It can, and for that reason it's best to have a moat. In my opinion, there's two types of moats: technical and ideological. Technical moats are hard to pull of

It can, and for that reason it's best to have a moat. In my opinion, there's two types of moats: technical and ideological. Technical moats are hard to pull off when you're small. I'd suggest weaving together enough features that no one will copy the specific manner or style in which you've weaved them together. If the success or failure of your product depends on the novelty of a single feature, then it's not properly prepared to slay copycats. Ideological moats however work even with a solo founder. If you're building something that's easy to copy, you're going to take huge morale hits when other people inevitably implement the same features. You might stop and question your motivations then, or decide to quit. Often times what kills you isn't the competition, but rather your thinking that the competition constitutes a problem in the first place. This is what ideological moats are for. No matter what anyone else does, you're going to continue working. You can't be killed. The reason for this should be that your product isn't merely the sum of its parts, but is an ideal you're working towards. This might not be true, but you need to believe it anyways.