February 9, 2026
BY Michael Drapkin
In software, the user-exposed layer is the vulnerability. Can it also be the moat?
Recently, there’s a growing narrative that “SaaS is dead.” AI will rebuild products, switching costs will collapse, and much software functionality will become commoditized.
But what’s actually happening is simpler: AI is accelerating both building and copying. The takeaway isn’t that the software business is dead – it’s more software, more lookalikes, and shorter half-lives for differentiation.
What gets copied fastest is the user-exposed layer: the UI, the workflows users build muscle memory around, the functionality that shows up in demos, docs, onboarding, and screenshots.
Most of the hard work behind a product is invisible — and that’s not what is causing the worry.
The classic moats still matter: data, regulation/compliance, and workflow embedding can be very real sources of stickiness and defensibility.
But here’s what the “moat vs. no moat” debate often misses: you don’t need to replicate an entire system to create competitive pressure, you just need to reproduce the parts people touch and look credible enough to trigger a switching conversation.
So the strategic question becomes: when someone can build “the same experience, but much cheaper,” what leverage exists? How do you create a moat around novel user-exposed features for the AI era?
Patents.
Instead of letting competitors steal your hard work, protect the inventive UX and workflow mechanics that are:
The goal isn’t litigation. It’s leverage: improved diligence posture, clearer enterprise conversations, deterrence for fast followers, and forcing competitors to take longer routes.
AI will disrupt some software businesses. But the practical takeaway is that it made it easier to rebuild the parts customers can see, learn, and compare.
To win in this new era, protecting the user-exposed layer is critical — and patents give you that edge.
Our Discovery Agent will work with you to explore whether your invention has what it takes, and you’ll get a detailed report to help you with the next steps. Request a demo to experience this transformational tool.
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