Bad news, your product isn't special anymore

The 3D's framework to keep your competitive edge in the age of AI

I had an interesting chat with a founder last month that got me thinking. Like many of us in tech, he was both excited and terrified about AI. "Every time I open Twitter, there's another AI tool that could basically replicate what we've spent years building," he told me. And honestly? I get it.

The pace of AI development is wild. What used to take months of design and coding can now be knocked out in days. It's both amazing and slightly terrifying — depending on which side of the disruption you're sitting on.

These days when I talk to founders and product leaders, I like to throw this question at them: "What happens when someone clones your entire product in 3 months? How do you win then?"

Usually there's an uncomfortable silence. Then some nervous laughter. Then the realization hits: in 2025, your product itself probably won't be enough of a competitive advantage. You need something else.

Having worked with both startups and tech giants, I've seen this pattern play out before. The winners aren't always the ones with the best product — they're the ones who build moats that others can't easily copy. I call this the 3D's framework: Data, Distribution, and Depth.

1. Data: The foundation of it all

Here's the thing about data that many founders and leaders overlook — it's not just aggregated metrics in a spreadsheet, it's the story of every interaction your users have had with your product. If you've got a live product with real users, you're sitting on something incredibly valuable. You have insights about your users’ behaviors, goals, and pain points that can’t easily be bought or replicated by newcomers. You are in a better position to release value-adding features to your users.

This becomes even more powerful when we talk about AI. Everyone's rushing to bolt on AI features to their products (I get it, I've been there), but here's what separates the good from the great: context. Sure, generic AI can give you decent results — kind of like how a fortune cookie sometimes accidentally gives you relevant life advice. But when you feed AI years of real user behavior and specific use cases? That's when things get interesting.

Having proprietary data about your users enables you to build a far superior AI product compared to new entrants. The advancement of LLMs has also unlocked a type of data previously untapped: you can now make sense of that pile of unstructured data currently just sitting on your database. I wrote about it in more detail here.

2. Distribution: Leveraging your user base

Let’s face it: getting people to use your product has always been harder than building it. And guess what? AI hasn't changed this fundamental truth. If anything, it's made distribution even more crucial. Because when everyone can build decent products quickly, your ability to reach and retain users becomes your superpower.

Say you already have 1,000 active users in a niche — accountants, teachers, digital artists, whoever. When you launch an AI-powered tool tailored to their specific needs, you start with an immediate distribution advantage. Your competitors might come along with a technically superior tool, but they'll be stuck at the bottom of the hill, shouting into the void while you're already having conversations with your users.

Don’t let the saturation of AI tools deter you. You already have the advantage: existing relationships, user trust, and adoption pathways that competitors envy. Pair this with your proprietary data, and you’re already two steps ahead in the race.

3. Depth: Keep users coming back

Now, attracting users is just the start — keeping them loyal is the real battle. I'm not a branding guru, so I won’t preach about brand loyalty or community building —although both matter greatly. What I'm emphasising here is something more concrete: Depth.

Depth means you deeply understand and support your users’ entire workflow, not just one isolated task. Your AI-powered tool helps users accomplish task X brilliantly —great. But what comes next? Tasks Y and Z, probably. Ask them: Do they currently export results from your app only to move them into other tools? Why not close that gap yourself? Or at the very least, can you provide an integration with that other tool?

By extending your product deeper into your users’ workflow, you drastically increase the switching cost. Users stick around because you’ve not only solved their initial problem but also simplified their entire workflow. Each step you incorporate into your product strengthens your moat, and making your product harder to switch from.

Key takeaway: Your moat isn’t your tech anymore.

In 2025, competitors will clone, replicate, and probably improve your tech faster than ever. I've seen it happen repeatedly, and it's only getting faster. Your moat needs to be built on things that are harder to copy: proprietary Data that fuels unique features, superior Distribution through your existing user base, and strategic Depth that keeps users in your ecosystem.

I'm going to dive deeper into each of these pillars in the coming weeks — including insights from the experts in the field. Stay tuned!