Billions chase shiny AI startups.

One frontier‑model release can erase them overnight.

Why you should care

VC cash is flooding clones of ChatGPT.

Decagon, Lindy, Glean, Mano, Character, Adept—all racing a treadmill that keeps speeding up.

When OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind add your feature natively, your valuation can halve before lunch.

Key shift

The only moat isn’t bigger models—it’s deeper grip on users: proprietary data, domain workflows, distribution lock‑in.

Quick wins to try this week

Map your moat.

  • What data, brand, or workflow would still matter if GPT‑6 ships tomorrow?

Embed, don’t imitate.

  • Solve a pain inside someone’s daily tool (Slack, Figma, Salesforce) instead of launching yet another chat app.

Ship a feedback loop.

  • Push user signals back into your product every 24 h—learn faster than the giants can copy.

AI is a knife fight in a phone booth.

Adaptability is the only edge that scales.