One-Person Companies, powered by AI, allow a simple individual to create advanced technological solutions. They challenge the socio-economic model of traditional SaaS.
Recently, a certain Bilawal Sidhu, ex-Product Manager of Google Maps, managed to empty-code World View, a functional demonstration of one of the most advanced technological tools of the moment created by the American defense company Palantir.
A tool made in a weekend by a single person, who dares to compare itself to a company with several thousand developers and engineers.
This person is the representation of a booming trend in the world of tech: One-Person Companies (OPC). Companies operated by a single person, with a level of production historically reserved for a team of experienced engineers.
An overhaul of economic models in Tech
Over the past two years, the number of solo entrepreneurs has grown massively. In the United States alone, one-person technology companies have grown by +40% since 2021. They focus on so-called “micro-SaaS” services, ultra-specialized “software as a service” which addresses niche markets or which are tailor-made for just one or a few companies.
Unlike the historical SaaS model, these companies generally do not aim to generate tens or hundreds of millions of euros in turnover. They focus on specific needs which until now were not financially feasible due to the difference between development costs and the addressable market.
Another major difference is that these companies are often profitable in their first year of activity. They do not raise funds, do not seek hyper-growth or international development. These are simple VSEs offering a unique and local technological service.
A questioning of salary dogma
OPCs are already challenging the new economic world of the 21st century: these thousands of technological companies which have disrupted the working methods of companies around the world, selling their services through licenses, and infiltrating each department one by one in the name of the digitalization of professions. Built on complex technological bases with heavy infrastructures, these organizations have required massive financial and human investments to develop, with almost always an obligation to internationalize to create economies of scale and achieve profitability.
Financed under the cover of a strong technological barrier which naturally limits competition and allows high service fees, these start-ups and scale-ups can today question the sustainability of their model. And their employees too.
The field of new technologies is the largest global employer of the last two decades. Thousands of schools were created around this economic change to train millions of people in these new professions. A sector promising high incomes, with numerous extra-salary benefits, and certain prospects for personal promotions, fueled by rapid development and increasing hiring.
However, as we see today, the digital transformation of society is reaching maturity, limiting growth and favoring price wars, and artificial intelligence is striking at the heart of the model of its actors: the technological barrier which is lowering and the need for a large payroll which is diminishing.
AI at the source of a societal revolution
30,000 positions lost at Oracle, 14,000 positions at Amazon, 12,000 at Accenture, 5,600 at PwC, 15,000 at Microsoft, potentially 16,000 to come in 2026 at Meta. Workforce reductions linked to the deployment of Artificial Intelligence are accelerating within the field of Tech and business consulting. You might think that these companies are doing badly, but Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are still thriving at their highest stock market levels.
Above all, this is the first wave of massive layoffs of executives and qualified staff. Engineers, developers, experts generally having a high level of study, whose certainly technical but time-consuming tasks can today be, in whole or in part, carried out by AI. They are the first losers of this new era. And proof that fewer people are now needed to carry out the same intellectual tasks.
But then what remains? What are the prospects for technological services groups and their employees?
The trend is towards hyperpersonalization. And One-Person Companies are its first ambassadors. The value of a SaaS decreases, and its ability to adapt to each specificity of each customer increases thanks to Artificial Intelligence.
Sectoral expertise, knowledge of use cases coupled with vibe-coding today allow consultants to create a client’s unique solution themselves. It abolishes the concessions due to the long development time and the “scalability” problem. It accelerates the creation of personalized functions in response to niche issues. And the expert thus becomes a true “technological artisan”.
