Only a handful of years in the past, the thought of 1 individual creating an organization value over a billion {dollars} appeared like a pipe dream. Due to speedy developments in AI, the potential for a “solopreneur unicorn” is much less a matter of “if” and extra a matter of “when.”
Earlier this 12 months, OpenAI founder Sam Altman told Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian that his group chat of tech CEO buddies have a betting pool for when the world will see a one-person billion-dollar firm. Ten months later, some specialists recommend that the corporate might be based in 2026, if it hasn’t been already, because of speedy developments in agentic AI.
“The flexibility of an individual to scale themselves, to automate their lives, has simply grow to be wonderful,” says Kyle Jensen, the director of entrepreneurship packages, affiliate dean and professor within the follow of entrepreneurship at Yale College of Administration. “Should you’re very expert with these instruments, you possibly can have the productivity of 10 individuals.”
Jensen provides that solopreneurship has traditionally been extra akin to mom-and-pop-style small enterprise possession, with practitioners promoting items and companies by means of the web.
Whereas many solopreneurs nonetheless match that mildew, he sees one other form of solopreneur rising; one which higher resembles a high-growth startup, utilizing new instruments in lieu of hiring.
“There have been a handful of corporations that had non-public market valuations in extra of a billion {dollars} with very small groups—WhatsApp is a really well-known instance,” he says. “What’s the chance that you simply’ll see a solo-entrepreneur who’s like, some engineer from Google, who determined she doesn’t wish to try this anymore—and he or she’s going to do her AI startup from residence, and grow to be the primary unicorn? I believe it’s a fairly first rate chance.”
Unicorns are shrinking
The primary one-person firm to surpass a billion {dollars} is probably not all that far off. In recent times some one-person companies have achieved smaller, but nonetheless eye-popping valuations. On the identical time the document for smallest unicorn firm retains getting damaged.
Earlier this 12 months, for instance, solopreneur Maor Sholomo sold his AI app-building platform Base44 to web site builder Wix for $80 million, simply six months after launch.
Instagram had solely 13 workers when it was bought to Fb for a billion {dollars} in 2012. A kind of cofounders, Mike Krieger, went on to discovered Anthropic in 2021, which was recently valued at $350 billion. Speaking with Fast Company earlier this 12 months, Krieger recommended the one-person unicorn is “nearer than you assume.”
“It appears like each month we’re getting nearer and nearer,” says Anthropic’s Head of Startup Gross sales, Jamie Neuwirth. “Corporations that we’re working with, for instance, at Y Combinator who’re very small—normally two or three individuals—they’re attending to market sooner, and that chance for them to grow to be a unicorn could be very actual.”
A digital cofounder
Within the latest previous, solopreneurs had been in a position to automate sure operations, nevertheless it usually required a excessive diploma of technical know-how and lots of hours of constructing customized instruments.
Now, Neuwirth says AI instruments like Anthropic’s AI assistant Claude can function a collaborator, taking over extra superior and demanding duties, with out requiring founders to have a deep technical background.
“I consider AI—and Claude particularly—as every part from this digital collaborator to a form of the chief of workers, however the way in which I give it some thought in the case of solopreneurs is extra of your digital cofounder,” he says. “You may have a much less technical background, and there’s nonetheless quite a bit that may be achieved with these instruments.”
The place to search for solo unicorns
In latest months, AI corporations like Base 44, Anthropic, and Swedish “vibe coding” app Loveable–which lets customers construct apps and web sites by describing it in plain language–have dominated the headlines with eye-popping valuations, however Neuwirth says the primary one-person unicorn gained’t essentially emerge from the AI discipline.
That’s as a result of these very options are permitting small groups and people to construct, take a look at, prototype, and finally promote technical options with out deep technical abilities.
“Because the mannequin capabilities get quite a bit higher, I believe we’re going to see it come from completely different industries,” he says. “To me, it goes again to, ‘the place is the necessity quick, and the market actually huge?’”
One sector Neuwirth believes is ripe for a primary solo-unicorn is healthcare, the place he says there are many legacy practices and processes, and a large, world market longing for innovation.
Tim Cortinovis, speaker and writer of The Single-Handed Unicorn, in the meantime, believes the primary one-person billion-dollar firm will provide a simple interface to an advanced course of, or a easy answer to a common drawback.
“If you’ll be able to put in an easy interface between brokers and the duties at hand in, let’s say, a heavy equipment trade or the power sector, I believe this may resolve a large drawback,” he says. “My recommendation is, don’t attempt to create the primary single-handed unicorn, however attempt to resolve an enormous drawback. You gained’t win the sport by fascinated by successful.”
The primary solo unicorn could have already been born
Although it might take that solopreneur founder a number of years to succeed in a 10-figure valuation, Cortinovis says 2025 will go down because the 12 months that the required instruments to perform such a feat grew to become accessible.
In different phrases, it’s attainable that the primary particular person who will accomplish that feat has already begun constructing their enterprise.
“In 2025 we reached the capacities of AI brokers to perform these difficult duties and orchestration,” Cortinovis says, explaining that this 12 months AI broke out of the chatbot field and is now in a position to work with different instruments and apps to finish extra difficult duties, like construct apps and web sites, handle a marketing marketing campaign, or deal with extra difficult customer support inquiries. “Perhaps we are going to see the primary outcomes on the finish of ’26 or in the beginning of ’27 after which possibly two years later we’ll get the primary actual single-handed unicorn available on the market with that valuation.”
Each time that one-person firm does emerge, Cortinovis says the implications would prolong properly past the person founder.
“I believe it opens up the trail for extra individuals [to pursue entrepreneurship] as a result of it proves you don’t want an in depth crew, you don’t want to begin hiring massively to begin an enterprise,” he says.
“It symbolizes a brand new wave of founders. Even should you’re not going after a large valuation, it is going to make them extra prepared to discovered an enterprise, as a result of it reveals how a lot simpler it’s with the expertise.”
