AI is changing how companies hire

Banks in the U.K. are cutting back-office jobs partly due to AI. Anthropic found that since early 2025, hiring of junior technical employees fell from 27% of new hires to 9%.

Gross launches free business idea generator

Bill Gross, founder and CEO of Idealab and ProRata, unveiled a project using AI to generate business ideas. Idealab was one of the first startup incubators, launched in 1996.

Gross developed 31 idea-generation methodologies

Over the years, Gross created 31 techniques for generating business ideas. He calls them methodologies, really creative prompts for thinking about idea generation.

Three categories of business opportunities

Gross breaks methodologies into opportunities like solving pain points and removing friction, enablers such as new technologies and scientific advances, and shifts like regulatory changes.

AI fed 17 million documents to generate ideas

Gross fed 31 methodologies to an AI model along with 17 million source documents including news stories, research reports, expired patents, and public company filings.

1.2 million business ideas generated

Idealab's AI generated more than 1.2 million business ideas. Gross decided to give those ideas away for free to empower entrepreneurship around the world.

“I've always wanted to have a positive impact with Idealab by starting many companies, but I can't start 1.2 million.”

Ideas available at idealab.ai

Anyone can visit idealab.ai and explore 1.2 million ideas, querying by industry, skills, interests and geography. Users can upload resumes or LinkedIn profiles for personalized suggestions.

Refining existing business plans

People with existing ideas can upload business plans and ask the AI engine to help refine them or generate 100 neighboring ideas to improve them.

Unlocking trapped corporate patents

Existing organizations can search business ideas across their patent portfolios. Gross found Caltech's 9,978 patents could generate 3,450 new businesses and 3M's 21,000 patents could generate 1,549 ideas.

Rollout plans and investment support

The AI model provides rollout plans for new businesses. Entrepreneurs needing money can reach out to Idealab, which will consider investing in their ventures.

Periodic Table of Business Functions

Gross created a Periodic Table of Business Functions charting 118 different jobs from customer discovery to sales to operations and legal required to set up and run a business.

Agentic AI to automate business tasks

Idealab created an agentic AI environment to help entrepreneurs automate those 118 business functions. Unlike the free ideas, these Periodic Table services will launch in 2027 and charge fees.

Cloudflare donates startup credits

Gross convinced Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, to donate one hundred thousand dollars worth of Cloudflare credits to any startup that builds on Idealab's platform.

Gross's vision: 1 million companies

Gross hopes idealab.ai will eventually catalyze 1 million new businesses and generate 100 million new jobs, offsetting the 100 million jobs Goldman Sachs forecast AI could eliminate by 2030.

Better jobs, not just more jobs

Gross said the 100 million new entrepreneurial jobs would be much better than displaced jobs, giving people more purpose, excitement, enthusiasm and passion while solving world problems.

“These would be 100 million jobs that are much, much better than the 100 million jobs that were displaced.”

U.S. business formation near all-time highs

New business formation in the U.S. is near all-time highs, up 11% since the pandemic ended in 2022, according to Census Bureau data. Similar trends appear worldwide.

AI paints a more complex economic picture

The economic picture AI is helping to paint is more complex and perhaps less dystopian than the vision of fewer jobs and concentrated wealth that has received the most media attention.