I sit down with my friend Chris Lengerich, a researcher, investor, and founder of Context Fund, to map the AI “gold-rush” reshaping California’s most important economy. After talking about how we ended up with nine-figure talent bidding wars for AI talent, we discuss how smaller teams, AI-accelerated funding, and vertically-integrated TechBio firms will upend SaaS economics and, could let us “asymptote to having no disease.” We finish by weighing whether California’s network effects keep it the epicenter of the AI boom and what get Chris most excited about the future.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction

03:47 – The AI Gold Rush

06:53 – The War for Top AI Talent

11:39 – Verification: The New Frontier

14:12 – Automating the VC Funding Process

25:37 – AI-Powered Teams and Startup Dynamics

29:16 – AI in Drug Discovery & Development

37:11 – Personalization & Reducing Friction

40:30 – California’s Role in the AI Gold Rush

45:37 – The Inner vs. Outer AI Economy

48:23 – Curing Disease with AI

Keywords:

AI gold rush, California tech economy, talent wars, verification APIs, reinforcement learning, funding automation, Context Fund, build-vs-buy, TechBio, personalized tooling, mainframe renaissance, data-center energy, venture capital, vertical integration, disease-cure asymptote, global verification hubs, policy competition, inner-vs-outer economy, network effects.