February 18, 2026
Eyes are the new currency
The Only Moat Left Is Money
Attention is the new gold rush — and the rich keep winning
TLDR: AI floods the internet with endless new apps, and builders argue the only real moat now is money and reach. The comments split between “capitalism favors the already-big” and “good ideas still win,” with memes about AI doing your day job while you sleep signposting the attention crunch’s absurdity
AI is shipping apps like it’s pulling an all-nighter, and your feed is drowning. The post claims the only moat left is money—and the community lit up. Builder veteran Josh Pigford says it’s the first time it feels truly hard to make money with new products, while marketing channels feel “quietly worse.” Over on Hacker News, the thread titled “Is Show HN dead? No, but it’s drowning” became the town square.
The strongest take: it’s capitalism, baby. One commenter snapped that the system funnels attention—and cash—to those who already have it. Another camp insists the real moat is still ideas: “The moat isn’t money… it’s having a good idea.” Meanwhile, the hardened builders waved a tough-love flag: doing hard things is still hard, and nobody pays for easy. A spicy dunk on the “vibecoder” meme nailed the mood: the internet’s full of people remixing others’ interesting work and calling it innovation.
Humor kept the thread buzzing. One dreamer joked about letting AI “agents” work a 9–5 while they nap, complete with a tongue-in-cheek deepfake boss call. And Pigford’s sarcastic “jUsT dO mOrE mArKeTiNg!!!!!” became the catchphrase for a world where attention is scarce, and the feed doesn’t care
Key Points
- •The article claims AI has dramatically increased the volume of new products, shifting scarcity from creation to attention.
- •It asserts traditional distribution channels (search, social, newsletters, communities) have become less effective.
- •Josh Pigford is quoted saying it’s now very difficult to monetize new products compared to incumbents with momentum.
- •A Hacker News ‘Show HN’ thread is cited to illustrate discovery channel saturation.
- •The author argues reach—often requiring money or time—has become the primary moat, with compounding benefits past a threshold.