The 7 Most Powerful Moats For AI Startups

The 7 Most Powerful Moats For AI Startups

From Lightcone Podcast by Y Combinator

October 3, 2025 · 45 min

About this episode

The episode explores the various moats that AI startups can build to defend against competition, based on Hamilton Helmer’s Seven Powers framework.

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?Garry, Harj, Diana, and Jared dive into Hamilton Helmer’s Seven Powers framework to find out how these moats show up in practice today in AI startups.

People in this episode

Guests: Garry, Harj, Diana, Jared

Topics covered

  • AI startups
  • business strategy
  • competitive advantage
  • moats
  • Seven Powers framework

Keywords

  • moats
  • AI
  • startups
  • competition
  • business strategy
  • Seven Powers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hamilton Helmer

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