Lenny RachitskyHost of Lenny's Podcast | Author of Lenny's Newsletter

"Pain is the new moat"

13 Jan 2026 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:02

Short conversational excerpt from a YouTube video titled "Pain is the new moat." Two speakers (one likely Lenny Rachitsky) argue that enduring the "pain" of learning, experimenting, and iterating to solve hard product problems—especially for AI products—creates a personal competitive advantage (a "moat"). The clip emphasizes persistence, experimentation with multiple approaches, and self-driven learning as key differentiators.

Pain is the new moat. Especially in building these AI products.
Persistence is extremely valuable. Anybody who wants to build something, the information is at your fingertips. Even more.
Than the past decade, you.
Can learn anything.
Overnight. Going through the pain of learning and like, understanding what works and what doesn't work, and going through this pain of developing multiple.
Approaches and then solving the.
Problem, I feel that is going to be the real moat as an individual.