Asked what he would build if he started over, Patrick Collison did not name an AI lab.
He said he'd go for "the janky 1990s software" running whole industries nobody in the Valley will touch.
3 examples of this:
1) Vertical SaaS
Aug 6, 2026 · 10:51 AM UTC
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In many domains one dominant tool is left from the 1990s. Terrible mobile app, zero AI, awful collaboration.
Collison's move is to build the good version for that one industry.
His running joke: asked what tech he is excited about, drones or crypto or AI, he says vertical SaaS.
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2) Domains software has never really touched
The point is not a better app, it is a whole sector software skipped.
On Replit, a founder built software for ice skating rinks, now headed for a multi-million dollar business.
Collison: nobody in the Valley thinks about ice rinks.
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3) What is popular with young people but low status
The pattern is a market incumbents look down on, so no one serious is competing for it yet.
Crypto was that ten years ago.
Startups themselves were that fifteen years ago, which is why Stripe sold to them with no competition.
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Why these three work now comes down to one shift.
The time to reach a million, then ten, then a hundred in revenue has roughly halved versus the SaaS era.
And 20% of new startups now charge a customer inside 30 days, up from 8% in 2020. The idea to income gap collapsed.
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The domain expert is the one who wins here.
Not the Valley programmer, but the person who already understands ice rinks, or classrooms, or a trade.
On Replit a teacher who knew schools built MagicSchool, zero to half a billion dollars.
He had the insight, AI gave the tools.
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TLDR, where Collison would look if starting over:
1) Vertical SaaS, the good version of a cludgy 1990s incumbent
2) Domains software has never really touched, like ice rinks
3) What is popular with young people but still low status
The domain expert wins, now that idea to income has roughly halved.
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