My intro to crypto was kind of like that. It was around the time when BTC was $36USD and a down on his luck friend boarding at my place was pumping out BTC on graphic cards. When we shared pizza, beer and/or pot he would want to kick in with BTC. As a programmer the idea of the blockchain had far reaching applications but it was not money.
Luckily BTC was taken for his share on things in the sense of almost pity for his situation. Boy were we wrong.
He moved into my place on Social Assistance and moved out a millionaire and left me (in 2017 at least) with a six figure value in BTC.