January 16, 2026
AI ate your moat
Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
AI ate your moat, but founders are still fighting
TLDR: A viral thread asks if software startups still make sense as big companies can copy fast and AI floods the market. Commenters split: optimists say build real solutions, doomers say earn money in weeks, pragmatists say moats are overrated—customers buy care and speed. It matters for anyone eyeing entrepreneurship.
The Hacker News thread asking “Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?” turned into a full-on showdown. One camp is pure optimism: apps are just tools to solve human problems, and humans aren’t running out of problems. As one commenter put it, if an LLM (Large Language Model) can crank out your app in a weekend, it isn’t a real product—build something complex and useful, and people will pay. That’s the build-it-because-it-matters crowd.
Then came the AI panic. A doomer voice warned: only start if you can make money in 1–2 months, because AI tools like Claude Code are flipping computer jobs upside down. Meanwhile, an enterprise veteran dropped a mic: customers buy because you listen and move fast, not because you’ve got some magical “moat.” He even cited a COO who learned Claude Code and built his own solution—translation: your moat is your relationship.
Pragmatists chimed in with moats are overrated: great businesses don’t need them; venture capital does. The thread roasted “CRUD merchants” (basic apps that just create/read/update/delete) with jokes like “most apps are just databases wired up”—and someone one-upped it: “files wired up.” Meme of the day: skip the app, “get rich wholesaling gravel.” The vibe: build something real, fast, and human—or sell rocks.
Key Points
- •The Ask HN post questions the viability of starting a software startup.
- •It asserts that software products often lack strong moats or defensibility.
- •It highlights the risk that large companies can quickly copy a startup’s product.
- •The post is framed as a request for perspectives on competitive dynamics in software.
- •The discussion is hosted on Hacker News in the Ask HN category.