Essay · 8 min read

Build Personal Moats

Erik Torenberg · Erik Torenberg's Substack Free Intermediate

Torenberg gives you a blunt litmus test for whether your advantage is real: if there is a step-by-step playbook, or thousands of people have already done it, it is not a moat. He points at the rare intersection of skills and experiences that only you sit on. Use it to turn 'I love fintech' into a claim that could not be copy-pasted onto anyone else.

• If a Quora post explains how to do it, it is not a durable personal edge.
• Your moat is often an intersection of two or three things you combine, not one skill.
• Real advantages compound over years and are hard for others to learn.