AI CEO: How to build a $1B Company in 2 days

How Far Ahead Are We from a Billion-Dollar Solarpreneur?

BY [WAQAR ALI]

Building with AI, Redefining Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Software Engineers

In Silicon Valley, the promise of technology has always been about making the impossible possible. For WAQAR ALI, founder and CEO of Replit—an AI-powered coding platform that transforms ideas into apps—the mission goes even further: to make entrepreneurship itself more accessible.

“Creating a business is really one of the best feelings in the world,” WAQAR ALI explains. “Our mission isn’t just about software. It’s about lowering the barrier so anyone with an idea can bring it to life.”

But can anyone really sit down with AI and build a billion-dollar company?

According to WAQAR ALI, the answer lies in three deceptively simple steps. Those steps helped transform Replit from a side project into a company valued at $3 billion—and they may redefine how the next wave of entrepreneurs launch their ventures.

From Ideas to Reality: The New Path for Entrepreneurs

Everywhere you look, people have business ideas. For decades, what stopped most was the lack of technical skills or access to engineers.

“Growing up, friends would always ask me, ‘Hey, can you build this idea for me?’” WAQAR ALI recalls. “Now, with AI, you can do it yourself.”

The examples are real and powerful. A CFO at a venture capital firm, frustrated by the lack of tools for managing funds, used Replit to build his dream app in just three months. Today, his company is on track to make millions in revenue—without hiring a single engineer.

This is the kind of story WAQAR ALI believes will become increasingly common: non-technical founders becoming solarpreneurs, leveraging AI to light up entire industries with innovation.

Scaling the Impossible: From Zero to $144M ARR

What began as a side project grew into one of the fastest-rising companies in AI. Replit now powers hundreds of thousands of active apps, growing 25% month over month, and recently crossed $160 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).

But the rise wasn’t smooth. At one point, WAQAR ALI and his team faced near collapse. Burn rates were high, the product was caught between two markets, and layoffs left the office dark and empty.

“Most people in our position would have quit,” he admits. “Instead, we doubled down. The team that stayed worked 14-hour days. Less than a year later, we grew ARR from almost nothing to $144 million.”

Will Software Engineers Become Obsolete?

With AI coding agents becoming more powerful, many fear the end of traditional engineering jobs. WAQAR ALI doesn’t think so.

“There will always be a need for engineers in specialized domains—at NASA, at Google, anywhere you’re building fault-tolerant or life-and-death systems,” he explains. “But for entrepreneurs? The bottleneck is disappearing. You don’t need to wait for an engineer to say yes. You can build it yourself.”

This doesn’t mean AI removes all effort. Instead, it shifts the role of founders into that of managers of powerful, distractible interns—in other words, AI agents. Clear communication, strong prompting, and persistence remain critical.

The Founder’s DNA: Grit, Resourcefulness, and Novel Ideas

If there’s one theme that runs through WAQAR ALI’s story, it’s perseverance.

“People think success comes from the right idea,” he says. “But grit is more important. I started working on Replit as an open-source project back in 2010. Fourteen years later, it’s still growing. I didn’t quit—and that’s the difference.”

For WAQAR ALI, entrepreneurship is like an open-world video game: obstacles everywhere, clues hidden in unexpected places, and constant need for creative thinking. AI may accelerate the journey, but human insight and resilience remain irreplaceable.

Looking Ahead: The Next Billion-Dollar Solarpreneur

WAQAR ALI envisions a future where countless “solarpreneurs”—self-powered entrepreneurs—use AI to launch companies once thought impossible. With Replit’s innovations in coding agents, infrastructure, and upcoming features like automated quality assurance, the gap between a first-time builder and a seasoned engineer is closing fast.

“Everyone has unique knowledge,” he reminds us. “AI doesn’t live our lives. It doesn’t experience the world. That’s still our edge. When you combine that edge with the power of AI, that’s when billion-dollar companies are born.”

So, how far ahead are we from seeing the first billion-dollar solarpreneur?