Thrive Capital’s Miles Grimshaw: Why Software Moats Just Disappeared

Venture investing requires an "impatiently patient" approach, balancing the rapid pursuit of new knowledge with the discipline to wait for the right, organic opportunities. Software development is undergoing a fundamental shift: as the cost of building software approaches zero, the "wall clock time" moat—the sheer effort required to build complex systems—is disappearing. Investors must now identify companies with durable "genetics," characterized by a relentless focus on customer value and a founder’s ability to look toward future abstractions rather than current product limitations. Successful partnerships often resemble courtship, where investors act as long-term team members, helping founders recruit and navigate existential challenges. Ultimately, the most effective investors prioritize "I don't know" as a starting point for rigorous, bottom-up learning, ensuring they remain agile in an era where software is evolving from a tool that helps humans work into an agent that performs work itself.