Millions of new founders, not enough builders: the MVP gap in the US, EU and Australia
More people are starting businesses than at any time on record. Many of them have the idea, the customers and the drive, but nobody to build the product. Here is what the official numbers say about that gap, and what it means if you are one of those founders.
How many people are starting something?
- United States: about 5.7 million business applications were filed in 2025, according to US Census Bureau data. Around 1.7 million of them were “high-propensity”: likely to become businesses with employees.
- European Union: 3.5 million new enterprises were born in 2023, a birth rate of 10.5%, according to Eurostat.
- Australia: 460,461 new businesses entered the economy in 2025–26, up from 437,150 the year before, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The three figures are counted differently (applications, enterprise births, business entries), so they can’t be added up exactly. But the order of magnitude is clear: close to ten million new businesses a year across these three markets.
And the appetite is growing. In the United States, 19% of adults are starting or running a new business, a historic high in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s 2024–2025 report.
How many of them need an MVP?
No official statistic counts founders who have an idea and need a first product built, so anyone quoting an exact number is guessing. Most new businesses are not software companies: Australia’s biggest group of new businesses, for example, is construction.
But two trends show where the pressure is:
- More founders start alone. On Carta, a platform used by startups to manage ownership, about 35% of new startups in 2024 had a single founder, up from 17% in 2017. One person rarely covers product, sales and engineering.
- Almost every business now needs software. A booking flow, a customer portal, payments, an AI assistant: even a business that is not “a tech company” often needs a product built before it can sell.
The bottleneck: people who can build
Ideas are not the scarce part. In ManpowerGroup’s 2025 survey of more than 40,000 employers in 42 countries, 74% said they struggle to find the skilled talent they need, and IT and data skills are among the hardest to find.
If established companies with HR teams struggle to hire engineers, a first-time founder with no technical network has it harder. That is the gap: millions of new businesses, a growing share of solo founders, and a shortage of people who can turn an idea into a working product.
If you are one of these founders
- Prove demand before you build. Ten conversations with real customers and a clickable prototype are cheaper than any code.
- Build the smallest product that someone will pay for. Three features done properly beat ten done halfway.
- Don’t wait for a technical co-founder. You can start with a partner who builds per milestone, and hire your own team once the product earns it.
- Insist on the foundations: security, payments that don’t double-charge, backups and monitoring. AI tools make a demo fast; they don’t make it safe.
- Own everything from day one: code, cloud accounts and domain.
How TechNova can help
If you have the idea and the customers but no one to build it, this is our core work.
- A free first call to understand your business and what the first version must do.
- A written plan: scope, timeline and a fixed price per milestone, before you commit.
- Your first version in 6–12 weeks, with weekly demos, built on solid foundations: security, payments, backups and monitoring.
- You own everything from day one, and we stay on after launch as your team grows.
Demand is not the problem: close to ten million new businesses start each year in the US, EU and Australia, and more founders than ever start alone. The scarce part is the team that can build the first product well. Start small, prove demand, and work with people who have done it before.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics: 5,671,836 business applications in 2025, of which 1,708,842 high-propensity (annual totals as compiled by Founder Reports).
- Eurostat, More businesses opened than dissolved in the EU in 2023 (13 Oct 2025): 3.5 million enterprise births, birth rate 10.5%.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits (18 Aug 2026): 460,461 entries in 2025–26; 437,150 in 2024–25.
- Babson College, GEM 2024–2025 United States Report: Total Entrepreneurial Activity at 19%, a historic high.
- Carta, Founder Ownership Report 2025: about 35% of new startups in 2024 had one founder, 17% in 2017.
- ManpowerGroup, Talent Shortage Survey 2025: 74% of 40,413 employers in 42 countries report difficulty finding skilled talent.
FAQ
How many startups need an MVP built each year?
No official statistic counts this. The published figures show close to ten million new businesses a year across the US, EU and Australia, and a growing share of solo founders.
Do I need a technical co-founder to start?
No. Many founders start with a partner who builds the first version per milestone, and hire their own team once the product has customers.
How long does a first product take?
For a focused first version, our projects usually take 6 to 12 weeks, paid per milestone.
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