The Personal Abundance
AI is transforming exclusivity into accessibility, giving what was once reserved for the ultra-wealthy to the masses
The application layer got exciting again with the release of DeepSeek’s LLM model. This signals a paradigm shift for consumer AI in 2025. As models become cheaper, the cost savings trickle down to the application layer, allowing consumers to access and use them at a much lower price. AI is becoming increasingly magical with advanced reasoning, and I believe that we’re entering the Era of Personal Abundance. To put it simply, what was once reserved for the ultra-wealthy is now accessible to all for a fraction of the cost.
Looking at history, we learn that the Varian Rule still holds true today. The rule states that “a simple way to forecast the future is to look at what rich people have today; middle-income people will have something equivalent in 10 years, and poor people will have it in an additional decade.” [1] This rule is the foundation for this thesis, allowing investors and builders decide where to play.
The Era of Personal is transforming exclusivity into accessibility across every industry.
I analyzed the major platform shifts across time and found that each platform shifts slowly democratized what was once reserved for the wealthy. For example, during the Pre-Internet Era, the ultra-wealthy hired private tutors. During every major platform, we see this slowly democratized with Google allowing anyone to learn (internet), Duolingo to learn a new language directly on their phones everywhere and anywhere (mobile), and ChatGPT allowing you to ask AI anything (AI).
In the Era of Personal, what was once private turns personal. The private tutor for the wealthy is now, with the help of AI, a personal tutor. Applying this to every industry out there, and we find ourselves in the Era of Personal Abundance.
Companies founded during the Internet/Web, Mobile, and AI-Enabled Era are all software products. In the Era of Personal, it’s no longer a product, but a service that is completed by a personal AI agent – truly allowing us to have what the ultra-wealthy had.
What do these companies look like?
Companies in the Era of Personal are characterized by the following:
High Personalization
High Retention
Level of agency dependent on owner
Unlike AI-Enabled solutions, services provided during the Era of Personal are highly tailored to the needs of its owner. AI-Enabled solutions largely are developed using foundational models built on following and understanding patterns. Solutions in this new era are characterized by their ability to reason and make judgement calls based on the knowledge of the world and its user.
AI-Enabled companies also lack retention with the median DAU/MAU to be 14% [2]. This tells us that these solutions are not good enough and aren’t providing enough value for everyday consumers to use them. However, a high degree of personalization can and will change on this.
Lastly, I believe that agency must still belong to the user; however, humans decide the AI’s level of agency. For example, if an owner wants a personal AI stylist, the owner might prefer the AI stylist to send a shortlist of new clothing, but leave the final decision to them.
What are college students looking for?
I asked my 14k followers, who were primarily college students, what type of personal AI agent they were looking for. Here are a couple of popular responses:
A personal assistant to plan out a schedule / create a to-do list based on previously uncompleted tasks or user’s priorities
A personal assistant to answer messages and check emails
A personal stylist to plan out what to wear and how to optimize depending on weather
If you’re a builder, this is your time to build. The best thing about consumer AI is that you can start right away because the novelty and first-mover advantage are real moats. Unlike enterprise, which require 99% accuracy, AI is now good enough for consumers. The real difference between an excellent startup and a good startup is their ability to win distribution.
There are billion-dollar opportunities that have yet to be discovered.
Agents are a hot topic in enterprise investing, but surprisingly, not in consumer investing yet. Investors and founders are forgetting that although building in consumer is hard, the billion-dollar opportunities still mainly lie in the hands of consumers. My view is that, like enterprise, consumer AI will become increasingly verticalized, creating a personal AI agent in every aspect of life (how you eat, play, work, etc). With that said, we’re still early in this space and there are billion-dollar opportunities right now that are untouched.