Every product gets copied. One way or another.
Whether that's by a competitor or a new entrant.
And now, you can add the buyer's own due diligence team to that list.
I know a few PE funds doing this already, but Bain has really scaled this up and used AI "vibecoding" to build hundreds of rough prototypes - working replicas of acquisition targets' software. Just to test how easily the technology could be reproduced.
The reassuring part for owners of established businesses, even with their own tech is that AI can copy features - but it can't copy 20 years of customer trust, embedded contracts, distribution, proprietary data, or a team that delivers without you.
For companies like that, your moat was never the product. It's everything that’s built around it.
By Gavin Gibbons
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