Would You Trade Your Anthropic Shares for a Home? One Seller Is Betting You Might.

Only in the Bay Area would someone try to buy pre-IPO shares in one of the hottest AI companies in the world, by listing their house on LinkedIn.

That’s exactly what Storm Duncan, a Miami-based investment banker, is attempting. Duncan owns a 4,400-square-foot, four-bedroom ranch compound at 114 Inez Place in Mill Valley’s Strawberry neighborhood — 13 acres with an infinity pool, hot tub, putting green, and panoramic views of San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. He’s not listing it with a traditional broker or putting it on the MLS. Instead, he posted on LinkedIn pitching a direct swap: his estate, in exchange for shares in Anthropic.

Duncan is candid about his motivation. As he told the SF Standard: “I’m under-concentrated in AI investments relative to the importance of AI in the future, and over-concentrated in real estate.” His pitch targets Anthropic employees and shareholders who he believes are sitting on the opposite problem — equity-rich but not yet homeowners. He’s offering to cover all closing costs, structure the deal as a private transaction, and even allow the seller to retain 20% of the upside on the exchanged shares through any lockup period. Anthropic’s recent secondary-market valuations have ranged from $800 billion to as high as $1 trillion, which helps explain both the appeal of holding the stock and the complexity of pricing a deal like this.

Creative? Absolutely. But Would an Anthropic Shareholder Actually Do It?

I’ll give Duncan full credit for creativity. As a real estate professional, I genuinely appreciate the lateral thinking here in using a tangible asset to access an otherwise near-impossible-to-buy equity position. It’s the kind of deal structure you’d expect from a boutique investment banker, and it reflects a real truth about the Bay Area market: wealth here is increasingly concentrated in private company equity, and that creates a whole ecosystem of unconventional financial maneuvers.

But I’m skeptical that many Anthropic shareholders are going to bite. And here’s why: if you’re sitting on equity in arguably one of the hottest pre-IPO companies in the Bay Area right now — a company valued somewhere between $800 billion and $1 trillion, in an industry that many believe is still in its earliest innings — giving that up for a home feels like the wrong trade. Even a spectacular home in a great location.

The asymmetry is real. A 13-acre Mill Valley compound is a wonderful asset. But it doesn’t compound. It doesn’t 10x. It won’t have an IPO. Real estate in Marin is strong, but it’s not going to outperform a successful AI company going public in a bull market. For someone with meaningful Anthropic exposure, the upside they’d be surrendering, even with the 20% retained kicker Duncan is offering, could dwarf what any piece of real estate delivers over the same time horizon.

As Much of a Believer as I Am in Real Estate — I’d Keep the Equity

And I say that as someone who has built a career around the belief that real estate is one of the best long-term wealth-building tools available to most people. I believe that deeply. But this isn’t most people in a normal market. This is a Silicon Valley employee sitting on pre-IPO stock in a category-defining AI company. That’s a different calculation entirely.

What I would do in that position, and what a lot of savvy Bay Area tech employees already do, is borrow against the equity rather than sell it. Securities-backed lending, margin loans, and structured credit facilities allow shareholders in private companies to access liquidity without triggering a taxable event and without giving up their upside. It’s a common practice in Silicon Valley, particularly among employees holding large positions in pre-IPO companies who need cash for a down payment or a major purchase but don’t want to sell.

The logic is straightforward: if you believe the stock is going higher, you don’t sell it to buy something that won’t keep pace. You borrow against it, use that liquidity to make your purchase, and let the equity continue to work for you. When the company goes public and the lockup expires, you can pay down the loan from the proceeds. The home gets bought. The equity stays intact.

What This Story Really Tells Us About the Bay Area Market

Beyond the novelty of the listing itself, this story is a useful lens into the dynamics driving high-end Bay Area real estate right now. As The Real Deal noted, demand at the top of the San Francisco market has so dramatically outpaced supply that the city is dealing with what industry experts are calling a mansion shortage. Buyers with AI-company wealth, both paper and liquid, are competing for a finite number of exceptional properties. That’s exactly why Duncan thinks his pitch might land. He’s not wrong that there’s a market of tech-wealthy buyers who want a home like his. He may just be wrong about how they’d prefer to pay for it.

For now, Duncan says he’s had some “very thoughtful, very engaged” conversations with Anthropic shareholders — but no signed deal. That might tell you everything you need to know.