You Want to Be the Shovel Seller

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You Want to Be the Shovel Seller

Yesterday, I was giving a presentation in the Silicon Valley about Generative Engine Optimization. Before my presentation, I stopped by the headquarters of NVIDIA.

I was struck by an old piece of California wisdom that’s as true today as when it was (perhaps apocryphally) shared back in the 1850s:

You want to be the shovel seller.

What does that mean? Here’s my thoughts on it, recorded while strolling around NVIDIA’s gleaming 1.25 million square foot campus (watch on YouTube).

And here’s a Medium article exploring the topic in way more detail:

If you liked the “architecture and culture of big tech” element of this article/video, stay tuned for my next article in FastCompany early this coming week!