Built to Last: Defensibility in the AI Age

‍At our third BVN event of the year, Kofi Ankomah of OpenAI, Shae Omonijo, Harvard Researcher and AI Educator, Neal Lathia, Founder & CTPO at Gradient Labs, and Paul Murphy, Partner at Lightspeed, came together for an honest and practical conversation on what it takes to build companies that endure in an AI-first world.

As AI becomes increasingly accessible, the conversation explored a question every founder should be asking: If everyone has access to the same intelligence, what makes your company truly defensible?

Here are the insights that stayed with us:

Access to AI is not your competitive advantage

As AI models and tools become more widely available, simply integrating AI into your product is no longer enough to stand out. The real opportunity lies in what you build around the technology and how you create value that competitors cannot easily replicate.

Deep customer understanding is the real moat

Technology can be replicated, but a deep understanding of your customers is much harder to copy. Founders who truly understand their customers’ needs, behaviours and challenges are better positioned to build products people genuinely want and continue to use.

Distribution is just as important as innovation

Building a great product is only half the challenge. Getting it into the hands of the right people, building trust and creating strong distribution channels are increasingly important sources of competitive advantage. In a world where building products is becoming easier, reaching and retaining customers matters more than ever.

Relationships create lasting defensibility

Strong customer relationships, industry networks and trusted partnerships are difficult to replicate. As technology becomes more commoditised, the human connections and ecosystems surrounding a business can become some of its most valuable assets.

General intelligence creates opportunities for specific solutions

As AI becomes more like electricity, widely available infrastructure that powers everything, the opportunity shifts towards applying general intelligence to solve deeply specific problems. Founders who combine AI capabilities with unique industry knowledge, context and expertise have an opportunity to build something truly differentiated.

Defensibility is built, not inherited

There is no single formula for building an enduring company. What makes a business defensible will evolve as it grows. The challenge for founders is to continuously strengthen their advantage through customer insight, product innovation, distribution and relationships.

The question every founder should be sitting with:

If AI makes it easier than ever to build a company, what will make yours impossible to replace?