--- title: "Moat Atlas — the geology of defensibility" description: "An interactive cross-section of 35 defensibility mechanics: rock types, depths, digging tools, and a survey to measure your own moat." canonical: https://moa.giglabo.com/ locale: en --- # Moat Atlas — the geology of defensibility > Markdown twin of https://moa.giglabo.com/ — the same content as the HTML page, a fraction of the bytes. > Every page of this site has one: append `.md` to any URL, or `index.md` to a directory URL. > Site structure and the full page list for agents: https://moa.giglabo.com/llms.txt 35 mechanics that make a product hard to copy. The downward axis is always depth; the groupings re-lay the section along the other axes of the catalogue. ## How to read this A moat is a hole. A hole has a rock — what the obstacle is actually made of; a depth — how long a rival has to dig; and a tool — what they dig with. All 35 mechanics of the catalogue hang in this section along those three axes. ### The drawing One shaft is one mechanic. The downward axis is always depth: the lower a shaft hangs, the longer a competitor needs. Colour and cross-section shape are the rock, thickness is the capital the mechanic demands, and the number on the cap is the number of its sheet. ### Seven rocks What the obstacle is made of — and therefore who digs it. Human networks and minds are dug by other people: users, customers, time; money does not speed them up. Assets and rules are dug with money and patience. Mathematics is a choice of business model, locks are the customer accumulating themselves, position is a single strategic move. ### Four depths Level 1, the shovel, is weeks to months — those are wedges, not moats. Level 2, the excavator, is one to three years: the zone a solo founder can reach. Level 3, the drill rig, is three to ten years and capital is compulsory. Level 4, the mine, is ten years and up: time is the raw material there, and a mine cannot be dug faster by hiring more miners. ### Groupings The six buttons re-lay the same 35 shafts along another axis: rock, depth, capital, whether a solo founder can reach it, how AI is treating it, and whether it can be rented instead of dug. Nothing appears or disappears — only the rows change. ### Filters A rock in the legend and a level on the ruler each isolate their own group and dim the rest; the two are mutually exclusive, and taking a core clears both. Hovering a row of the ruler lights that level's stratum in the drawing. ### The list The switch in the corner lays the same 35 sheets out as text — name, passport, essence — grouped along the current axis and cut by the same filters. The address carries the whole setup — view, grouping, filter — so a link reproduces it exactly, and every sheet still opens as its own page. ### Controls Drag to rotate, wheel to zoom. Hovering a shaft reads its passport into the status line, a click takes a core into the card, a double-click opens the full sheet — how it is built, how it is bypassed, the verdict. On a touch screen the same three: drag turns the section, two fingers zoom, a tap takes a core and a second tap on the same shaft opens its sheet. Esc returns to the overview, and every core has its own address: /#moat-7. ### Sheet II The calculator measures the moat you actually have: twelve questions, four segments, an index and a depth on this same ruler. It stores nothing — the answers live in the link. ### The fine print The matrix is a considered judgement, not a measurement, and the sample figures exist only on the first thirteen sheets. And the main thing: moats are almost never stormed, they are devalued — which makes the “how it is bypassed” half of every sheet the load-bearing one. ## Depth the tool and the years a rival needs · how many of the 35 lie that deep - **1 · Shovel** — weeks — months · 3/35 - **2 · Excavator** — 1–3 years · 7/35 - **3 · Drill rig** — 3–10 years · 15/35 - **4 · Mine** — 10+ years · 10/35 ## Rock - **Human networks** — 6/35 - **Minds** — 4/35 - **Assets** — 8/35 - **Mathematics** — 5/35 - **Rules** — 5/35 - **Locks** — 5/35 - **Position** — 2/35 ## Grouping - Rock - Depth - Capital - Solo - AI - Rent ## Catalogue (35) | No. | Mechanic | Rock | Depth | Capital | Solo | AI | Rent | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | [Network effects](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/1/) | Human networks | 4 | ◐–● | ~ | ↑ | ✗ | | 2 | [Marketplace liquidity](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/2/) | Human networks | 3 | ● | ✗ | ↑ | ~ | | 3 | [Proprietary data](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/3/) | Assets | 2.5 | ◐ | ✓ | → | ~ | | 4 | [Proprietary models](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/4/) | Assets | 3.5 | ◉ | ✗ | ↑ | ✓ | | 5 | [Switching costs](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/5/) | Locks | 2 | ○ | ✓ | ↓ | ✗ | | 6 | [Integrations](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/6/) | Locks | 2 | ◐ | ✓ | ↓ | ~ | | 7 | [Compliance](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/7/) | Rules | 3 | ● | ✗ | ↑ | ✓ | | 8 | [Brand and trust](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/8/) | Minds | 4 | ◐ | ~ | ↑ | ~ | | 9 | [Infrastructure scale](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/9/) | Assets | 3.5 | ◉ | ✗ | → | ✓ | | 10 | [Hardware](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/10/) | Assets | 3 | ● | ~ | ↑ | ~ | | 11 | [Collaboration](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/11/) | Human networks | 2 | ○ | ✓ | ↓ | ✗ | | 12 | [Content and rights](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/12/) | Rules | 2.5 | ● | ~ | → | ~ | | 13 | [Execution polish](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/13/) | Locks | 1 | ○ | ✓ | ↓ | ✗ | | 14 | [Patents and IP](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/14/) | Rules | 3 | ● | ✗ | ↑ | ✗ | | 15 | [Economies of scale](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/15/) | Mathematics | 3 | ● | ✗ | ↑ | ✗ | | 16 | [Distribution and defaults](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/16/) | Position | 3 | ● | ~ | → | ~ | | 17 | [Counter-positioning](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/17/) | Position | 3 | ◐ | ✓ | → | ✗ | | 18 | [Cornered resource](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/18/) | Assets | 3 | ◉ | ✗ | ↑ | ✗ | | 19 | [Process power](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/19/) | Locks | 4 | ◐ | ✗ | ↑ | ✗ | | 20 | [Developer ecosystem](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/20/) | Human networks | 3 | ◐ | ~ | ↑ | ~ | | 21 | [Community](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/21/) | Human networks | 2 | ○ | ✓ | ↑ | ✗ | | 22 | [Capital as a moat](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/22/) | Assets | 4 | ◉ | ✗ | → | ✗ | | 23 | [Speed](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/23/) | Locks | 1 | ○ | ✓ | ↓ | ✗ | | 24 | [Efficient scale](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/24/) | Mathematics | 4 | ◐ | ~ | → | ✗ | | 25 | [Habit](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/25/) | Minds | 2 | ○ | ✓ | → | ✗ | | 26 | [Installed base](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/26/) | Assets | 3 | ● | ✗ | ↑ | ✗ | | 27 | [Bundling and reach](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/27/) | Mathematics | 2 | ◐ | ~ | → | ✗ | | 28 | [Vertical integration](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/28/) | Mathematics | 3 | ◉ | ✗ | → | ✗ | | 29 | [Standard and format](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/29/) | Rules | 4 | ● | ✗ | ↑ | ~ | | 30 | [Regulatory capture](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/30/) | Rules | 4 | ● | ✗ | ↑ | ✗ | | 31 | [Physical presence](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/31/) | Assets | 4 | ◉ | ✗ | ↑ | ~ | | 32 | [Owned audience](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/32/) | Minds | 2 | ○ | ✓ | → | ✗ | | 33 | [Category leadership](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/33/) | Minds | 1 | ◐ | ✓ | ↓ | ✗ | | 34 | [Locked-in reputation](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/34/) | Human networks | 3 | ○–◐ | ~ | → | ✗ | | 35 | [Experience curve](https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/35/) | Mathematics | 3 | ◉ | ✗ | ↑ | ✗ | ## Related - HTML version of this page: https://moa.giglabo.com/ - Русский: https://moa.giglabo.com/ru/ - Catalogue: https://moa.giglabo.com/moats/ - Calculator: https://moa.giglabo.com/calculator/ - Site map for agents: https://moa.giglabo.com/llms.txt