Quote · My First Million
Brainstorming business ideas with a billion-dollar founder
Where this was said
A case for gold
At 33:20 · chapter starts 27:48
Prompted by Shaan's question about where to find opportunities today, Pincus imagines the world two years from now when per-token AI costs are essentially free — 'like water.' He believes we have already passed AGI by its original definition, and that if you could have a knowledgeable human available 24/7 at zero cost, you would always use it. This opens the door to premium upsells for high-stakes moments: a traveller stranded in London on July 4th would pay $50 to $100 for a human agent to rebook a flight correctly. [1] He also identifies the bigger shift: the move from consumptive to generative social experiences. The dopamine from creating — making music with AI, designing logos on Midjourney — is many times larger than the dopamine from passive scrolling, and people feel worse after passive consumption. AI will enable ordinary people to feel creative in ways previously reserved for professionals. He references the Blake Mycoskie quote about masters who blur the line between work and play, and connects it to his own vision that AI will let everyone 'live like Elon' — turning intentions directly into products without the friction of fundraising, legal, and hiring.
By rotating into gold ahead of tariff chaos and then back into equities when deals emerged, Pincus gained approximately 35% on his entire liquid portfolio in a single year.
