Pressure-test startup defensibility by mapping a claim to Porter's Five Forces.
The move: test defensibility against industry pressure. Porter's Five Forces asks where profit is pressured: existing rivalry, buyer power, supplier power, substitutes, and new entrants. For angel investors, the model prevents a common early-stage mistake: treating a sparse competitor slide as proof of a moat. Start with substitutes. What is the buyer doing today? Then look at buyer power. Can the buyer delay, demand pilots, force discounts, or build internally? Supplier power matters when the startup depends on proprietary data, cloud vendors, creator networks, licensed content, or scarce labor. Rivalry includes adjacent tools that can bundle the feature. Entrant threat…
Sign up free — one personalized lesson every day, matched to your role and goals.
Already have an account? Sign in