Humanoid Robots, Building a Service Business, and Why CEOs Won’t Save Democracy

Scott Galloway answers listener questions on the humanoid robotics boom and why real adoption is still years away. He then shares advice for a young entrepreneur starting a services business, explaining why relationships, talent, and overdelivering for clients are key to success. Finally, Scott calls out corporate America’s moral decline and argues that defending democracy will fall to citizens, not CEOs. Want to be featured in a future episode? Send a voice recording to [email protected], or drop your question in the r/ScottGalloway subreddit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 1:00Speaker 02

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• 1:18Scott Galloway?

  Welcome to Office Hours to Prop G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to [email protected]. Again, that's [email protected] or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit and we just might feature it in our next episode. First question.

• 1:43Speaker 04

  Hey, Prop G. Franco calling in from Madrid, Spain. I'd love to get your take on the humanoid robotics market. There's been a lot of movement lately. Tesla pushing with Optimus and VCs pouring money into players like Figure AI and Unitree in China. The technology seems to be advancing fast with AI. But what do you think it'll take for humanoids to move from controlled environments into truly production-ready autonomous tech? And do you see this becoming a real business within the decade? Or more like another moonshot like autonomous vehicles? Huge fan of you and all the Prof G shows. Thanks for all you do.

• 2:19Scott Galloway?

  Morgan Stanley projects this could be a $5 trillion market by 2050 with roughly 1 billion humanoid units in use. In other words, that's them saying they have no fucking idea. By 2050, by 2050, we could collide into Pluto. I know, I love these things that are like in 20 years, it could be a $1 trillion. I mean, the analyst writing that is going to be dead probably in 20 years. So who cares? They see adoption ramping up slowly until the mid 2030s and accelerating as costs fall and AI capabilities catch up. Goldman is more conservative. They estimate the humanoid market will reach 38 billion by 2035 with roughly 1.4 million robots shipped once hardware costs decline about 40%. For context, there are already more than four and a half million industrial robots operating a day, and that base grew 9% last year.

• 3:04Scott Galloway?

  So the broad automation trend line is strong. Component makers are also gearing up. ID Tech X expects a 14x expansion in humanoid parts and sensors within the decade, roughly a $10 billion market, just for the guts of these machines. On the funding side, venture money is also pouring in. China's taken the lead here. Unitries low-priced models and government-backed manufacturing given an edge over US rivals, at least for now. And then with respect to Tesla and their Optimus, Musk has said that Tesla could start selling Optimus by the end of 2025, even talking about thousands of units next year. In some, he's full of shit. I don't even know he's full of shit. I know he's not full of shit here. I don't think he's ever talking. Weren't we supposed to have a million autonomous taxis by like 2021 or 2018?

• 3:49Scott Galloway?

  Elon Musk is engaging in this ultimate weapon of mass distraction. Don't look at the fact that I have the most valuable automobile company in the world, and yet my automobile company is declining, is eroding revenues faster than any automobile company in the world, and I'm getting my lunch eaten by everybody, including BYD, which produces a Tesla-like vehicle at about 40% of the price. So I'm going to do all these jazz hands and say, look over here, robots, Robovin, XAI, look anywhere but at the fact I'm wrapping steel around an engine or a battery and I'm trading and I'm worth more than every automobile company in the world, which makes no fucking sense. So he's trying to say anything to give people the illusion of distraction that'll be something else.

• 4:32Scott Galloway?

  Anyways, back to robots. Most analysts expect real commercial traction before 2035, primarily in warehouses, logistics and manufacturing, but not our living rooms. The trillion dollar promise is still decades out. Within the next 10 years, we'll likely see humanoids doing repetitive labor in structured environments. My viewpoint on this, as somebody who doesn't know the space very well, is the following: I think in B2B, it's going to exceed expectations. I think in B2C, it's going to fall well short of expectations. I don't think people want to... I don't like having a nanny in my house. I just don't... And the idea of a robot having any sort of context or nuance to go get me my tea and cookies, maybe. I don't know. But if you look at these data centers, if you look at some of the factories, the forward advanced manufacturing factories in China,

• 5:17Scott Galloway?

  they say they don't even need to turn the lights on because there's no humans in them. So I think roaming around the house, I don't know, maybe they'll take your dog for a walk. I don't know, maybe those things that deliver your food. I don't think it's going to work. I think there's going to be a lot of military applications. They're going to be fucking frightening in space age, but they'll be very effective. But the idea that we're going to have robots walking our dogs and hanging out with us and bringing us our dinner, yeah, I just don't, I don't think so. Anyways, that's my view. Question number two.

• 5:51Speaker 05

  Hey Prof G, I'm 20 years old, living in Vancouver, Canada, and I'm currently three quarters of the way for an electrical apprenticeship. Because the trades pay so well, about a year and a half ago, I was able to buy a condo and utilize it as an investment property.

• 6:07Speaker 05

  Currently, I'm in the process of starting my own electrical company while I'm still an apprentice, so I can be up and running and ready for business when I finally get my license in about a year. Do you have any tips on how to run a services-driven business and how to differentiate from all the other businesses that are around? Additionally, what advice do you have for a young entrepreneur slash landlord who doesn't want his twenties to pass him by by growing up too early? It's worth noting that although I don't drink or do drugs, I took the money that I would have spent on nights out partying and bought a speedboat with it. Thank you for all the content you put out. Connor from Canada.

• 6:42Scott Galloway?

  I like the speedboat part. Okay. The point of differentiation between a product business or a product-based or a manufacturing-based business, we have a physical thing you can touch, and a services-based business is one word, relationships. I have run services-based businesses my whole life. I started a strategy firm when I was 26 called Profit, and the last firm I sold was a firm called L2, which was basically another, we called it business intelligence, which is just a fancy word for strategy. Those companies are based on relationships. And the reason why Profit did well was I had a strong relationship with the CEOs of the CMOs of Levi's, Williams Sonoma, Dryers. These were my first clients. And it was sort of everything. And because

• 7:26Scott Galloway?

  there's a lot of good firms out there doing good work, but they want to work with people that they like, they feel... My advantage was I was 26, and I developed sort of these proxy, big brother, little brother, father-son relationships with people who wanted to help me, and liked me and thought I was smart. And you have to do good work. That's table stakes. But then it's all about relationships. And it's no accident that in the advertising and the consulting business, the people tend to be very good-looking and very charming. So the first thing is, you have to be very social, get out there, and have the ability to establish relationships with clients in the services industry. That's just kind of everything. The second is, a product-based company is about, obviously, people and engineers,

• 8:09Scott Galloway?

  but it's a lot about your IP and distribution and capital ratios. Services business is really the team of the best players wins. So as the head of a services company, you are constantly thinking about recruiting. And that is, you meet someone who's smart and good, what do you do? Would you be interested in coming to work with me? And then if you're fortunate enough, if you get your first six or 10 people, if there's two or three, hopefully, that are really good, you give them 1%, 3%, 5%, 10% of the company, and you say, "You're a partner in this business now, and I need you to do really well." But I made sure that all of these people felt like they were owners in the business. Because if you're fortunate to find someone who's really good, that's everything. Because their ability to really

• 8:51Scott Galloway?

  wow the client and build strong relationships is everything. So, one, you have to be very good at establishing relationships and spending a lot of time fostering those relationships. Two, you really do need to think a lot about finding that initial team of really outstanding people. That's what a services company lives and dies on, full stop. And then... What else would I say about the services business? I'll give you the upsides. It doesn't take a lot of capital. You make good money. It's incredible training. I'll give you the downsides. It's really tough on your relationships. It's very demanding. It is hard to make money in your sleep. I used to get on, when I was running Profit, I used to get on, Audi was like one of our biggest clients.

• 9:31Scott Galloway?

  He's getting on a plane from fucking San Francisco to Munich and then get in a car and drive to Ingolstadt, which is the armpit of Central Europe. And then do a meeting the next day and try and convince them that the Audi brand identity should be the modern art of motion. I came up with that and I thought it was great. And then they would tell me there's no real word for modern art or motion in German. And I'd have to fly back and say, I'm just going to hit the drawing board again. And on the way over, I would literally be in the back of the galley of the coach section, because it was my company, we didn't have any money, with a bunch of kids trying to pull together slides and then figure out where the Kinko's was in Munich. This was, I'm dating myself to go print out. I mean, it was just so fucking stressful. Oh, God. I'm literally getting heart palpitations just thinking about it.

• 10:16Scott Galloway?

  Ton of stress, really hard on your relationships. And that's why I sold my first room. I wanted out. I was sick of managing people. I was sick of managing clients. I found, and Jesus Christ, I'm getting a headache just thinking about it. So, real upsides, real downsides. But again, just to summarize, you gotta be social, gotta have the ability to create really strong relationships. Gotta over-serve your first three clients. They need to be evangelists for you. I mean, they just gotta feel like you'd do anything for them. You would, you would jump on a grenade for them because you want them to be evangelists for you. Those first three or five clients are kind of everything. Spend a lot of time trying to get to three or four outstanding people, then give them big chunks of the firm such that they won't go anywhere. The only way to get people to act like owners is to make them owners.

• 10:59Scott Galloway?

  And also recognize the upsides and downsides of what it means to be in a services business. Go, Canada! Thanks for the question. We'll be right back after a quick break.

• 11:17Scott Galloway?

  Support for the show comes from Built. Most of us work hard to earn our keep, but usually there's no one around to hand you a cookie when you successfully pay your monthly housing bill. No one except Built, that is. Built has expanded from their original rental rewards program, and they have a lot more going on for members now. For example, members can earn points on mortgage payments, too. Every housing payment gets you points that get you a lot more than baked goods, such as flights with top travel partners, including United and Hyatt, Lyft rides, Amazon.com purchases, and much, much more. Here's another benefit of Built membership. You also get access to what they call a neighborhood concierge. You can make restaurant reservations, book fitness classes, and find new local spots, all while rewarding you at more than 45,000 merchant partners. It's simple. Being a renter and now owning a home feels a lot better with Built.

• 12:02Scott Galloway?

  You can download the Built app and join the membership for where you live at joinbuilt.com/profg. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T.com/profg. Use our link so they know we sent you.

• 12:17Scott Galloway?

  Support for the show comes from Vanta. As AI adoption grows, so does your company's security risks and requirements. New frameworks, audits, and vendors keep piling on, but your team isn't getting any bigger. Most compliance tools promise automation, but you're really stuck doing all the work by hand, chasing screenshots, validating controls, and playing catch-up when audit season comes around again. Vanta works differently. The Regentic Trust platform is built to scale with you, not slow you down. With over 1,400 automated tests across 400-plus integrations, Vanta collects evidence and monitors your controls year-round, cutting your audit prep by 82%. Plus, you can access the Vanta agent everywhere you work, whether your team is in Vanta every day or living in tools including Claude or Cursor. Want proof?

• 13:02Scott Galloway?

  Over 16,000 fast-growing companies like Ramp, Ryder, and Harvey save time and resources while scaling fast with Vanta. Learn more at vanta.com/profg and get $1,000 off. That's spelled V-A-N-T-A.com/profg for $1,000 off.

• 13:24Scott Galloway?

  Support for the show comes from Vanta. As AI adoption grows, so does your company's security risks and requirements. New frameworks, audits, and vendors keep piling on, but your team isn't getting any bigger. Most compliance tools promise automation, but you're really stuck doing all the work by hand, chasing screenshots, validating controls, and playing catch-up when audit season comes around again. Vanta works differently. Their regentic trust platform is built to scale with you, not slow you down. With over 1,400 automated tests across 400-plus integrations, Vanta collects evidence and monitors your controls year-round, cutting your audit prep by 82%. Plus, you can access the Vanta agent everywhere you work, whether your team is in Vanta every day or living in tools including Claude or Cursor. Want proof?

• 14:09Scott Galloway?

  Over 16,000 fast-growing companies like Ramp, Ryder, and Harvey save time and resources while scaling fast with Vanta. Learn more at vanta.com/profg and get $1,000 off. That's spelled V-A-N-T-A dot com slash profg for $1,000 off.

• 14:32Scott Galloway?

  Welcome back onto our final question, which comes from Reddit. User SincerelyTrue asks, "Hi Scott, I recently finished Why Nations Fail, and there's a section on preventing authoritarianism. They recommend mobilizing a broad segment of society, including unions, churches, and business organizations. How can the Democratic Party or other movements better mobilize business organizations and leaders in the fight for democracy when so many have backed Trump?" Oh God, I wish I knew. I have been shocked at how little resistance and pushback there's been from the corporate world, and I'm not sure you're going to find it from corporations, because in America, it is so tempting to just try and get from a million and worth to 3 million to 5 million, from 1 billion to a billion. America's just all pretty much about how much stuff you have, because how much stuff

• 15:16Scott Galloway?

  you have is really the healthcare you can provide yourself and your children, the opportunities you can provide your children, how hot or not hot your husband or your wife is, how interesting a party is, how nice a vacation is. The market has become so stratified. When I was a kid, my dad's boss had a slightly bigger house, but kind of lived in the same neighborhood, and we all were at the same summer club or country club. He had, you know, he had a Ford Thunderbird, my dad had a Gran Turin. I mean, it's a slightly better life, but it was in striking distance now. You know, people who don't make a lot of money are flying Spirit Airlines and watching drunk people physically abuse each other and then having to deplane while everyone, while this

• 15:58Scott Galloway?

  guy gets escorted off by airport security. And really rich people get to fly on a Gulfstream 650 where they can watch Netflix and do FaceTime on the plane and have some really hot dude bringing them mimosas on the plane. And oh, if they're 30 minutes late because they want to grab an additional 30 minutes with their kid over dinner, they just text their... I mean, the delta between what it means to be middle class and what it means to be rich in this country has gone from three inches to fucking 2 million miles. And so the incentives to make the incremental decisions to become wealthy are just so incredibly dramatic. And one of the best ways to get wealthy right now is to play into the authoritarian's handbook.

• 16:41Scott Galloway?

  People start showing up with golden grave tacky trophies and saying, "I love spending time with Melania." Jesus Christ, Tim Cook, what a fucking coward you are. Literally, what a coward you are. Right up there with Bob Iger. Literally Neville Chamberlain in a cashmere sweater, minus the dignity. All these people bending a knee. And now, why do they do it? Because they feel a lot of responsibility. They're fiduciaries for their shareholders and the temptations to make more money are so huge. And Trump, to his authoritarian credit, has created a bright, blue line path between kissing his ass and ignoring democracy and not engaging in capitalism and engaging in cronyism because you will get richer. Right? So, these guys, if we're waiting on the better angels of companies,

• 17:26Scott Galloway?

  of CEOs to show up, don't hold your breath. You know, Sam Altman, all these fucking douchebags showing up and bending a knee so they can get richer, so they can get their eighth billion instead, you know, from seven billion. I've been hugely disappointed. What can they do? I don't know. I don't think it's up to them. I think it's up to us. I think 7 million people showing up for a protest is important. I think voting is really important. I am moving back to the United States early because I want to be in the fight. How am I going to be in the fight? I'm going to use my social media platforms and this platform and my writing to try and inform people around what I think is going on, why I think it is wrong, and methods for pushback. I think donating money to candidates, I'm going to try and...

• 18:09Scott Galloway?

  Bring a bunch of candidates on my other podcast, Raging Moderates, to elevate their profile. I'm going to give some money. I'm going to do a tour and try and bring attention to Democratic candidates for Congress. I don't think we can rely on the better angels of companies. I think it has to be voters. I think it has to be citizens. I think it has to be protest. I think it has to be talking to your friends about what's wrong with this. I think it has to be, I'd like the idea of a national economic strike where people stop buying shit on a certain day or targeting certain companies with specific ass. So I think there are things we can do, but I think waiting on the better angels of CEOs, don't hold your breath. It never fucking happens. We're always hoping that Sheryl Sandberg is different because she cares about gender balance. She wrote a book about it. Despite the fact she came up with a business model to encourage teenage girls

• 18:54Scott Galloway?

  to start cutting themselves, she cares. She cares. And then there was Sam Altman with his hushed tones. His hushed tones. These are fears we worry about. Thank you, Senator, for the question. Fuck you with your synthetic relationships and deciding that porn's okay. By the way, the collision of porn and synthetic relationships for young men is a disaster waiting to happen. What happens when a 15-year-old boy approaches a girl at the cool kids table and gets rebuffed? And there's a word for that. It's called being a 15-year-old boy and decides, you know what? I have this incredible synthetic AI brought to be my Musk or Sam Altman that will perform erotic action for me and tell me I'm great and is funny and knows exactly how to keep me glued to my computer. And before I know it, I lose all

• 19:38Scott Galloway?

  mojo to talk to strange women or spend money trying to take a woman to a movies. I don't talk to my dad. I don't talk to my sister. And I wake up fucking 30 years old in a basement playing video game, obese and anxious. That is literally where we're headed. Too much? Too much? So I think it's more vocal pushback, but boss, if we're waiting on corporations, the army isn't showing up. Thanks for the question. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected]. Again, that's [email protected]. Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode.

• 20:21Scott Galloway?

  This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez. Our assistant producer is Laura Janer. Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prop G Pod from Prop G Media.

• 20:37Speaker 06

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