The Commodity Coach

Imagine you are selling a men’s razor with three blades.

This is going really well until your competitor sells one with four blades.

You have to add a fourth blade to the one that you started with originally just to be able to compete. And you might add on a gel strip to provide a smoother shave and be able to sell that.

They then have to sell a razor with a fifth blade, a gel strip and a vibrating function to wake up hairs on the face.

Then you get to six blades, gel strip, vibrating head, pump that releases aloe vera to soothe the irritation.

Where we end up is a razor with 35 blades and an AI speaker that reads you tweets while you shave.

When there is no room for innovation, what dimensions are left to compete on?

Price. We end up in commodity land.

This is an example from a book called For the Culture.

And I think it really explains where we’re at with content right now, thanks to AI.

When you compete with everyone else using AI content

Then you’re doing the same courses on how to create the same reels as everyone else and how to follow trends like everyone else

You eventually follow everything else to the point where it’s impossible to stand out because everyone’s doing exactly the same thing.

And that is the time when you’ll be compared on price.

But if you compete on your ideas?

Your mission statement, your manifesto, your worldview?

They’re yours. No one else can add more of your ideas

That’s your moat.