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At this point, is there any moat? Is a moat a thing of the past?
I have been hearing a lot lately from other investors that the moats are gone; they are too easy to copy, disrupt, or replicate. I do think AI is speeding everything up faster than we have ever seen. Michael Parekh recently wrote that every 6 months we have to rethink everything because technology is moving that quickly, especially with the spending on data centers and infrastructure making things that were never possible, possible.
I still believe there are data moats. Proprietary data, point-in-time data, data that is captured during proprietary workflows or processes that can’t be easily replicated or replicated in history with point-in-time stamps. In data, history is a moat, especially with point in time captured.
The new moats feel like they are moving towards cash, the ability to recruit top talent, and sales/distribution. If you can raise money, hire top talent, and sell, sell, sell, then that in itself is a moat.
I think one thing that shouldn’t be discounted is the value of strong sales teams with distribution. As technology makes things easier and easier to build, sales is the most important.
So I agree somewhat with the chatter around moats; they aren’t completely going away, but they are changing, and fast! I still believe the data moats are real, especially for vertical AI companies and companies with rich, deep, historical, point-in-time data.
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