Story

As software development becomes a commodity thanks to LLM, I wonder why more software developers don't switch to building medical devices to make their careers more secure. Here's why I picked medical devices in particular.

1. Natural Moat

Since human body hardware is more or less immutable in its most essential parts, you don't have to worry about some LLM hype cycle replacing you. Once you build the product and clear FDA or local certifications, you're set. Unlike Uber destroying the taxi medallion business, healthcare is a beast — no tech startup dares to bypass all the regulations and gatekeeping.

2. Regulatory Moat

The medical devices I'm talking about require around $50K–$200K for FDA clearance — low enough that any small business can manage it, but high enough to discourage bottom-feeders and Chinese product dumpers. It also lets you avoid the big established healthcare corporations, because this market segment is too small for them to care about, yet large enough for you to pull in $10M–$15M a year in revenue.

Medical device manufacturing sidesteps the two fatal flaws of software development: the lack of a moat and static, almost never-changing hardware margins. LLM companies don't care about copyright, IP, or the health of the broader economy — but they can't go head-to-head with the healthcare industry, so you don't have to worry about them at all.