Andrew Yang sees startup opportunity in lowering cost of living
9 reported
Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang believes the next major startup opportunity lies in reducing the cost of living, inspired by Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs. Yang told TechCrunch he identified housing, education, food, fuel, transportation, media, and wireless as key spending areas. He launched Noble Mobile last September, a mobile virtual network operator offering cheaper cell service and refunds for unused data. Yang argues that as AI threatens wages and jobs, businesses that return margin to customers represent a growing category. He remains an advocate for Universal Basic Income but sees market incentives as a viable alternative to government redistribution. Noble Mobile has grown to “thousands and thousands” of customers and millions in revenue since its launch. Yang encouraged founders to tackle problems they are passionate about and avoid groupthink.
What’s reported
Yang was inspired by Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, which sells pharmaceuticals at cost.
Yang identified housing, education, food, fuel, transportation, media, and wireless as key spending categories.
He launched Noble Mobile last September as a mobile virtual network operator.
Noble Mobile provides cell service at a fraction of traditional carrier prices and gives customers money back for unused data.
Yang stated the company is “unit profitable per customer” and shares profits with subscribers.
Noble Mobile has grown to “thousands and thousands” of customers and “millions in revenue.”
Yang noted the average monthly savings of $50, invested over 40 years, could amount to $24,000.
One investor told Yang, “Love you, Andrew, want to work with you — if you could just make this an AI company, we’ll invest.”
Yang said some Silicon Valley figures are open to his ideas because they “just don’t want to have to hire private security.”
Key figures
Andrew Yang: entrepreneur, former presidential candidate, founder of Noble Mobile
Mark Cuban: entrepreneur, founder of Cost Plus Drugs (mentioned as inspiration)
Sources: TechCrunch
