Moats Shift to Data and Payments
Matt Brown, partner at Matrix Partners, on emerging trends in fintech and AI
The real moat shifts from making software screens to owning hard to copy assets around the software. If AI makes it cheap to spin up a workable app, value moves to the things a copycat cannot instantly recreate, like proprietary data, payment flows, compliance rails, distribution, and user habits. In this interview, that is why vertical software gets stronger when it controls money movement or unique records, not just forms and dashboards.
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The Glassdoor example makes the point concrete. A clone of the interface is easy, but the salary submissions and reviews are the product. The defensible asset is the dataset that compounds over time and gets better as more people contribute to it.
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In vertical ERP, the non commoditized layer is often the funds flow. A restaurant product that routes tips, or a travel platform that collects deposits, splits payouts, and handles local payment methods, is harder to replace than a simple booking or scheduling app.
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Bonsai shows the same idea from the market side. Freelancers are too broad and self define in different ways, so the durable wedge is not the label. It is the narrow workflow or financial job they all truly share, like taxes, payouts, compliance, or faster access to earnings.
As AI keeps pushing software creation costs toward zero, more companies will compete by owning the messy real world layer around the app. The winners will be the products that sit in the flow of work and the flow of money, gather unique data every day, and turn those advantages into bundled financial services that get more useful as customers keep using them.