It sounds like he's using contractors for "surge" capacity. Normally, he's the only employee. But, if he has a major set of features to build/release, he'll contract out some of the work. Assuming they're all short-term jobs, I think it's fair to continue claiming it's a one-man company. But, if there's a steady flow of contractors that roughly adds up to a single FTE, the he's stretching the truth.