How does Runway make video editing into a standalone product, considering that some people consider it as just a feature and not a standalone product?

I think video editing is a commodity. It used to be the case that you could be a differentiated product just by having a general video editing solution. That was because it was very novel at one point, like ten years ago, where there were just a couple of software solutions to do real-time NLE. Today, video editing tools are everywhere. You have hundreds of apps and options on your phone. There are multiple online solutions to make quick cuts. Anyone can package FFMPEG and sell it as a service and many companies are and will continue to.

When we think about video editing in Runway, we think about it as a feature inside a general-purpose tool and not as a core differentiator. The core moat of Runway is speed. Making professional videos should be fast and easy. That’s where research in neural rendering, machine learning, and video automation comes in. Making cuts is only part of that process, making video also involves reviews, sharing assets, collaboration, versioning, animations, templates, etc. The entire process should be as streamlined and fast as possible.