You make a most after you've won and become huge. The most prevents smaller, more innovative companies from succeeding even though they're better than you.
For example, good luck building a better search engine without Google's data.
WTF Is a Moat?
11–16 of 16 posts
Re: WTF Is a Moat?
#12In addition to the network effects mentioned elsewhere: capital-intensive businesses that have raised significant capital and have a head start have moats. So for instance, the reason a power company is a natural monopoly is that power transmission infrastructure is massively expensive to build, and the first one to raise the capital and build it out has a moat. The same applies to something like video hosting that r…
Nvidia mid or long term has no moat. It has to keep innovating. Groq are coming for them. AWS are coming for them. TSMC are in a country that could be at war in the next 10 years. Guess thats a spicy take :)
Nvidia's Moat is CUDA, it's become so entrenched in development stacks that people have inertia in moving to anything else.
I've been in situations where I've wanted to use other GPUs and everyone's said to be "but surely you want Nvidia?!" because it's the de facto now.
AMD, Intel and others haven't done enough to break the NVidia API monopoly in the past decade. Intel's done stuff with One and AMD sponsored that CUDA converter thing. But there's not been enough effort to break through even when that's fundamentally the blocker.
If AMD and Intel want to compete, they need to think about the early years of computer software development. When people would say "Oh, we're not going to port our software for Amiga, PCs are now more popular." There is some portability in games for new GPUs, but it's CUDA in scientific and enterprise where they should have broken the CUDA stranglehold.
Re: WTF Is a Moat?
#13"hot take but i think a moat is skill, extreme execution & luck."
Lol. That is the exact opposite of the meaning. Example moats: having cleared FDA two times, getting a great relationship with a taxi board, getting 50% tax breaks from a city in Ohio, etc etc. Moats are x10000 more valuable than "hard work or execution".
Re: WTF Is a Moat?
#14From a business sense, I've heard it described when a company has significant market share with longer contracts, not monthly SaaS types of businesses where in theory everyone could leave at once.
A technical moat? The only thing I can think of is something like search with Google or a company with a patented, hard to build technology, probably involving hardware or something requiring getting thru legal regulation. But legal regulations are a legal moat, not technical.
Re: WTF Is a Moat?
#15Hamilton Helmer describes a moat as "persistent differential returns." Or in other words, it's something that lets you keep making more money than your competition. There are many kinds of moats but they all end up giving you that outcome.
This website is a fantastic resource: https://7powers.com/
Re: WTF Is a Moat?
#16The only moat that matters is gaining and keeping customers.