AI as a Co-Founder
The Next Unicorn May Emerge from a Small Apartment in Aswan
For decades, building a tech company followed a well-worn path: raise capital, hire engineers, build the product, and scale.
The success of startups was measured by their ability to access venture capital, attract exceptional tech talent, and build networks. This was particularly evident in markets where funding was scarce and experienced developers were rare.
But rules are changing.
Today, we are witnessing a radical transformation driven by artificial intelligence tools, which not only changes the way companies are built but also alters the identity of those who have the ability to launch them.
A new generation of "lean startups" is emerging——companies built with smaller teams, lower up-front capital, and unprecedented leverage through AI. In short, more founders than ever before can bring ideas to life, regardless of geography, funding access, or technical background.
No co-founder? No problem!
Today, a single founder can execute what once required a team. AI tools are now capable of handling full workflows: writing content (Jasper, Copy.ai), writing & debugging code (Cursor, GitHub Copilot), generating product designs (Uizard), running customer support (Ada, Intercom), even doing legal reviews (Spellbook, Luminance). A single founder using AI agents can prototype, iterate, and launch with speed that was previously unthinkable.
We’ve seen this story play out before with no-code tools and cloud platforms. But AI goes further: it doesn’t just accelerate development—it replaces whole chunks of work that used to require specialists. And crucially, AI allows for iteration in real time. You don’t need to wait for a designer or hire a frontend developer to test an idea. In effect, AI doesn’t just reduce costs—it changes the shape and speed of building itself.
Understanding AI-Infrastructure vs AI-Enabled Companies
This is where we need to make a key distinction that is often missed in the broader discussion: the difference between AI-infrastructure companies and AI-enabled companies.
Training foundational models—like OpenAI’s GPT-4 or Google’s Gemini—requires massive capital, computing power, and elite AI research teams. These are infrastructure-layer companies, akin to energy companies that build power plants and generate electricity.
The real disruption is happening a layer above. AI-enabled startups plug into these models via APIs. They focus not on building the core technology, but on applying it to niche verticals: logistics, mental health, legal automation, education.
This model opens the door to experimentation for everyone, with low costs and unprecedented speed of execution. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection to start from anywhere in the world, without the need for funding, hiring, or delays.
Why This Matters for Emerging Markets
In markets like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and across MENA, the challenges faced by traditional startups have been more pronounced: a scarcity of funding, especially in the early stages, a lack of technical skills and local talent, and a smaller, limited ecosystem of angel investors.
However, with the introduction of AI tools into the equation, everything has changed. Today, a single founder in Aswan or Jeddah can launch a global company from their room without needing initial funding, a technical partner, or even a large team.
All it takes is a clear vision and a deep understanding of a real problem in a specific sector to start building a solution supported by AI tools.
This not only opens the door to competition but also unleashes local creativity. We are witnessing a generation of founders with accumulated experience in fields such as real estate, education, healthcare, and government services, who can integrate AI with their vision to solve problems faster and more cost-effectively than ever before.
These are not theoretical examples. We’re seeing new ventures emerge with no in-house engineers, AI-driven customer support, automated marketing, and fully generative product cycles.
AI is enabling a new breed of founder—not just technical, but operational; not just visionary, but highly resourceful.
The Myth of AI as Expensive to Build
One of the most persistent misconceptions is that AI companies are expensive by default. This belief stems from media coverage of infrastructure giants, where training a model costs millions.
But as we’ve discussed, most AI-enabled startups never train their own models. They simply use them.
The AI tools available today operate on a pay-as-you-go model. While AI APIs can be costly at scale, they are among the cheapest and most effective tools in the early stages. With smart usage, these tools can in the beginning replace tech support, marketing, or legal, thus reducing costs rather than increasing them.
In that sense, AI is more like AWS in its early days: expensive if you misuse it, powerful if you master it.
What We Lose, What We Gain
Of course, this shift comes with trade-offs. Smaller teams mean fewer in-house skills and perspectives.
Today's founders must learn to be product managers, marketers, and AI wranglers all at once. There is a risk of over-reliance on off-the-shelf models. And quality control becomes a new kind of challenge when work is generated by machines.
However, the gains on the other side are enormous: faster launch cycles, broader global participation, more diverse entrepreneurial backgrounds, and dramatically lower costs. The startup playbook has changed; we should expect the startup landscape to change with it.
A New Wave of Entrepreneurs
Through my work in startup ecosystems in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, I see a new founder archetype taking shape. They’re not waiting for a co-founder. They’re not applying to accelerators. They’re not pitching ideas on a napkin.
They’re building.
These founders understand AI not as magic, but as leverage. They see capital as optional, not required. And they’re proving that the most valuable trait in the AI era isn’t money or code—it’s clarity of problem and speed of execution.
Final Thoughts
We are witnessing a paradigm shift. AI is not just a technological trend—it’s a foundational change in how companies are conceived, built, and scaled.
Startups of the future will look different. They will be leaner. Faster. More global. And far more democratized.
And in that future, the next unicorn may not come from Silicon Valley.
It may come from Cairo, Riyadh, or a small apartment in Aswan.
The article was originally posted in Arabic in Al-Borsa Newspaper and can be accessed here.
Arabic version link :https://www.alborsaanews.com/2025/05/25/1890652