Exclusive: Nasdaq sees AI behind solo founder boom
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America may be entering its busiest era yet of one-person entrepreneurship: New research ties a surge in solo business formations to advances in AI.
Why it matters: The pandemic-era startup boom was widely viewed as a leading indicator of future hiring, innovation and growth.
- The sharp rise in AI-enabled solo founders is a new and largely untested model of entrepreneurship. The economic benefits may emerge differently.
Driving the news: The first research from the newly launched Nasdaq Economic Institute links the surge in one-person business formation to advances in generative AI and agentic coding tools.
- Nasdaq's analysis of Census Bureau business application data found the recent entrepreneurship boom is increasingly being driven by solo operators.
Applications from one-person firms have risen more than 20% since early 2025, while applications from companies likely to hire workers have remained largely flat.
- Nearly half of the growth in solo business applications has come from high AI-adoption industries such as technology, finance and professional services.
What they're saying: The rise of solo founders in these high-productivity industries is "a meaningful signal for where AI's economic impact may show up first," Nasdaq chief economist Phil Mackintosh said in a release.
Yes, but: Some of the increase appears tied to tax policy changes that pushed sellers on platforms like Etsy and eBay to formally register as businesses.
Friction point: AI may be making entrepreneurship more accessible while reducing the need for early hires, raising questions about whether a startup boom will translate into a jobs boom.
- The report notes that even if many of today's solo founders never build large payrolls, a rise in business creation could still boost innovation, competition and productivity growth — especially if the new firms cluster in some of the economy's most productive industries.
Not all of those businesses will stay one-person operations. The census category captures businesses that don't expect to hire workers or pay wages in the near term, though some businesses may do so later.
