Competitive Advantage

Reason from evidence about why something wins and whether that advantage can last. Treat Steph Ango's How things win as a catalog of strategic prompts; use the moat test to classify each candidate.

Modes

Explain. Teach the vocabulary, distinguish an edge from a moat, and use a concrete example.

Diagnose. Identify the advantages an existing thing actually demonstrates and the mechanism behind each one.

Design. Propose a small, coherent strategy stack and the reinforcing loop it should create.

Audit. Challenge a moat claim against evidence, imitation, substitution, decay, and value capture.

Glossary

Use these terms consistently.

Arena — the environment in which alternatives compete over a meaningful time horizon.