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The only moat left is money?

elliotbonneville.com

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Re: The only moat left is money?

#71

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

boplicity wrote: post #43
showerst wrote: post #3

This AI boom is just a hyper-version of previous tech booms (web 1.0, VC, crypto, etc). You have an enormous number of people who just want to get in and build something, but the products they are pumping out don't serve anyone's need or solve anyone's problem. The moat isn't money for out-marketing your idea that 750 other people are building, it's having a good idea that solves a problem that nobody else is solving…

> the products they are pumping out don't serve anyone's need or solve anyone's problem. This isn't true though. Yes, there are too many products being build that don't serve anyone's needs or solve anyone's problems. However, many of the AI products do solve problems and serve needs. You're right though, to compare this to other booms, which also had the same problem. This is very much a "hyper" version, which is pr…

> However, many of the AI products do solve problems and serve needs.

Every solution to a problem comes with its own costs. It is entirely possible that most solutions that are rooted in modern computing technology have actual or perceived costs that exceed the value of "solving the problem".

The problems that most people have that they really want to solve are not addressable by AI, or computers, or software.

Re: The only moat left is money?

#72

Post by neom »

showerst wrote: post #3

This AI boom is just a hyper-version of previous tech booms (web 1.0, VC, crypto, etc). You have an enormous number of people who just want to get in and build something, but the products they are pumping out don't serve anyone's need or solve anyone's problem. The moat isn't money for out-marketing your idea that 750 other people are building, it's having a good idea that solves a problem that nobody else is solving…

I worked during the digital revolution in film, I've told the story a zillion times on HN but basically, I went through the first pure digital film program in Canada, by the time I graduated 70% had dropped out, as far as I know I'm the only one who made a proper go at it, and even then when my startup was taking off, a new hot shot would show up every month and be gone the next when they got bored or frustrated when nobody thought they were special. Tools are tools.

Re: The only moat left is money?

#73

Post by saubeidl »

andsoitis wrote: post #19
saubeidl wrote: post #2

Capitalism working as intended, shifting more and more resources to the already-rich. A handful of people doesn't own most of the country by accident.

Wealth is not a zero sum game. There’s more wealth in the world today than 50 years ago, 500 years ago, 5000 years ago.

Wealth is intently relative. Absolute growth of wealth is just inflation.

Re: The only moat left is money?

#74

Post by elliotbnvl »

Rapzid wrote: post #69

> The value of human thinking is going down. You probably knew this. The corollary is rarely mentioned: the value of a human eyeball is going up, because there are only so many of them and there are now infinite things that want to be looked at. Hey, so I'm thinking about getting my car washed.. This article reads as overly hyperbolic; cashing in on the AI hysteria. AI derangement.

I am not cashing in on AI hysteria. I am AI hysterical. lol. Kinda joking but kinda not. How do you have chill while the world is crashing down?

I’m young so that’s probably part of it, only ~12 years into my career and haven’t experienced too many world defining shifts.

Re: The only moat left is money?

#75

Post by saubeidl »

lm28469 wrote: post #36
andsoitis wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wealth is not a zero sum game. There’s more wealth in the world today than 50 years ago, 500 years ago, 5000 years ago.

That's why we cured hunger in 2012, cured poverty in 2017, fixed healthcare in 2020, working as intended indeed

You might not be living in the same reality as me if you believe any of those claims.

Re: The only moat left is money?

#77

Post by showerst »

boplicity wrote: post #43
showerst wrote: post #3

This AI boom is just a hyper-version of previous tech booms (web 1.0, VC, crypto, etc). You have an enormous number of people who just want to get in and build something, but the products they are pumping out don't serve anyone's need or solve anyone's problem. The moat isn't money for out-marketing your idea that 750 other people are building, it's having a good idea that solves a problem that nobody else is solving…

> the products they are pumping out don't serve anyone's need or solve anyone's problem. This isn't true though. Yes, there are too many products being build that don't serve anyone's needs or solve anyone's problems. However, many of the AI products do solve problems and serve needs. You're right though, to compare this to other booms, which also had the same problem. This is very much a "hyper" version, which is pr…

I don't mean that _all_ AI built stuff is useless, just that the number of products where 'marketing budget' is the bottleneck is dwarfed by the number of tools that aren't that special in the first place.

If you have a product that:

1. Solves a real problem people would pay for

2. Is not trivially replicable by your potential customers or competitors

3. Does not have a natural discovery mechanism by potential customers

Then you need the marketing budget.

That is not most people's problem.

Re: The only moat left is money?

#78

Post by Bnjoroge »

billconan wrote: post #13
showerst wrote: post #3

This AI boom is just a hyper-version of previous tech booms (web 1.0, VC, crypto, etc). You have an enormous number of people who just want to get in and build something, but the products they are pumping out don't serve anyone's need or solve anyone's problem. The moat isn't money for out-marketing your idea that 750 other people are building, it's having a good idea that solves a problem that nobody else is solving…

how to prevent others from building a copycat using ai?

You cant. You can only focus on building your own product and making it durable and just much better

Re: The only moat left is money?

#79

Post by Bnjoroge »

showerst wrote: post #3

This AI boom is just a hyper-version of previous tech booms (web 1.0, VC, crypto, etc). You have an enormous number of people who just want to get in and build something, but the products they are pumping out don't serve anyone's need or solve anyone's problem. The moat isn't money for out-marketing your idea that 750 other people are building, it's having a good idea that solves a problem that nobody else is solving…

Eh, there's some truth it both. The truth is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Distribution absolutely matters, often times even more than the product. And vice versa

Re: The only moat left is money?

#80

Post by sd9 »

Not discrediting the post, which I think is worthwhile and generally pointing at the right thing, however:

> I launched something last week. 14 people signed up — no ads, just a couple of posts. 14 real people who didn't have to. That number is tiny and it felt like something. Then I sat down to think about what it would take to grow it and I couldn't look at that math for very long.

They launched a paid social network, with no content available without joining a waitlist.

This would not have worked 20 years ago either. Bootstrapping the content for a _free_ social network is incredibly hard. But a paid social network where the only differentiating factor is that users are humans, and there is no activity in the network? Not going to work.

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