at website design startup Muse, the head of a one-person unicorn will likely be a salesperson, as this part of running a business still requires a human touch. Besides, soft skills will continue to be a hot commodity as AI can’t close a sale with a major client or have good enough taste to pick the right design for a product.
Ultimately, while AI is making the one-person unicorn plausible, it doesn’t take away the human element. In fact, as James Currier points out, people need company. Working alone can lead to loneliness, less enjoyment, and bad decisions. Therefore, while the future of startups may be smaller, more efficient, and AI-powered, the human touch will always be essential.
