| Here is the perspective of a serial founder, exploring fields which I might be able to disrupt: - The regulatory moat is immediately intimidating. - The data moat, often, is quite surmountable as long as LLMs can generate high-quality synthetic data (e.g., user preferences). On this I disagree with the author, to some extend. - The "distribution moat" is another significant barrier. Even if I have a superior product, if the marketing and sales demands are so high that neither I nor an army of bots can manage it alone, the business becomes nonviable (e.g., enterprise sales). - "Switching costs" form the next moat. The higher these costs, the greater the value per dollar I must offer over the incumbents (e.g., software for dentists). - Another key barrier is the “business rules” moat. Achieving 80% of the required features may be easy, but as customers demand 90% or 95%, the complexity and cost of reverse engineering grow exponentially. The more mature the market, the higher these demands (e.g., Jira). With the power of LLMs at my disposal, I have reaffirmed two core beliefs: 1. I must focus on a niche small enough, so that I am the only provider. (e.g., accounting software for gym owners in the north of France) 2. I must offer a value proposition different from that of the incumbents, where competing with me, would harm their business. (e.g., image editing app where you pay per hour used) So my search continues… |