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The First 10-person, $100B Company

Y Combinator • 2025-08-01 • 1:06 minutes • YouTube

🤖 AI-Generated Summary:

How AI is Empowering Small Teams to Build Billion-Dollar Companies

Over the past decade and a half, technological advancements have continuously reshaped the landscape of startup growth and capital efficiency. Just as cloud computing revolutionized the need for physical infrastructure—dramatically reducing costs and barriers to entry—today’s emerging AI tools are driving a similar transformation, enabling small, high-agency teams to achieve unprecedented scale and success.

The Rise of High-Agency Teams

Traditionally, building a multi-billion dollar company required massive teams and substantial funding. However, thanks to AI, it’s now possible for small teams, or even solo founders, to build industry-leading companies with significantly less capital. For instance, with as little as $500,000 in funding from Y Combinator (YC), highly capable and focused teams can leverage AI tools to automate and optimize key business functions, reducing the need for large headcounts.

Revenue Per Employee: The New Key Metric

In this new era, the most successful startups will prioritize one critical metric: revenue per employee. High-agency teams—small groups of highly productive individuals—can generate outsized revenue compared to traditional larger organizations. This efficiency not only lowers operational costs but also allows for rapid iteration and scaling.

Advantages Over Large Incumbents

Smaller teams enjoy distinct advantages over large, established companies. They avoid the pitfalls of corporate politics, excessive meetings, and diluted focus that often hamper innovation and speed. With fewer layers of bureaucracy, these startups can execute quickly and adapt swiftly to market changes, focusing solely on winning.

A Vision for the Future

The goal is clear: to identify and fund these high-agency founders who have the vision and efficiency to build the first 10-person, hundred-billion-dollar companies. By supporting such teams, investors can foster a new generation of businesses that combine the power of AI with lean operations, paving the way for groundbreaking innovation and economic growth.

Conclusion

The convergence of AI tools and the high-agency team model is reshaping what it means to build a successful startup. With lower capital requirements and increased operational efficiency, ambitious founders now have the opportunity to disrupt industries and scale rapidly. As this trend accelerates, the future of entrepreneurship promises to be more dynamic, inclusive, and impactful than ever before.

📝 Transcript (27 entries):

Thanks to new AI tools, we believe it's now possible for small high agency teams, even solo founders, to build multi-billion dollar companies with as little as just $500,000 in funding from YC. 15 years ago, cloud computing came along and eliminated the need for spending tons of money on physical server infrastructure, making it easier to build a big company with way less capital. This is happening again right now with new AI tools that make it easier for ambitious founders to scale with far fewer people. That's why the best high agency startups of the future will all optimize for one metric, revenue per employee. These small teams have incredible advantages over bloated incumbents, too. With smaller, efficient teams at scale, they won't get bogged down in the politics, excessive meetings, and lack of focus that grinds huge companies to a halt. They can just focus on winning with better speed and execution. We want to fund these high agency founders to help them build the first 10person hundred billion dollar