For startups and small businesses, limited resources and low budgets make scaling a business challenging. As one’s company grows, more resources are needed to cover core operational tasks — from product development and customer service through to sales and marketing.
Traditionally, scaling a company meant scaling the internal team to increase outputs. However, growing a team is a costly process and startups often struggle to compete against large enterprises with bigger budgets and higher compensation.
For decades, this has been one of the biggest barriers. However, the rise of AI agents is having a tremendous impact on how company operations can be managed.
With AI agents on board, startups can amplify the work of their teams and scale the business on a limited budget. For example, providing round-the-clock customer support traditionally required significant staffing and resources.
Now, AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants make it possible for a two-person startup to offer the same 24/7 customer support experience as a Fortune 500 company.
The rise of the lone employee startup
The transformative impact stemming from AI agents means that we might soon see a billion-dollar company with a single employee, as suggested by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
This would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, but founders can now access powerful AI tools that can help to build software products, conduct market research, look after finances and design websites.
However, one particularly high-impact area for startups can be found in sales. Even the best product won’t gain traction if founders can’t reach the target market. However, lead generation is costly, time-consuming and often ineffective.
Ibrahim Hasanov (article’s featured photo) is the founder of MyUser, an AI-driven B2B sales automation platform that handles everything from prospect research to email outreach and meeting bookings.
This tool is a prime example of how founders can amplify business growth with the support of AI.
“My background as a developer gave me the technical foundation, but it was my experience struggling to find users that truly shaped MyUser’s mission: making customer acquisition as seamless and accessible as building the product itself,” explained Hasanov.
AI levels the playing field for startups
In today’s market, AI is taking productivity to new heights, expanding the leverage of individuals to build complex products and virally market them to the whole world.
In addition to building an AI tool that other founders can access to grow their ventures, Hasanov is also proving that it’s possible to build a startup single-handedly. Hasanov has built MyUser with zero employees to date.
He has been able to leverage his own product to grow his company, using the platform as the startup’s main distribution engine. With highly personalized emails crafted by MyUser’s AI, he was able to connect with some of its first users and begin growing the business. The founder pictures a future where automation tools can handle the heavy lifting so that companies can focus on building great products and innovating.
As we look forward to 2026, we may realize that this is the year we see a billion-dollar company built with just one employee.