The Solo-Founder Shift

Carta cap-table data on tens of thousands of U.S. startups: the solo-founded share of new companies rose 23.7% (2019) to 36.3% (H1 2025), with dilution, round sizes and employee equity grants near-identical to co-founded teams and median founder ownership at exit 75% higher. The firm-scale twin of the solo-authorship rebound — same left-tail instrument, same period, same attributed mechanism, same composition weakness — but the data measure ownership and timing, never revenue, so they characterize the lean tail's structure without touching its efficiency; and the report's own numbers show solo founders hiring their first employee *earlier* than co-founded teams, making the organization of one a transitional state rather than a destination