Why great models are not moats — and what actually works

menlo ventures' matt murphy, who led anthropic's $500m series d, explains that the company achieved a $47b revenue run rate by transforming from a model provider into a full platform via tools like claude code, mcp, and claude skills. murphy posits that raw model capability is no longer a defensible moat, advising founders to prioritize building agent-based workflows and deep integrations. this strategy allowed anthropic to secure google and amazon as investors, signaling that venture capital now favors ai platforms over model foundations.