Travis Di Lombardi-Spicer quit his audio producing job on the spot after getting passed up for a raise in January 2025. The 30-year-old felt artificial intelligence could eventually eliminate his job, and he wanted to do something proactive instead of pocketing his roughly $75,000 a year, from full-time work and freelance projects, and waiting for the end to come, he says.
Skeptical he’d find stability in an uncertain job market, Spicer turned to entrepreneurship. He spent $40,000 — selling some personal assets and pulling money from his 401(k) and savings — to launch the beta version of Spotbookr, his AI-powered consumer spending and advertising analytics business, in May 2025, he says.
Entrepreneurs in the U.S. filed 1.56 million business applications from November through January, the most of any three-month period since at least 2004, according to a CNBC Make It analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. To an extent, the rise is predictable — when people struggle to find jobs, particularly against the backdrop of a stagnant job market or mass layoffs, they’re more likely to start businesses.
This crop of entrepreneurs is different: Anticipating future layoffs, some Americans are leaving their jobs preemptively to start businesses. Many of them say AI makes launching a startup easier. Others say they’re leaving on their own terms before suffering AI-related job cuts. Spicer became an example of both after experimenting with the technology himself, he says.
