It's now faster to build the app than to find it

A few weeks ago I needed an SSH client that actually worked on iPad. Not a client from 2009 that happens to run on iPad. Something that made sense for how I actually work in 2026 — reviewing diffs from my phone, monitoring builds, checking on agents.

Everything I tried felt wrong. Chunky. Slow. Built for a different problem.

So I built TermAway in a weekend.

Then last week I found Echo. Same idea. Same problem. Same bet.

My first thought was they copied me. Then I realized that’s stupid. We just both had the same itch to scratch.

The same week, Cursor dropped a video about Cursor Glass. Remote coding. New workflow. The creator naturally mentioned Echo as his SSH client.

I left a comment: “I built the same thing. It’s called TermAway. And it’s free.”

No one noticed. Which actually makes sense.

The moat got smaller

There used to be a real gap between having an idea and a product existing. You needed a team. Funding. A roadmap. Time. That gap was protection. Ship first, move fast, win.

That gap is closing.

When I built TermAway, I wasn’t thinking about being first to market. I was solving my own problem. Took a few days. Now it exists.

Everyone with the same workflow has the same need. Everyone with access to Claude, Cursor, these tools, can build the solution in days now instead of quarters.

Echo validates the problem. Two indie developers, zero coordination, same answer. That’s not coincidence. That’s signal.

First isn’t the win anymore

The window between “I need this” to “ten apps exist for this” is shrinking. Weeks maybe. Could be days soon.

What matters now is depth. Anyone can ship the obvious version. The question is whether you actually understand the problem well enough to ship something that fits better than anyone else’s version.

That’s the actual moat. Not speed.

For kerber.ai, this is kind of the whole point. We’re not trying to win by being bigger or faster. We’re trying to win by having shorter loops between insight and shipped product. AI-augmented development doesn’t just mean cheaper code. It means you can iterate so fast that you outpace everyone still moving at human speed.

Echo is good. I’m glad it exists. It’s useful. Validates that the problem was real.

It’s a reminder that the race isn’t about being first. It’s about being right.

That’s actually more interesting.