Moat

Moat (a term popularized by Warren Buffett) refers to a sustainable structural advantage that protects a business from competition. In B2B SaaS, moats typically come from one or more of:

• Network effects — your product becomes more valuable as more customers use it
• Switching costs — customers face high friction to leave (data, integrations, workflow lock-in)
• Brand — buyers associate the category with your product specifically
• Scale economics — you can offer a better price/quality ratio because of size
• Proprietary data or models — your product has a data set or AI model competitors can't easily replicate
• Distribution — you reach customers through a channel competitors can't access

Most early-stage companies don't have moats. They have advantages (faster shipping, better design, sharper positioning) that can be copied. That's normal — moats compound over time, but you need product-market fit and traction first.

In competitive intelligence, identifying the moat (or absence of one) on a competitor reveals how durable their position is. A competitor with strong network effects is harder to displace than one whose advantage is "better UX" — the second can be matched by a well-funded competitor in 6-18 months.