Is AI taking startup jobs?
Well, maybe.
Data below shows the 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 that worked at a startup on the day it raised a funding round.
2019 through 2024 for seed, Series A, and Series B.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲
Startups have less full-time headcount than they did at any point in the last 5 years.
This "lean company" trend is taking place across different funding stages.
It is happening across many industries (SaaS + Fintech + Healthtech is shown but the same trend is true for Hardware, etc).
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲)
1. Companies over-hired in the boom years and are now just being more capital efficient with their payroll.
2. Companies are using a lot more consultants/fractional or offshored resources and those people don't get equity so they don't show up in the analysis.
3. Companies are using AI to make their lean teams more productive, meaning they no longer need to hire as many folks as before.
My personal take is that explanation 1 is mostly responsible for the decline from 2022 to 2023. Startups just got religion again on being better stewards of capital.
But the decline from 2023 to 2024...now maybe that's partly AI. And if we run these numbers again in 2025 and they're lower still, then I think AI has to be a primary reason.
AI may not be taking your job today. It may be preventing your dream startup from ever hiring the role you want in the future.
#startups #headcount #founders #teamsize #startupemployees
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