In the early days, the only moat that startups have is speed. Once you make something people want, the question becomes what deeper moats can you build on to defend against the competition. On the @LightconePod, @garrytan, @harjtaggar, @sdianahu, and @snowmaker dive into Hamilton Helmer’s Seven Powers framework to find out how these moats show up in practice today in AI startups. 00:00 - The Moat Problem 01:30 - The Seven Powers Framework 04:20 - When to Think About Moats 08:40 - Forward Deployed Engineering 10:18 - Process Power 14:34 - Cornered Resources 19:30 - Switching Costs 24:54 - Counter Positioning 31:24 - The Workforce Displacement Reality 34:00 - Brand & Speed as Moats 37:30 - Network Economies 41:00 - Scale Economies 43:44 - Final Advice