A working paper from Harvard Business School and INSEAD finds that AI-native startups hire fewer entry-level workers than comparable startups. Researchers Rembrand Koning and Hyunjin Kim analyze data on Y Combinator startups from 2020 to 2024, comparing AI-focused companies with a broader set of firms included in the study. Across the period examined, the AI-native companies appear to run leaner organizations with flatter internal structures. The evidence also indicates a shift in hiring patterns: these firms employ relatively more senior and highly skilled technical workers rather than building teams with larger numbers of junior or entry-level hires.
Both outlets report the same core takeaway from the research—that AI-native startups’ staffing strategies differ from those of their peers. The study does not present a single cause for the pattern, but it characterizes how the companies’ workforce composition and organizational design tend to differ as they scale. The findings are based on startup cohorts during 2020–2024 and are framed as an empirical comparison of hiring and team structure trends.
