Copycats are inevitable for successful CPG products. The best defense isn't intellectual property, but rapid execution by a team that has 'done it before.' Building a diverse distribution footprint and a strong brand quickly makes it harder for competitors to catch up.

Product managers often wait too long to engage IP counsel. The ideal time for a patentability study is before incurring major, non-recoverable production costs, like creating specialized molds. This prevents sinking significant capital into a product that might infringe on an existing patent and require a costly redesign.

Startups often fail by making a slightly better version of an incumbent's product. This is a losing strategy because the incumbent can easily adapt. The key is to build something so fundamentally different in structure that competitors have a very hard time copying it, ensuring a durable advantage.

To work more efficiently, Anastasia Soare invented the first dual-ended brow brush with a spoolie but didn't know it was patentable. Now a market standard copied by countless brands, this missed opportunity serves as a key lesson for founders: hire a smart lawyer early to protect all product innovations.

Since LLMs are commodities, sustainable competitive advantage in AI comes from leveraging proprietary data and unique business processes that competitors cannot replicate. Companies must focus on building AI that understands their specific "secret sauce."

The value of a patent extends beyond simple protection. It allows a company to escape commoditization and command higher prices. For startups, patents are tangible assets that justify higher valuations. In legal disputes, they provide crucial leverage for negotiating settlements with competitors.

Companies often have undiscovered IP because technologists don't always communicate their innovations effectively. A simple management practice of regularly talking to engineers and asking "What problem are you facing?" and "How did you overcome it?" can surface valuable, patentable solutions that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Holding a patent provides no inherent protection. Its value is only realized through active, and expensive, legal defense against infringers. Therefore, a startup's focus should be on building a profitable business first to generate the capital needed to enforce its IP.

Aspiring founders often obsess over creating unique intellectual property (IP) as a moat. In reality, for most bootstrapped SaaS companies, competitive advantage comes from superior marketing, sales, and positioning—not patents or secret algorithms. Customers choose the best tool that solves their problem, not the one with the most patents.