#417 – Eric Bidinger on the moat that grows while customers use it

A story about letting go of what everyone else protects. This episode is for SaaS CEOs who still believe their product is the thing competitors can't copy. Your product is the easy part to copy. Eric Bidinger is co-founder and CEO of Luca. Before that, seventeen years in private equity, where cash was the only number that counted. Those years of buying companies taught him what a business can really defend. So when founding Luca, he decided to defend something else. And this inspired me to invite Eric to my podcast. We explore what a software company can still defend when anyone can rebuild the product. Eric shares why he stopped worrying about that, what his customers build up that a competitor cannot copy, and why his best clients get far more out of the same product. You'll discover what he thinks will hold his company back (and it has nothing to do with technology). We also zoom in on two of the 10 traits that define remarkable software companies: Create new value possibilitiesMaster the art of curiosityBoth are chapters in The Remarkable Effect. Here's one of Eric's quotes that captures why he walked away from seventeen years in finance: "In finance you're obviously moving money from pocket A to pocket B, and then you're just taking a cut while the money is in transit, which can be quite lucrative, but also very nihilistic in a way. Unless you own the firm, you're really not building anything that's lasting." By listening to this episode, you'll learn: Why the part you guard is rarely the part a rival struggles to rebuildHow your customers build the advantage you cannot build yourselfWhat one word in your positioning decides who walks awayHow AI changes where a good hire still beats an average oneFor more information about the guest from this week: Guest: Eric Bidinger, co-founder and CEO of Luca Website: ask-luca.com