“Synthetic” AI employees will create a new talent war for startups to acquire top talent

That's according to George Allison, CEO of Grindr, a $2 billion dating company for the LGBTQ community and a serial entrepreneur.

In the near future, it will be common for startups with just a few dozen employees to generate $100 million in revenue, Allison said on stage. On Tuesday at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah, the rise of generative AI will enable what Allison calls “synthetic employees” to do many of the jobs that humans were once hired to do, which is good news for tech founders.

But that means it's more important than ever for ambitious startups to hire great people right from the get-go, alongside their AI allies. Allison argued that the core founding team needs to be “exceptionally good,” leaving little room for mediocrity. The result is likely to be a new wave of competition for top talent.

Allison's comments at Brainstorm Tech come as the dating company looks to evolve its product to better serve its users. Allison said the company will look to productize other use cases that will benefit Grindr subscribers in areas ranging from travel to health and wellness.

“Loneliness and depression are really big issues in our community,” he said.

Allison said the company is also working on ways to better appeal to users over 40, a demographic that tends to drift away from apps over time. “As people get older, they always drift away,” she said.

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