Zoom is giving away $150K to ‘solopreneurs’ with no strings attached—as 33 million workers ditch corporate to become their own boss

As AI threatens to wipe out jobs, the American dream—stable employment, a clear ladder to climb, and a company to grow old with—is quietly dying. More people are ditching the 9-to-5 to build something of their own. And Zoom is putting $150,000 behind the movement. The $26 billion video conferencing giant is giving away $30,000 each to five solo business owners as part of its first-ever Zoom Solopreneur 50 rankings, shared exclusively with Fortune. No strings attached. The first-of-its-kind list, which showcases the top 50 solo entrepreneurs in the U.S., was selected by an independent jury of business leaders and academics from nearly 3,000 applications across 48 states and over 400 cities. “This program reflects where work is going—and the people already building there,” Zoom CMO Kim Storin told Fortune. “This isn’t about building billion-dollar companies. It’s about building sustainable, profitable businesses that support a life. That’s a modern version of the American Dream—where ownership, independence, and control are all enabled by technology.” 33 million people have ditched traditional career paths The timing is deliberate. As AI continues to reshape the workforce and hollow out traditional career paths, a new class of solo operators is quietly thriving. There are more than 33 million self-employed Americans, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with 82% of small businesses operating without a single employee. That’s precisely what sets solopreneurs apart from entrepreneurs. No team. No office. No cofounder. And Zoom wants to be the company that backs them. “The Solopreneur 50 is our way of recognizing that shift early,” Storin says. “It highlights a new class of builders who are redefining what a company looks like and proving that ambition today is shaped more by focus and capability than by size.” “For decades, scale meant headcount,” she adds. “That equation is breaking.” Now, she says, one person with the right to