Evans: A software company's moat is go-to-market, not writing code
Benedict Evans · What jobs are AI jobs? · Apr 16, 2026 · at 12:59
Technology analyst Benedict Evans discusses why generative AI speeding up code generation will not automatically commoditize vertical SaaS or marketplace businesses.
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“I don't feel like the reason it's hard to compete with X or Y or Z company is how long it would take you to write the code to replicate the product. It's almost never the problem. It's the problem. The hard part is everything else. It's working out what the product should actually be, and what the code should be doing, and how you're going to insert this into the industry and persuade people to use it, and executing the sales force, and getting the right go to market, and the right pricing, and working out how you coexist with people in the industry, already in the industry, and who you don't compete with, and who you do. It's all the other stuff. It's not writing the code.”
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