Build From The Dock: What's a moat when anyone can build anything?
Wednesday, August 12
5:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Venture Dock, 555 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA
About the Event
Six months ago, your moat was that building it was hard. That moat is gone. Anyone with a laptop and a prompt can ship the thing you spent two years building, the demo looks the same, the landing page looks the same, and your investors have noticed.
This week's Build From The Dock puts that question in front of the people who have to answer it for a living: investors deciding, this quarter, which companies still have a real edge. Peter Berg, Venture Partner at Communitas Capital, joins us for a working conversation on where defensibility actually lives now, moderated by Chida Khatua, Founder & CEO of TempoDyn.
On the table:
If a competitor can clone your product in a weekend, what were you ever really selling?
Is "proprietary data" a real moat, or just a phrase founders say in the second meeting?
Why do software companies compound while software products commoditize — and which one are you building?
Distribution, regulation, workflow lock-in, network effects: which of these are holding up, and which quietly stopped working?
What makes an investor believe a moat exists before the numbers prove it?
The uncomfortable one: are we underwriting speed because we can't underwrite durability?
Once the panel wraps, Chida takes the mic for a live demo of TempoDyn, his company's service intelligence infrastructure, the layer behind platforms like Tempra Capital, Healing Tourist, and CivixHub, taking a service business from idea to deployed and running, no code involved. The build itself isn't the point. The point is what happens after: the system keeps learning from every interaction it handles and gets better while you sleep. That gap, between software that ships and software that compounds, is the whole argument the panel just spent an hour circling.
Bring a business idea. Chida may build yours live.
Panelists
Peter Berg - Venture Partner, Communitas Capital
Peter started and scaled Visa Ventures into a global investment program, backing Stripe and Marqeta, and leading the first investment by any major payments network into a blockchain company (Chain) — a bet that became the foundation for Visa B2B Connect, now core to Visa's B2B strategy. He went on to lead BD & strategy at Very Good Security, where he brought in Goldman Sachs and Visa as investors and struck deals with Visa and Mastercard, then became Managing Partner at M12, Microsoft's venture fund. He's currently incubating something new while investing out of a family office, focused on early-stage fintech, AI, and B2B software.
Dr. Sanjit Singh Dang
Co-Founder & Chairman, U First Capital
Dr. Sanjit Singh Dang has spent over two decades in Silicon Valley as a venture capitalist, corporate executive, board member, and writer. He is Co-Founder and Chairman of U First Capital, whose investments include SpaceX, Uniphore, Pensando, and DevRev. Previously at Intel Capital, he led enterprise software investments and averaged roughly one exit a year, including Palantir, Pinterest, DocuSign, and Body Labs. He has served on boards including True Fit, Reflektion, Helpshift, and Enlighted, contributes to Forbes on AI and emerging technology, sits on the Advisory Council of the UN's World Artificial Intelligence Organization, and mentors entrepreneurs at Stanford and Berkeley. He holds a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Moderated by
Chida Khatua - Founder & CEO, TempoDyn, and a member of the Venture Dock community. Chida built TempoDyn as the infrastructure layer behind live service platforms including Tempra Capital, Healing Tourist, and CivixHub, and brings a builder's-eye view to the durability question — he's the one shipping the thing everyone's asking whether they can clone.
Who This Is For
Founders building service businesses in regulated or multi-sided markets, healthcare navigation, civic and government services, insurance and claims, legal, logistics, professional services. Also relevant for accelerator and studio leads, and investors trying to price durability in a world where execution speed is free.
Agenda
5:00 – 5:50 PM Coffee, Networking & Build From The Dock
5:50 – 6:40 PM Panel: What's a Moat When Anyone Can Build Anything?
6:40 – 7:00 PM Live Demo: Building a Service Business with TempoDyn
7:00 – 7:30 PM Q&A, Founder Discussion & Open Networking
About Build From The Dock
Build From The Dock is Venture Dock's weekly founder experience designed to create real connections between ambitious builders, investors, operators, and ecosystem leaders.
Unlike traditional networking events, BFTD focuses on high-value conversations where founders can engage directly with speakers and each other.
Whether you're building an AI startup, scaling a company, raising capital, or exploring what's next in technology, this is a space designed for meaningful relationships and actionable insights.
What Venture Dock Offers Founders
Beyond weekly sessions like this one, Venture Dock is built to be a real part of how founders operate day to day:
Investor introductions
Curated programming — roundtables, fireside chats, and working sessions with operators who've built and scaled before
Peer network — direct access to other founders building alongside you, for the honest conversations you can't have with investors
Visibility with visiting delegations — opportunities to meet founders and ecosystem leaders coming through Silicon Valley from other markets
Ecosystem support — hiring, fundraising, and go-to-market help pulled from the community itself, not a generic playbook
Become Part of the Venture Dock Community
Venture Dock is a founder-first community and innovation hub connecting startups with investors, operators, mentors, and strategic partners.
If you've been looking for a high-signal founder community in Silicon Valley, we'd love to meet you.
👉 If you've been coming to events and want deeper access, you can apply to join the community here: https://venturedock.fillout.com/t/gHcUcf7Tz8us