‘Make something cheaper, faster. When cars did that to travel, horse population fell 90%,’ says CRED Founder Kunal Shah

CRED Founder Kunal Shah, known for his sharp takes on consumer behaviour and technology, recently shared an insight on X.

“Make something cheaper, faster: usage explodes. Cars did that to travel and mobility soared. However horse population fell ~90%,” he wrote.

In just three lines, Shah discussed a fundamental law of innovation. 

Kunal Shah's observation about speed, cost and innovation

History shows that when technology dramatically reduces cost and increases speed, adoption does not grow incrementally, but it surges. 

In the classic example of the automobile, when mass production techniques made cars affordable and accessible, mobility expanded at an unprecedented scale.

Cities sprawled, trade accelerated, and personal freedom of movement transformed societies.

But progress, Shah reminds us, is rarely neutral. As cars became mainstream, horses, once central to transportation, agriculture, and warfare, became largely obsolete.

A roughly 90% decline in horse populations in many regions followed the automotive boom.

Efficiency did not just create growth, but also reallocated value and rendered older systems redundant.

Shah’s broader message resonates strongly in today’s AI-driven era. As technologies become cheaper and faster, from cloud computing to generative AI, usage is poised to explode again.

Yet the second-order effect may mirror the horse analogy: legacy roles, industries, and even skills could see sharp declines.

A seasoned entrepreneur and investor, Shah has built a reputation for breaking down complex economic and technological shifts into accessible mental models.

His latest post serves as both inspiration and caution: innovation expands opportunity, but it also reshapes the competitive landscape.

In a world racing toward automation and intelligence at scale, Shah’s message is clear, if you’re not building the “car,” you might be the “horse.”

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