Instead of trying to pick which AI product wins, we like the old “picks and shovels” idea: invest in the longer-term businesses that supply the boom, not the end-user product that has become its public face. The classic example is Levi’s, which survived by selling jeans to gold miners while none of the gold mining companies did.
Applied to AI today, that means the companies working behind the scenes, from the electricians and construction crews building data centers to the suppliers that serve the big AI models. Ticker Tape has invested in Scale AI on this premise. Claude, ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini all use Scale in building their models, so we don’t have to pick the winning model to invest in the industry. We’re also studying AI’s wider impact, including RV parks and vacation rentals.
Key points
- “Picks and shovels” means investing in the suppliers to a boom instead of trying to pick the winning product.
- In AI, that includes the crews and electricians building data centers and the companies that supply the major models.
- Ticker Tape invested in Scale AI because it supplies models such as Claude, ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini.
Accredited investors: learn about current opportunities at tickertapeinvestments.com.
