Zero to unicorn, together.
My whole life, I thought there were only two ways to build a company.
You could play big with venture money, and answer to investors. Or you could bootstrap and stay small, and answer to your payroll. Neither one ever felt right.
Agentic tools change that. I think this is the first time in history you can go as big as you want without either one. Your crew is a set of AI agents, not a payroll.
I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Said he and his CEO friends have a betting pool on when the first one-person billion-dollar company will appear.

Predicted the first billion-dollar company with one human employee would appear in 2026, and put his confidence at 70 to 80 percent.
If one founder does it, more will follow. That's why we started the Unicorn Challenge.
Founders who take the challenge see each other's progress. You can join a small pod of founders at your revenue level, so you grow next to people facing the same problems.
I think it's more fun to do this with others. ZeroCrew is taking the challenge too.
If you're going for it, join us.
Vlad Stan
Sources: Bloomberg, Dave Lee, April 16, 2026; CO/AI: Anthropic CEO predicts billion-dollar solo startups by 2026.