You can't "protect" yourself. The only protection you can build is by building a moat of some kind-- like building your business on data or some core knowledge

You can't "protect" yourself. The only protection you can build is by building a moat of some kind-- like building your business on data or some core knowledge only you know about, something that isn't easily replicated by anyone else. That being said, there's a very high chance your product doesn't fall into the category above. You likely have no defense against the threats you perceive. I would urge you to focus on building a better product faster than the big players. Do things they can't do (like good customer service, make it personable, things that can't scale, etc).