Caring is the MOAT

Finding a problem you deeply care about is probably the most underrated part of building a business right now.

Here’s what I mean.

Software has become a commodity. Building it is easier than it’s ever been. The bar has genuinely never been lower. So the question is no longer “can you build it” but “do you actually have domain knowledge worth building around”.

And this creates two interesting things.

First, because anyone can build software, most people won’t bother. The motivation just isn’t there anymore. There’s no applause for shipping an app in 2026. It’s boring. It’s table stakes. So the entrepreneur who still shows up and does the boring execution work, simply because they care deeply about the problem, is going to outlast everyone else. Most people will quit. Caring is the actual competitive edge.

Second, people underestimate their own knowledge. If you know something deeply, it feels obvious to you. You assume everyone knows it. They don’t. That blind spot is actually where the opportunity lives. The fact that building feels easy to you doesn’t mean your target customer has the awareness, the clarity, or the critical thinking to solve their own problem. They need you to solve it for them.

And here’s the thing about “easy to build.” Yes, writing code is no longer hard. But figuring out what to build, how the workflow should feel, what the user journey looks like, what value you’re actually adding… that still requires a human brain. You still have to tell the agent what to do, same way you had to tell the computer through code. The bar for creativity has gone up, not down. Generic, mediocre products aren’t going to cut it anymore.

Once you have a real problem and a creative solution, it all comes down to execution. And execution is only sustainable when you genuinely care.

The real challenge right now isn’t building. It’s that you’re drowning in choices. Anything is possible to build, and it’s only getting easier. So you have to ask yourself, what domain do I actually feel pain in? Where do I see people around me struggling every single day? And is someone willing to pay for a solution?

That’s it. That’s the whole game right now.

Type your email…

Subscribe

Subscribe to get notified or follow the blog, and if you like what I write, please share it with your network 🙂

bishops palace moat

the east end of the moat around the bishops palace in Wells between winter and spring

#photography #photo #somerset #wells #bnw #monochrome #bw #blackandwhite #noiretblanc #tower #moat #stone #water #trees #clouds #grass #wall #landscape

A willingness to look stupid is the most underrated moat in doing creative work

https://sharif.io/looking-stupid

#HackerNews #A #willingness #to #look #stupid #is #the #most #underrated #moat #in #doing #creative #work #creativity #innovation #mindset #growth #learning

[테스트 코드가 새로운 해자(Moat)가 되는 시대

AI 시대의 테스트 코드가 새로운 경쟁 장벽(Moat)이 되고 있으며, Cloudflare vs Vercel 사례를 통해 이를 보여줍니다. SQLite는 코드는 공개하되 테스트 코드는 비공개로 유지하는 전략을 통해 상업적 방어력을 구축했습니다. AI 시대의 오픈소스 기업들은 테스트 코드 공개 여부를 통해 비즈니스 생존과 기술 장벽 구축 사이에서 결단을 내려야 합니다.

https://news.hada.io/topic?id=27030

#ai #opensource #testcode #moat #softwaredevelopment