Skip to content
Education, not investment advice.ImpressumDatenschutz

Business models

Economic moat

Also called: Moat · Competitive advantage

What protects a business from competitors, like a moat around a castle.

A moat is any lasting advantage that makes it hard for competitors to take customers or profits away: a brand people ask for by name, technology nobody else can build, a network that grows more useful with every user, or high costs of switching to a rival.

Every breakdown has a slide asking “Why nobody can just copy it”. Moats can also shrink: technology changes, patents expire, tastes move on. That's what the risks slide is for.

General explanation for education only, not investment advice. Company-specific definitions can differ; each breakdown uses the company’s own.