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Ethan Mollick says the Industrial Revolution, not the Gold Rush, fits AI startups

1 article1 sourcesince Oct 29Last article 1h ago ·

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Ethan Mollick says the "sell picks and shovels" idea is the wrong lesson for AI startups, in a post on X dated October 29, 2026.

He argues the Industrial Revolution is a better analogy than the Gold Rush. In his account, gold is a finite pile that people compete over, while machines keep making things cheaper. He adds that far more people got rich using the new machines than building them.

Written by AI from the articles below · updated Oct 29, 12:43 PM ET

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Latest developmentOct 29, 12:32 PM ET
Ethan Mollick says the gold rush analogy misleads AI startup thinking

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The articles in this story. Times are ET.

Oct 29
  1. Ethan MollickX
    Ethan Mollick says the gold rush analogy misleads AI startup thinking

    AIEthan Mollick argues that "sell picks and shovels" is the wrong lesson for AI startups. He says the Industrial Revolution is a better analogy than the Gold Rush, because gold is a finite pile while machines keep making things cheaper. He adds that far more people got rich using the new machines than building them.

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