Fifth Avenue at 27th Street, looking north. Buildings and streets from NYC Open Data; the contour lines are illustration.
After the Build is a free 8-minute brief that shows where you are and what to change.
The same tools that let you ship in a weekend let every competitor do the same. Early traction is real: the first signups, the DMs, the Product Hunt spike. It does not stop anyone from copying you. Most founders who shipped an AI product in the last two years are competing on the two things that are easiest to copy: model quality and features. Both wear away. Your product may be good. The question is whether what you have built gets harder to copy over time, or only lasts until something better ships.
Three situations this brief is written for
Early users prove people want it. They do not stop a competitor from copying it.
You know the product works. What you can’t say yet is why a team with more money couldn’t rebuild it in 90 days. This brief was written to close the gap between being sure of the product and being sure of the strategy.
Shipping fast does not make you hard to replace. A feature is the easiest part of a product to copy.
The upside of vibe coding is that you ship fast. The problem is that speed resets with every model release, and you have put your effort into the part that gets copied fastest. The brief shows which parts of a business get harder to copy over time.
Your execution is fine. What is missing is a strategy, and nobody has given you one yet.
The metrics look fine. Underneath, nothing is clearly getting stronger. Working harder will not fix it. You need a check that names where you are and the one move that changes it.
Which of the four kinds of advantage you are competing on right now, and when it is likely to stop working.
Four pass or fail questions that tell you whether you are building a business or a set of features. Most founders answer at least two wrong.
The specific changes that make a business harder to copy over time. Each comes with a decision check and a real company example.
Your current stage, the one sign that you are ready to move on, and the one question that tells you the truth.
Whether you can say in one sentence why you won’t get copied, and a template for writing it if you can’t yet.
NVIDIA, ElevenLabs, Harvey AI. Why timing is the thing most founders can’t read, and how to start reading it.
Can you say in one sentence why you won’t get copied?
Section 05 of the brief tests your answer and gives you a template for writing it.
The Flatiron from Madison Square. Buildings, streets, trees and subway entrances from NYC Open Data.
Four stress tests with pass or fail answers. Six moves, each with a decision check. A stage check that shows where you are and the next move to make. Free, and about eight minutes to read.
Want the full course? 13 laws, 13 lectures and 13 reference decks, with a one-page exercise for each lecture. $20/month, billed annually at $240. Watch the whole course. If it wasn’t worth it, get a full refund. Guarantee terms
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