Episode #2: Consumer Tech Napkin | Building moats in consumer tech

What if the strongest moats in the AI era aren't algorithms, but the data those algorithms depend on?In the second episode of the Consumer Tech Napkin series, Andreas Munk Holm speakes with Renato Circi and Rafaël Michali, Co-Founders at Sava, and Joe Seager-Dupuy, Director, Investment at True, to discuss how founders should think about defensibility when technology is becoming easier to build.SAVA is developing advanced biosensing technology designed to access bodily information in a painless, real-time and affordable way. Their core belief is that while AI may accelerate software development, the hardest problems and the most valuable companies will be built around scarce data, difficult infrastructure and bottlenecks that cannot easily be replicated.Together, they explore what separates static moats from dynamic ones, why patents and regulatory approvals are often just the starting point and how the best companies create advantages that strengthen as they scale.Topics coveredWhy the best moats are often non-consensusStatic versus dynamic moatsWhy patents and regulation are not enoughIdentifying bottlenecks that create lasting valueAI, proprietary data and defensibilityBuilding platforms instead of productsWhy user experience can be a moatEurope's advantage in deep techTimestamps(00:00) Why moats matter in consumer technology(02:00) Introducing Sava and the future of health monitoring(06:00) What a moat actually is(09:00) The Apple Watch question and non-invasive sensing(12:00) Consumer experience versus incumbent medical devices(15:00) How great companies sequence moats(18:00) From patents to platforms(22:00) Bundling, ecosystems and long-term defensibility(24:00) Static versus dynamic moats(27:00) Why patents only buy time(29:00) Owning bottlenecks in health data(31:00) Why AI increases the value of proprietary data(36:00) Europe's deep tech advantage(40:00) The biggest misconceptions about moats(43:00) Why the best moats are often non-consensusConsumer Tech Napkin is brought to you in partnership with True.Subscribe to EUVC, the home of European tech, for more insights.