Your Model, Your Moat

This is one of the best repeatable sound bites I’ve heard from the Big AI space. It’s Microsoft AI’s positioning statement used at their recent Build conference.

It represents what a multi-trillion dollar company is selling to the enterprise market. But, when everyone is doing the same thing, then there’s no differentiation, and the moat becomes irrelevant.

It’s similar to how the universe’s expansion is accelerating. At some point, all planets and stars get so far apart, no matter how fast you travel, you’ll never see or reach another one. Which means, you feel like you’re alone in the universe.

As a result, every business, and every company becomes an island. Each one pointing a metaphorical gun at their competition, creating a stalemate, and a lack of ecosystem-wide forward motion.

The unique entity, then, becomes the Customer. And if the Customer is the one who can build their own solution, then they stop being a customer. They've scratched their own itch. So then what do you do?

This, my friends, is the beating heart of Strategy. And why companies pay big money to get it right.

Choose your strategists carefully.

—Sean