The Journal. · Monday, August 10, 2026
Gary Tan of Y Combinator highlights how AI is dramatically increasing individual productivity, allowing startups to reach tens of millions in revenue with small teams (under 20 people) and minimal funding. This represents an unprecedented shift in how companies can be built and scaled.
“I mean, the most simple version of this is, uh, you're able to write like one person is able to write, uh, a large multiple of what they used to be able to do.”
“And so, what we're seeing is, uh, dozens of companies in the last few years go from zero to tens of millions of dollars in revenue, uh, with like less than 20 people, uh, having only raised a seed round of like under 5 or 10 million dollars.”