The AI gold rush is pulling workers into startups as layoffs and RTO push them out of corporate jobs

• A new startup boom is emerging, with business applications near record highs.
• AI is creating new opportunities as layoffs and RTO push workers toward entrepreneurship.
• Six former Big Tech workers share why they started businesses despite the risks.

Last year, Nicole Landis Ferragonio and Joe Luchs decided to leave Amazon and launch an AI startup.

They'd been planning the transition for months, but for Ferragonio, the tipping point was Amazon's five-day return-to-office mandate in January 2025.

"It raised some questions about how much agency you really have in Big Tech and what would be possible on our own," she said.

Luchs pointed to the rapid rise of "game-changing" AI technologies, which he felt there was a limited window to capitalize on. By September, they'd both resigned and started an AI data refinery company.

Over the past year, I've interviewed more than a dozen Americans who recently launched businesses, sometimes quitting their jobs to pursue them full-time. Their experiences reflect a broader spike in entrepreneurship: For the latest full year of data, through March, Americans filed nearly six million new-business applications — the highest total for any 12-month period since data collection began in 2004. But unlike the pandemic-era startup boom, this wave is being shaped by a different set of forces, including the rapid rise of AI, return-to-office mandates, and a tougher job market.

The forces driving Americans into entrepreneurship

For some workers, entrepreneurship has become a way to chase opportunity — particularly in the AI space, where rapid advances are opening doors for new business ventures.

In 2024, after eight years at Google as a tech lead, Jason White decided he wanted to lean more into AI. Later that year, he accepted an AI machine learning engineer role at Meta. But in 2025, he considered going even further: launching an AI startup to help households manage their finances. He resigned from Meta in September.

For others, the appeal is more about reassessing corporate life. A slowdown in hiring and promotions, as well as high-profile layoffs in industries like tech, has made entrepreneurship feel less risky.

Last June, Taylor M. LaSane faced a career crossroads: stay in her six-figure manager role at Google, or take a buyout and go all-in on her career coaching business. She said uncertainty about her job security at Google made it easier to choose the latter.

"Big Tech layoffs are happening everywhere, so it wasn't like staying there was necessarily any more stable than leaving," she said.

After joining Microsoft as a senior software engineer in 2022, David Chong struggled to get promoted. By 2025, he was still in the same role and felt greater demands on productivity and working from the office.

"The message from leadership seemed to be that we needed to ramp up and adjust because times were changing," he said.

Chong resigned from Microsoft in September to start an AI sales agent business.

While some entrepreneurs have left their corporate gigs, others have started businesses out of necessity, after frustrating job searches. As of March, more than a quarter of unemployed Americans had been looking for work for 27 weeks or more, up from about 18% three years earlier.

Since being laid off by Wells Fargo in April 2025, Robin Peppers Daniel has struggled to secure full-time employment. She said she's now spending less time applying for jobs and more time building her web design and skincare businesses.

More workers are going solo — but it's not without risks

The entrepreneurship boom underscores the trade-offs of self-employment: greater flexibility and autonomy, but also greater financial uncertainty.

Last year's American Job Quality study found that 46% of self-employed workers — who account for 14% of the US workforce — had "quality jobs," compared to 39% of employed workers. The report defined "quality jobs" as "those offering fair pay and benefits, safe and respectful workplaces, opportunities for growth, a voice in decisions, and sustainable schedules." The findings were based on a Gallup survey of more than 18,000 US adults conducted in early 2025.

Alyson Isaacs is familiar with the appeal of entrepreneurship. After earning her bachelor's degree in 2021, she "completely drained" her savings on a startup that didn't work out for her. She went on to join Meta as a product manager in 2022, but never gave up on her entrepreneurial ambitions. Last July, she resigned from Meta to focus full-time on her new startup, an "agentic AI solution for personal wellness."

"There are ways you can be entrepreneurial," Isaacs said of working in Big Tech, "but it's very much not the same."

Starting a new business is risky. Only a third of private-sector US businesses created in March 2013 were still operating a decade later, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many entrepreneurs aren't blind to these risks — and took steps to prepare their finances before starting their businesses.

Before leaving Meta, Jason White said he saved enough to cover a year of expenses. Chong said he felt comfortable leaving Microsoft because he had several years' worth of savings and no dependents to support. Isaacs said she lived well below her means — including living in a less expensive area — to build a financial cushion.

White said that his Meta colleagues reacted to his leaving with a mix of surprise, support, and jealousy. He said some had considered starting their own businesses but hadn't, citing the financial risks. But White didn't want to let those concerns hold him back.

"At the end of the day, I want to take the swing," he said.