It's already almost happened with Plenty of Fish. Mostly a one person company, acquired for over $500M.
Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
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Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#22Let's recognize the REAL way this is achieved is by devaluing the dollar into the dirt. Well on our way!
Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#23The author is forgetting another scenario: a multibillionaire creates a company and values the business at $1bn. Though of course Max Fosh already did something like this[0]
Which also makes me wonder, is this not a bet that can be filled simply by will? There's a lot of abstraction to money, so can't someone like Altman just find a one person startup and invest in them such that this happens? I think this makes the whole thing a lot trickier than it appears at face value. Personally, I wouldn't be all that shocked if something like this happened because it could probably end up being worth more in advertising than the the tens(?) of millions to invest in the company.
Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#24I'd predict a one person unicorn company potentionally possible, but this will be an inflated valuation company backed by someone, who is willing to prove a point. Not a company that delivers a great product and can be sustainable in the long run. Purely from the operational perspective, you need to handle support, you need to handle billing, to handle lawsuits, to handle infrastructure, to handle incidents... and st…
I agree with the article that it won't happen because it's just natural to hire your way out of some pain.
You'd need someone who cares enough to make a point to a very niche community but doesn't care about the product enough to hire, and I think the two circles don't overlap.
... but if it did happen I expect it'd be a NSFW AI chatbot/companion, not VC-backable (or at least not openly)
There are some people building those that don't want or care about building the best product: they've realized if you get the cheapest most heavily quanitzed model around to produce NSFW content and tell a lonely person they're loved, they'll give you increasing amounts of money.
Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#25I can see it happening. You have to utilize a lot of other one person startup services, so ultimately it’s a still a virtual company. But you won’t have to be beholden to anyone other than the customer.
The dream of AI: eliminating all human relationships not mediated by a B2B SaaS contract.
I structure all my personal relationships around B2B SaaS contracts. Mom isn't happy when I make changes to the ToS but I've got pretty hard vendor lock-in and a defensible moat there, so I mostly don't worry about the reputational damage.
Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#26Define your terms. Do contractors count? Do patent lawyers count? Do outsourcing services to other companies count?
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Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#27It's already almost happened with Plenty of Fish. Mostly a one person company, acquired for over $500M.
This seems like an exaggeration. It was a one person company for five years, then started expanding and sold for $575M seven years later. By that time it had ~75 employees.
Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#28I'd predict a one person unicorn company potentionally possible, but this will be an inflated valuation company backed by someone, who is willing to prove a point. Not a company that delivers a great product and can be sustainable in the long run. Purely from the operational perspective, you need to handle support, you need to handle billing, to handle lawsuits, to handle infrastructure, to handle incidents... and st…
> but this will be an inflated valuation company backed by someone, who is willing to prove a point.
People don't generally spend $1B to prove a point.
They'll spend it on a network of users that is genuinely that valuable though. That's what Zuck did in dropping $1B on Insta.
And it seems entirely possible that if Insta were built today, it could be done with a single person.
Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#29I can see it happening. You have to utilize a lot of other one person startup services, so ultimately it’s a still a virtual company. But you won’t have to be beholden to anyone other than the customer.
So every individual becomes a company? The natural tendency of capitalism is to create bigger companies for "scale". Even if it was possible, what exactly would be the benefit of one person companies?
Everyone can write off their very own Ford Raptor for starters
Re: Let's get real about the one-person billion dollar company
#30So, why not then use AI to create all these billion dollar companies for themselves? Why sell access to the model?
Will there be a shovel that uncovers a billion dollar gold nugget? Why sell the shovel then?