During the Gold Rush, the people who really made money weren’t the ones digging for gold — they were the ones selling shovels.

Now the AI wave is here. Everyone is chasing the trend — learning prompts, training models, building apps. But the smart players are already building shovels.

What Is the New Shovel?

A shovel is tools, channels, infrastructure. In the AI era, shovels look like this:

• One-person company toolchain: Use AI to automate content, customer service, design, and code — one person doing the work of ten.
• Vertical scenario solutions: Not building general AI, but building dedicated tools for lawyers, doctors, factory owners.
• Data and channels: Master the private traffic of an industry; AI is just the amplifier.

Supply Chain and Channels — You Can Build Them Yourself

Used to be: rent an office, hire people, run business registration. Now?

• Company registration: done online in 1 day.
• Product delivery: AI writes copy, designs, generates videos.
• Customer acquisition: SEO + social media + private domain, zero-cost startup.
• Payment and fulfillment: payment APIs + automation tools, fully unmanned.

This is the dividend of the one-person company — the cost structure has changed, and the profit margin has opened up.

How to Build a Shovel?

Not everyone needs to dig for gold. You can:

1. Find a group of people chasing the trend.
2. Figure out what tools they lack.
3. Use AI to quickly build it and sell it to them.
4. Get paid. Repeat.

While others are anxious about ‘Will AI replace me?’, you’re thinking ‘How do I use AI to serve more people?’.

This is the dividend of the era.

Don’t chase the trend. Build the shovel.

---

Author: 杨少兵
Content e-commerce practitioner. Welcome to connect: 397000395@qq.com