According to Fortune, a new report from global venture capital firm Antler reveals a dramatic shift in startup founder demographics driven by AI. The firm’s “The Anatomy of Greatness” report, released on January 7, found that while the average age of all unicorn founders had climbed to 33 by 2024, the average for AI unicorn founders has plummeted from a peak of 40 in 2020 to just 29 in 2024. Antler cofounder Fridtjof Berge told Fortune that “25 is the new 30,” arguing that AI tools reduce the need for extensive networks or sector-specific expertise. The report also highlights a compressed “time-to-unicorn,” with AI companies hitting a $1 billion valuation in an average of 4.7 years, far faster than the historical 7-year average, with extreme cases like portfolio company Lovable doing it in just eight months while scaling revenue from $1 million to $100 million.
AI efficiency is the great accelerator
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just about young founders being more digitally native. It’s about a fundamental change in the economics of building a company. Berge hits on the key point: efficiency. In the old SaaS world, you needed millions in funding just to hire the army of developers, salespeople, and ops managers required to scale. Now, AI automates a ton of that low-skill grunt work and analysis. As he says, you can do with $100,000 what used to require a few million. That’s a staggering reduction in the capital barrier to entry. It lets small, fast-moving teams operate at a speed and scale that was previously impossible. They’re not just moving fast; they’re building on a completely different curve.
A welcome shift from speculation to revenue
And this might be the most crucial difference between this wave and the last one. Berge openly acknowledges that the 2021 “supernova” of 512 new unicorns was fueled by cheap capital and FOMO, leading to speculative valuations. The current crop of young AI founders, however, are often backing their sky-high valuations with serious, early revenue. He points to companies already pulling in $10 million or even $100 million. That’s a tangible, healthy sign. It suggests the current excitement is at least partially rooted in real commercial traction and technological capability, not just financial froth. It’s a shift from “what could be” to “what already is,” which is a much firmer foundation for a startup ecosystem.
Geographic and educational tensions
So we’re seeing a democratization of tools and, consequently, geography. Billion-dollar companies now come from over 300 cities globally, up from just 30 a decade ago. That’s a massive dispersal of opportunity, and Berge is right that cities wanting to be competitive need to foster a tech scene now. But there’s one glaring area where democratization hasn’t happened: elite education. The report notes that founders still overwhelmingly hail from U.S. powerhouses like Stanford and Harvard. It creates a weird tension, doesn’t it? The tools are globally accessible, but the network and pedigree that still seem to open the most VC checkbooks are concentrated in a few elite institutions. That’s the old world stubbornly hanging on in the new.
What this means for everyone else
Basically, the message for the broader business and investment world is clear: the clock speed has changed. The next industry-defining company probably is being built by a couple of twenty-somethings iterating at a pace that makes traditional corporate development cycles look glacial. For the venture capital industry Antler operates in, it’s a warning to look beyond the usual resumes and zip codes. And for other sectors? It’s a preview of the disruptive efficiency that’s coming. If a small team can build a billion-dollar AI company in years, not decades, what does that mean for established players in every industry? The age shift isn’t just a fun fact; it’s the leading indicator of a much broader acceleration.
