Banker Storm Duncan Offers Mill Valley Home for Anthropic Equity, Including $4.8 Million Estate

Storm Duncan, an investment banker who says he is a longtime Bay Area resident who moved to Miami during the pandemic, is offering a Mill Valley property for “Anthropic equity.”

“- The banker says he has received multiple offers from employees since posting the deal this week”

Business Insider

TechCrunch reports that Duncan created a LinkedIn page for a “13-acre property in Mill Valley,” just north of South Francisco, and said he’d “like to exchange […] for Anthropic equity.”

Business Insider

The San Francisco Standard describes Duncan’s pitch as a bid to trade his home for Anthropic stock, quoting his post: “I own a 14-acre estate in Mill Valley, CA,” and “And would like to exchange the property for Anthropic equity.”

Business Insider adds that Duncan is offering up his “$4.8 million Marin County estate” in exchange for stock, and says he has received multiple offers from employees since posting the deal this week.

The San Francisco Standard places the home at “114 Inez Place” and says it is in the Strawberry neighborhood, with an infinity pool, a hot tub, a putting green, and panoramic views of the Bay, Mount Tamalpais, and San Francisco.

Duncan also told The Standard that he offers to cover all closing costs and to structure the deal as a private transaction, pitching it as a way for an Anthropic shareholder to acquire a home without selling their stock outright.

In parallel, TechCrunch says Duncan described the arrangement as a “diversification play,” and that he would not require the buyer to sell their stock outright in the transaction.

The deal’s mechanics, as described across outlets, center on a private transaction and a lockup-related upside structure.

TechCrunch says Duncan told potential buyers that it would be a private transaction that “doesn’t require the buyer to sell their stock outright,” and it adds that on LinkedIn he said the homebuyer would “continue to retain 20% of the upside value of the shares exchanged for the duration of the lockup period.”

TechCrunch

The San Francisco Standard similarly says Duncan structured the arrangement as a private transaction and that he believes it would offer potential tax advantages while allowing the seller to retain some upside in their shares during any lockup period.

Business Insider frames the offer as a response to scarcity and illiquidity, saying that the hunt for shares in Anthropic has become so frenzied that Duncan is trading his estate for stock, and it notes that shares are scarce.

Business Insider also reports that Duncan hopes the arrangement will appeal to employees who “can’t sell until after the company goes public,” and it says he is offering the property to get on the radar of employees who have legitimate shares to sell.

The San Francisco Standard adds that Duncan said the number of shares would ultimately be negotiated with a buyer, while also stating that he is basing his expectations on “recent investment rounds” that value Anthropic at around $800 billion.

TechCrunch reports that Duncan bought the property in 2019 for $4.75 million and says it is currently occupied by “a high profile VC,” though he declined to identify the VC.

Duncan’s stated rationale, as quoted by multiple outlets, combines portfolio diversification with a belief that Anthropic stock holders are in a different financial position than he is.

“Someone’s offering an unusual deal for a 13-acre property in Mill Valley, just north of South Francisco”

TechCrunch

TechCrunch reports that Duncan described the exchange as a “diversification play,” saying he is “under-concentrated in AI investments relative to the importance of AI in the future, and over-concentrated in real estate,” and it adds that he contrasted his situation with a “young Anthropic employee” who might be “in the exact opposite scenario.”

The San Francisco Standard echoes that framing by quoting Duncan: “I’m under-concentrated in AI investments relative to the importance of AI in the future, and over-concentrated in real estate,” and it includes his view that “someone that owns Anthropic stock is probably in the exact opposite scenario.”

Business Insider similarly portrays the offer as a way to “get on the radar of employees who have legitimate shares to sell,” and it says Duncan believes employees have “legitimate shares to sell and own a goldmine of Anthropic stock they can't sell until after the company goes public.”

Business Insider also includes Duncan’s broader explanation of why he is not simply buying shares himself, quoting him: “Anthropic can't spend time with people like me,” and “They're looking for people who can write $100 million in a single check.”

The Business Insider piece also says Duncan lives primarily in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and that he chose the Mill Valley estate because it would be especially attractive to Anthropic employees, adding that it is “a 20-minute commute to the Anthropic offices in the city.”

TechCrunch adds that Duncan declined to identify the “high profile VC” occupying the home, while The San Francisco Standard says the home is currently occupied by a “high profile VC” whom Duncan declined to name.

The sources describe a market backdrop in which Anthropic’s valuation and share scarcity are central to why Duncan’s exchange is attracting attention.

Business Insider says the offer comes as Anthropic's valuation on secondary markets reached $1 trillion, and it attributes the surge to investors “wowwed by its torrid revenue growth and momentum around its AI-powered coding assistant, Claude Code.”

Business Insider

Business Insider also says Duncan has received multiple offers since posting the deal this week, and it quotes him saying, “Some of them are [Anthropic] employees, and some of them just happen to have invested early.”

The San Francisco Standard reports that Duncan said he is basing his expectations on “recent investment rounds” valuing Anthropic at around $800 billion, and it notes that the property “isn’t officially on the market” even though he created a LinkedIn profile for the house.

TechCrunch reports that Duncan is asking potential buyers to email him to discuss deal specifics, but it says he described the transaction as private and did not require the buyer to sell stock outright.

Business Insider includes a range of reactions, saying that “Some on X have dismissed Duncan's offer as a publicity stunt or a sure sign of the top of a bubble,” while others made jokes about “the only thing being more precious than Anthropic shares is Bay Area real estate.”

The Business Insider piece also says Duncan insists the offer is real and that he is not seeking attention, and it quotes him: “If you're going fishing, you've got to put a worm on the hook,” and “What's my other option? Not being in it?”

Beyond the immediate listing, the sources connect Duncan’s proposal to earlier and adjacent forms of equity-linked financing and to the role of AI-driven product momentum.

“- The banker says he has received multiple offers from employees since posting the deal this week”

Business Insider

Business Insider notes that it is “not the first time there's been an unconventional way to secure shares in pre-IPO tech companies,” citing that in 2005 artist David Choe chose Facebook stock over $60,000 in cash to paint murals at Facebook's first office, leading to an estimated windfall of about $200 million once Facebook went public in 2012.

TechCrunch

Business Insider also says that in the dot-com era, some real estate owners asked startups for company stock in exchange for leasing space in San Francisco, and it frames Duncan’s offer as part of a recurring pattern of swapping property or services for equity.

The San Francisco Standard adds that the idea echoes “some recent real-estate-for-crypto deals,” and it describes Milo, a Miami-based company that offers home loans to crypto consumers, quoting CEO Josip Rupena: “The moment they sell, they lose the future upside,” and saying he claimed that his company has facilitated more than $100 million in crypto-backed mortgages, many in Southern California.

TechCrunch, meanwhile, reports that Duncan declined to identify the VC occupying the home and says the transaction would be private, while also stating that Duncan bought the property in 2019 for $4.75 million.

Business Insider ties Duncan’s conviction to his firm’s use of Anthropic’s tools, quoting him that he was “recently convinced he wanted to double down after being wowed by the results of his firm's implementation of Claude Code,” and it adds his claim that “It's probably going to triple our throughput and reduce our costs by 50%.”

Finally, Business Insider says the company did not respond to a request for comment, while TechCrunch says Duncan’s LinkedIn post invites emails for deal specifics.