You spent a year building a feature. Someone just replicated it in a day using AI.

This isn't hypothetical. Roei Samuel is watching it happen in real-time. As founder of Connected - a marketplace helping 5,700 fractionals work with scale-ups - he's spinning up products daily that took his team a year to build in 2020.

His conclusion? Unless you're building quantum computing or genuine deep tech, your technology moat is dead. AI killed it.

Here's what makes this different:

Roei isn't being dramatic. He built and sold a media company that scaled to 9 million monthly users, worked with the Premier League, NBA, and NFL, and joined the senior management team of a PLC at 26. He's seen what creates lasting value.

And his take is clear: product doesn't create defensibility anymore. Network effects do. When every feature can be replicated in weeks, the only moat is how your users create value for each other - and how hard that is to reproduce.

You'll learn:

Why AI just eliminated technology moats. What took a year to build in 2020 now takes a day. Your 10% optimization? It'll be copied in months. The only defensible businesses are built on network effects and brand—mechanisms competitors can't easily replicate.

What network effects actually mean. It's when one user's participation improves the experience for all users. Could be data (more users = better matching), could be multi-sided supply (Roei's fractionals average 3 roles each, solving the liquidity problem), could be customers becoming promoters.

How most businesses can access network effects. You don't need to be a marketplace. If you're good at turning customers into promoters—testimonials, LinkedIn posts, word-of-mouth - you're building network effects. The best businesses layer multiple mechanisms.

Why hiring full-time is becoming the last resort. Smart founders now think: (1) What can I automate? (2) What requires a fractional specialist? (3) Only then, do I need full-time? This isn't theory - startups on Connected average 3.7 fractionals each.

How to solve marketplace liquidity problems when starting. Don't try to build both sides simultaneously - it kills companies. Use SaaS-enabled networks: give one side free tools (dashboards, benchmarking) while you populate the other side. Roei did this launching Connected in the US.

Why you shouldn't scale until you nail cohort metrics. Don't worry about growth. Start with 150-200 users. Measure daily active usage, retention, behaviors that drive engagement. Roei invested in Lapse based purely on cohort analysis—they raised £8M seed, then £30M Series A from Greylock. Zero monetization. Just strong network effect metrics.

How to identify your specialty if going fractional. Lean into where you deliver tangible results fastest. Not what you're best at. Not what's most fun. Where can you prove ROI in 6 months? That's your first case study. That's how you build track record.

Why living out of alignment destroys everything. Roei's real mission isn't about fractional work - it's about helping people live authentically.

The reality check:

This isn't anti-product. Product still matters. But product alone won't save you when competitors can replicate features in weeks. Network effects create the compounding advantages that turn good products into defensible businesses.

If you're building a business in 2026 and you haven't thought about network effects, you're building on sand. AI just raised the stakes.

One action: Listen to the end for Roei's hiring sequence every founder should use immediately.

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"What do I do if my investors tell me to fire a bunch of my team?"

Alex sent this question to the Peer Effect Post Bag. And the answer from James Johnson and Freddie Birley cuts deeper than "evaluate your team."

This is Season 6, Episode 1 of Post Bag—where founders, CEOs, and leaders submit their hardest questions and get straight answers from two coaches who've worked with dozens of scale-ups. No fluff. No corporate speak. Just practical takes on the problems that keep you up at night.

Here's what makes this different:

The question seems straightforward: investors say fire people, what do you do? But James and Freddie immediately go two levels deeper.

First: Is your team actually the problem?

Second (and this is the one most founders miss): Why are you even asking this question?

The reality check:

This isn't about whether your team needs changes. That's the surface question. The deeper issue is: who controls your business? If you feel like your board does, you've already lost. They're there to enable and magnify you, not direct you.

Disagreements often come from fundamental misunderstandings. High stakes and exhaustion make founders defensive. And once you're defensive, you're reactive. Once you're reactive, you've given up control.

If you're asking "what do I do when investors tell me X," the real question is: why are you asking permission?

One action: Listen to the full episode for James and Freddie's complete framework on founder-board dynamics.

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You've got £250K in the bank. You're profitable. Everything looks fine.

Then your VAT bill hits and you're scrambling. Or a major client payment is 60 days late and suddenly you can't make payroll.

Marc Obrart has seen this exact scenario play out dozens of times. As co-founder of Fin House, he provides finance teams and CFOs to 50+ scale-ups. And the pattern he sees most often? Founders managing by their bank account instead of understanding the two stories every business tells.

Here's what makes this different:

Marc's not talking about hiring expensive CFOs or implementing complex ERP systems. He's talking about getting the basics right - and most founders don't have them in place.

His approach is simple: finance should be embedded in your business, not isolated in a dark corner. When finance is done right, you have access to forward-looking data that lets you make confident decisions about hiring, marketing spend, and growth.

You'll learn:

Why your bank balance is a terrible way to manage your business. It tells you where you are now, not where you're going. Founders look at £250K and think they're fine—then their VAT bill goes out in three days and they've forgotten to connect the dots.

The rolling 13-week cash flow framework and why this specific timeframe matters. In 13 weeks (roughly 3 months), you should know everything: new hires coming in, monthly payroll, payment terms from customers (30-90 days), supplier obligations. This is your Bible. If you don't have this, you're flying blind.

Why VAT catches founders out more than margins, profitability, or any other metric. It's a red herring—you're collecting it, sitting on it, and then suddenly you owe £150K and don't have the cash because you thought it was available. Ring-fence it. Track available cash separately.

The two stories your business tells: your profit story (management accounts) and your cash story (cash flow). These are completely different. You can be profitable and run out of cash. You can have cash and be unprofitable. Get your profit wrong, you have time to fix it. Get cash wrong, you're out of business in 30 days.

Why you probably don't need an ERP system or NetSuite. Most businesses can run on Xero with proper bookkeeping, controls, and forward-looking insights. Don't overcomplicate it.

How to know if your finance setup is useful. If you're skipping pages in your management pack, they shouldn't be there. If you don't understand something, it's not simple enough—and that's the finance team's fault, not yours.

Marc also shares his background as an FA-qualified football coach and how explaining tactics to 9-year-olds taught him to simplify finance for founders. The crossover is remarkable: clear, concise messaging that people can actually understand and act on.

The reality check:

This isn't about fancy systems or complicated models. It's about nailing the basics: up-to-date bookkeeping, a rolling 13-week cash flow, and understanding your 3-5 key KPIs (not 25). If you don't have these in place, you're managing by gut feel—and that's how businesses end up in trouble.

If you've been managing by your bank balance or avoiding your finance function because it feels too complicated, this episode shows you exactly what to fix.

One action: Listen to the end for Marc's single recommendation every founder should implement immediately.

Questions? Email hello@peereffect.com or find us on LinkedIn.

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