Where this term shows up in the channel Conservation of attractive profits comes up in the channel's episode You Don't Need More Money—Just A Better AI Strategy with Mike Maples, cofounder of Floodgate and early investor in Twitch, Lyft, and Okta [^ep50]. There it sits at the center of his core argument: when a technology shift like AI arrives, business model innovation beats product innovation as a way to capture value. How the idea is used In the captured material, the term frames a question for founders working against far better-funded incumbents: if the old source of profits is disrupted, where does the attractive profit go next? Maples' answer, as explored in the episode, is that the profits don't simply vanish — they move toward whoever owns the new way of solving the problem, which is why he emphasizes: What to take from it - Business model innovation over product innovation — the strategic lever that matters most when a technology shift rewrites the rules [^ep50].- Counter-positioning against giants like OpenAI — choosing a position incumbents can't or won't copy, which is where the shifted profits become capturable [^ep50].- Systems-level thinking — AI rewards founders who see the whole landscape rather than optimizing a single product feature [^ep50]. - Conservation of attractive profits is used to explain where value migrates during a technology shift.- In the channel's material it supports Mike Maples' argument that business model innovation beats product innovation in AI.- The practical takeaway: explore counter-positioning and systems-level thinking rather than competing head-on with better-funded incumbents.