Article

Defensibility and Competition

Elad Gil · blog.eladgil.com

The canonical essay: most startups start without moats and earn them over time.

Open on blog.eladgil.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. What is my moat if I'm building on someone else's model?

Read with it

  1. The clearest playbook for escaping wrapper status: own the value chain of one vertical. nfx.com Article The AI Wrapper is Dead: 3 Approaches to Verticalization NFX
  2. The five-minute thread version, perfect for a worried co-founder or investor meeting. x.com Thread Is the "wrapper on GPT" company defensible? (thread) Elad Gil
  3. Documents platform encroachment: OpenAI absorbed four wrapper categories in 18 months. forbes.com Article AI Wrappers Lack Defensibility: Why Barriers To Entry Matter Forbes Business Development Council
  4. Names the three real layers: data moat, behavioral moat, workflow moat. hatchworks.com Article AI Wrapper Product Strategy: Most Founders Get the Moat Wrong HatchWorks
  5. An Asia-market VC's nuanced answer: data moats work in specialized domains, not generically. review.insignia.vc Article Is Proprietary Data Still a Moat in the AI Race? Insignia Ventures (Southeast Asia)
  6. A growth-stage investor's checklist of which classic moats survive AI and which do not. insightpartners.com Article Building a moat in the age of AI Insight Partners
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