BREAKING NEWS! Richard Koch, my mentor, billionaire investor, and the genius behind Star Principle and Simplify, will be presenting at the Equity 2.0 Seminar! The value of the this event just jumped into the stratosphere. If you were on the fence and this doesn't push you over to the "YES" side, nothing will.
Click Here to Register
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Mel,
A clear pattern has emerged that should concern every business owner.
Businesses that once seemed unshakeable are experiencing unprecedented pressure. Growth is stalling. Customer acquisition costs are soaring. Competitors are emerging with similar solutions at lower prices.
Meanwhile, another category of businesses is accelerating at a pace that defies conventional growth curves.
After analyzing dozens of cases from both categories, I've identified a crucial insight: The dividing line isn't industry, size, or even business model.
It's whether they're operating by the 2019 rulebook or the 2025 rulebook.
The Misplaced Moat Problem
For decades, business owners have been taught to build moats—competitive advantages that protect their business from encroachment.
The classic moats were:
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Proprietary technology
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Economies of scale
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Brand recognition
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Customer switching costs
These moats worked beautifully in a stable environment. But they're proving remarkably vulnerable in today's environment.
Here's why: AI and associated technologies aren't just changing the game—they're rewriting the physics of business itself.
The data is clear: Companies relying solely on traditional competitive advantages are seeing their protective moats evaporate faster than anticipated. Features that once took years to develop can now be replicated in weeks or even days with AI-assisted development.
This pattern is repeating across industries at an accelerating pace.
The Four New Moats…Does Your Business Have Them?
The businesses that are thriving aren't just "doing digital better." They've recognized that entirely new forms of competitive advantage have emerged:
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Proprietary Data Networks The most valuable companies today don't just collect data—they create reinforcing data networks where each user interaction enriches the whole system. This creates exponential value that even advanced AI can't easily replicate without the network.
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Embedded Integration Successful businesses are becoming so deeply integrated into their customers' operations that removing them would cause unacceptable disruption—not because of contractual lock-in, but because of genuine value integration.
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Contextual Intelligence While generic AI gets better daily, domain-specific intelligence that combines AI with human expertise creates solutions that generic models can't match. The fusion of specialized human knowledge with AI amplification is creating unprecedented competitive advantages.
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Community Ecosystems Businesses that foster genuine community around their products are building immunity to competition. These aren't just "user groups"—they're interconnected ecosystems where participants derive value from each other, not just the core product.
I recently analyzed 17 businesses in our community that experienced significant exits or valuation increases in the past year. All 17 had at least two of these new moats. Twelve had three or more.
Meanwhile, businesses relying solely on traditional moats are finding themselves increasingly vulnerable—even when they're "doing everything right" by 2019 standards.
Reengineering for Resilience
This shift requires more than incremental adaptation. It demands fundamental reengineering.
Take Brady Roberts, whose lead-capture business for trade shows was decimated during C0VID. Rather than just weathering the storm, he completely reimagined his business architecture around these new moats.
He transformed from a service business to a technology platform with embedded network effects. When trade shows returned, he didn't just recover—he multiplied his valuation and eventually exited for a life-changing sum.
The transition wasn't easy. It required dismantling assumptions that had served him well for years. But the alternative was gradual erosion of everything he'd built.
The 18-Month Window
Economic historians recognize that major transitions create extraordinary opportunity windows—but these windows are temporary.
Based on historical patterns and current market indicators, I believe we're in an 18-month window where these transitions are still accessible to established businesses. Beyond that, the barriers to entry for the new paradigm will rise dramatically.
That's why on April 22-24, I'm gathering a select group of forward-thinking entrepreneurs in Chicago for Equity 2.0.
The focus is hyper-specific: In the first two hours of Day 1 (9-11am), I'll lay out a definitive framework for identifying which parts of your business can be transformed to thrive in this new landscape, and which parts need to be pruned.
You'll walk away with:
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A clear-eyed assessment of your current position
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Specific vulnerabilities in your business model
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Concrete opportunities to build new moats
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A tailored roadmap for the next 18 months
I'm so confident in the value of this session that I'm making an unprecedented promise:
If by 11am the first morning you haven't received far more value than what you paid, I'll refund your money on the spot plus $1000 for your trouble.
Learn more about Equity 2.0 here.
Whether or not you join us in Chicago, I encourage you to honestly assess your business against these new realities. The divide between businesses built on 2019 rules versus 2025 rules will only widen in the coming months.
The question isn't whether your business will be affected by these shifts—it's whether you'll be positioned to benefit from them.
Seize the day,
Perry
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