The tide is turning for solo founders

Today, we touch on the Solo Founders Program, reactions to the first-ever report on solo founders, a big solo founder acquisition, and YC “encouraging” solo founders to add co-founders. Let’s dive in!

Last week, we announced The State of Solo Founding. Thousands have already viewed and downloaded the report. Thank you to everyone who liked, retweeted, quote-tweeted, and shared it with a friend — it genuinely helped more solo founders find it.

But the best part hasn’t been the numbers, it's the reactions. More people are catching onto the fact that solo founding is a viable path.

Investors are coming around. As Paul Klein IV (solo founder of Browserbase) notes in The State of Solo Founding: “In the past, a key reason not to be a solo founder was the belief that investors wouldn’t back you.”

For a while, that change mostly happened behind the scenes — partly because funds learned the hard way what happens when you pass on exceptional solo founders (e.g., Polymarket and MagicSchool). Now it’s starting to show up in public too:

We’re still early, but solo founding is the future.

Bun is joining Anthropic: Congratulations to Jarred Sumner

The part that sticks out: Jarred grinded for years, including stretches where he wasn’t paying himself, to build a product people love.

Sept 14, 2022: Bun’s raised venture capital funding, but Jarred hasn’t taken a salary yet

Dec 2, 2025: Acquisition announced

Dec 3, 2025: Still shipping one day after the acquisition

YC & co-founders

This message from YC went viral:

Several solo founders chimed in:

The right co-founder can be amazing, but “default co-founder” thinking leads to more co-founder disputes and dead companies.

Last thing: We’re beginning to look at applications for the next Solo Founders Program cohort, kickoff Jan. 23, 2026. If you’re a solo founder building something ambitious, you can apply below.

The following tweet gives a glimpse of the caliber of solo founders in our cohorts.

Solo, together.

— Julian, Kieran, & The Solo Founders Team

PS: Rippling put together a quick checklist covering year-end HR tasks and the new 2026 compliance rules taking effect January 1 (pay transparency, paid leave, AI hiring regs, minimum wage changes), so you don’t get caught flat-footed.