For the past decade, the archetypal founder was creeping up from someone in their 20s to someone a bit older. The average age of a “unicorn” founder—an entrepreneur who builds a startup valued at more than $1 billion—had steadily climbed to 33 by 2024, as investors gravitated toward seasoned veterans to navigate a complex market. However, a new report by global venture capital firm Antler, looking closely at the unicorn phenomenon, suggests the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is quickly reversing this trend, empowering a new generation of twenty-somethings to build massive companies at unprecedented speeds.
According to Antler’s “The Anatomy of Greatness,” released on Jan. 7, the arrival of generative AI has created a distinct before and after in the startup ecosystem. While the broader founder population is aging, the average age of AI unicorn founders has plummeted from a peak of 40 in 2020 to just 29 in 2024.
