Alright, so here’s the thing—when it comes to business moats, the conversation has long been dominated for decades by the same tired contenders: technology, patents, and capital. And sure, those still matter. But let’s face it—in the era of AI, tech alone is not enough (I even stated this in February of 2022). Algorithms are increasingly commoditized, open-source is eating proprietary code for breakfast, and what used to be "hard" technical advantages are now just table stakes.

Enter Bolt.new—a seemingly simple developer tool built by the team at StackBlitz—that’s proving there’s a whole new game being played. Within weeks of its launch, Bolt.new was raking in revenue while simultaneously open-sourcing the very system prompts that many competitors might consider their "secret sauce." That move alone should’ve "weakened" their moat, right? Wrong. Bolt thrived. Why? Because its true moat isn’t its code—it’s its community.

But here’s where things get interesting.

AI is Killing Traditional Moats

AI was supposed to reinforce moats—make the big players bigger and the challengers irrelevant. Think about it: tech companies have spent the last decade building their dominance on a mountain of proprietary algorithms, data, and closed ecosystems. AI, with its reliance on compute and scale, was supposed to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Instead, it’s done the opposite. OpenAI, for example, spawned a wave of GPT-based competitors almost overnight. Platforms like Hugging Face turned what used to be hardcore machine learning into something even a junior dev could tinker with. The barriers to entry are falling fast, which means building "the best AI" is no longer enough to guarantee survival.

So, if technology isn't the moat anymore, what is? That’s where Bolt comes in.

Bolt’s Open Source Move: Genius or Reckless?

When StackBlitz open-sourced Bolt's system prompts—the same ones powering their highly optimized AI workflows—it sent a clear message: this is not our moat. To outsiders, that might’ve looked like a move straight out of the “disrupt yourself” playbook. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll see something else: confidence.

Bolt didn’t just open-source its recipe—it bet on the fact that its real value was somewhere else entirely.

Take their community, for example. Devs aren’t just using Bolt—they’re advocating for it, raving about its seamless UX, sharing templates, and actively building workflows on top of it. This isn’t a transactional user base; it’s a movement. And movements are hard to compete with — even Cursor AI (the darling of AI IDE’s just a month ago), Replit Agent, and v0 are unable to keep up (for now).

Here’s the conflict, though: isn’t design or UX enough?

For years, we’ve been told that great design is what separates winners from losers. And yes, Bolt.new nails the UX—everything from the intuitive flow to the "it just works" simplicity. But even that feels insufficient as AI tools become more polished across the board. Check out this recent comment from designer, Hunter Hammonds:

What really sets Bolt apart is its ability to turn users into collaborators, fans, and evangelists.

The twist? While AI is supposed to be about automating human effort, Bolt is thriving by doubling down on human connection.

Community as the Moat: Harder, Stronger, and Deeper

This brings us to the heart of the matter: community isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the ultimate moat in an era of AI commoditization. Unlike algorithms, communities can’t be copied or forked on GitHub. They’re not built overnight. They grow through trust, shared values, and a sense of belonging.

Bolt’s community thrives because it does three things right:

1. Loyalty through Transparency: Open-sourcing the prompts wasn’t a weakness; it was a flex. It showed they trust their users and know their value extends beyond the tech.

2. Advocacy over Marketing: Instead of spending millions on ads, they let their users do the talking. A happy developer is the best kind of growth engine.

3. Leadership in the Trenches: The Bolt team doesn’t just build tools—they actively engage with their users across socials (from X to Discord). They’re visible, approachable, and willing to fix the ship while steering it. They don’t hide behind-the-scenes and assume they know what their users want.

In other words, Bolt doesn’t just have a community—it is its community.

The AI Era’s Contradiction: Automation vs. Connection

Here’s the paradox that makes this so compelling. AI tools are supposed to make us more efficient, more automated, and less reliant on manual effort. But the companies thriving in this space—like Bolt—are the ones leaning harder into human connection. They’re not just building products; they’re building movements.

This creates a kind of beautiful tension. On one hand, you’ve got automation accelerating innovation, making tools faster, cheaper, and more accessible. On the other, you’ve got companies like Bolt proving that no matter how good the tools get, people still matter more than machines. It’s the very friction between these two forces that’s shaping the next era of business.

Final Thoughts

Bolt.new is a beautiful case study (and confirmation of the thesis that community is the new moat) in what it takes to win in the era of AI. The real lesson here isn’t just about open-sourcing or great UX (though both are critical). It’s about recognizing that the strongest moats are made of people, not code.

In a world where everything is automatable, community is the one thing that remains irreplaceable. And the companies that understand this—those that:

1. Invest in their culture

2. Empower their users

3. Turn customers into advocates

… are the ones that will dominate the AI age. So, the question isn’t can you build a great product? The question is: can you build a great community?

Because if Bolt’s rise proves anything, it’s that community isn’t just the new moat—it’s the only one that truly matters.