This is specific to startups. If you can define a business model that is somewhat unique and successful, you can scale really quickly and hopefully exit before

This is specific to startups. If you can define a business model that is somewhat unique and successful, you can scale really quickly and hopefully exit before your expenses catch up to you, like Instagram and WhatsApp did. Expenses eventually catch up with you, because business is adversarial. Any technology available cheaply to you to scale your business is also available cheaply to your competitors. Once other smart people start going after your market share, you will need to spend more to defend it and continue to grow. Expensive things: invention, sales, marketing, customer service, compliance, content moderation, etc. These all have to be done by humans. A lot of companies who scaled their revenue rapidly with low head count, have then had to scale their headcount to maintain their business. (Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc) The founder with no employees is for sure an attractive fantasy. It's basically the core of the superhero myth: a person who has a big effect on society without depending on anyone else. Superman doesn't need help because he is invulnerable and strong. Even superheroes who ostensibly depend on large teams, like Batman or Iron Man, are never shown that way. If you go back to the beginning of the MCU, Tony Stark is alway shown alone with his technology. It's the bad guys who bark at subordinates and run around in groups.