Greenville, South Carolina--(Newsfile Corp. - August 19, 2026) - Leading mobile app, web, and SaaS development agency Designli has recently published The Moat Report: How SaaS Founders Are Building Defensibility in 2026, a new study examining how SaaS founders are redefining competitive advantage as artificial intelligence makes software development faster and more accessible.

Designli Releases New Report for SaaS Founders

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Based on a survey of 100 SaaS founders and operators, the report explores how businesses are moving beyond feature development to build long-term defensibility through structural advantages that become more valuable over time.

Rather than asking how companies are using AI, the report examines how founders are creating businesses that remain difficult to displace in an increasingly competitive software market.

Key findings from the report include:

• 71.4% of founders said they are continuously shipping new products or features, yet none rated their technical defensibility as perfect.
• 42.9% reported that proprietary customer data is already improving their AI systems.
• 57.1% said they have accumulated less than one year of proprietary data, highlighting an opportunity to strengthen long-term competitive advantage.
• 21.4% acknowledged they do not conduct customer exit interviews, limiting their ability to understand and improve retention.

The report concludes that sustainable competitive advantage increasingly depends on four interconnected pillars: technical differentiation, proprietary data, customer retention, and distribution.

Together, these assets create reinforcing competitive moats that are more difficult for competitors to replicate than product features alone.

"AI has fundamentally changed how quickly software can be built, but it hasn't changed what makes a business enduring," said Keith Shields, CEO of Designli.

"The findings in The Moat Report show that lasting competitive advantage comes from intentionally developing assets that compound over time. Founders who understand these patterns will be better equipped to make product, data, and growth decisions that strengthen their business long after individual features become commoditized."

The Moat Report 2026 is available as a complimentary download through Designli's website.

About Designli

Designli helps non-technical SaaS and startup founders build and scale custom software with clarity, confidence, and peace of mind. They provide full-time, founder-aligned product teams that speak both code and human. Whether starting from scratch or recovering from a messy build, Designli guides users through every stage from prototyping and custom development to long-term product strategy.

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Source: DesignRush