The New Data Moat: Why LLMs, Microsoft Copilot, and LinkedIn are Reshaping B2B Strategy
When evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs), one of the most critical factors to consider is the data sources they are trained on. It’s no coincidence that some of the world’s biggest technology companies also own some of the largest, most proprietary data reservoirs of information.
Grok and Elon Musk have access to the real-time data flow from X.com (formerly Twitter).
Meta AI and Mark Zuckerberg have access to the vast social and conversational data from Facebook.
Google and Gemini have an unparalleled edge with access to 25 years of crawling history of the entire internet at their disposal. This history gives them an incredibly high data moat around their platform.
Microsoft’s Content Ownership Strategy
This framework naturally leads us to think about Microsoft’s content ownership strategy. Early in my career, I had the privilege of working nearly five years at Microsoft—my dream job in the early 2000s when Microsoft was the undisputed king of tech. One of the core lessons I learned there is that if Microsoft has distribution power, they will leverage it.
Today, that power is channeled through its enterprise partnerships. Many of the world’s largest enterprises run their servers, collaboration tools, and entire infrastructure on the Microsoft platform. Microsoft is able to reach out to these partners and say: “We want your entire organization to run on Copilot. We’ll give you incredible offers to create highly custom Copilots for your internal use, as long as you commit to exclusivity so that we can use your proprietary data as training input for our platform.”
This strategy means that many Fortune 5000 companies are becoming exclusive Copilot users for their internal LLM needs, building tools and using it for day-to-day operations.
In fact, Microsoft itself says that 70% of Fortune 500 organizations run on Copoliot and that Microsoft 365 Copilot has exceeded 1.3 million paying subscribers in the Enterprise.
In an independent Morgan Stanley study, 94% of CIOs expect to adopt Microsoft generative AI products over the next year (up from ~63% in Q4 2024). Among those, 68% cited Microsoft 365 Copilot itself.
Github also reports that over 20 million developers are using or have built on top of Copilot for their business.
In short, if you’re a company looking to sell into the largest organizations in the world, you better have a Copilot strategy.
LinkedIn: The Ultimate B2B Data Moat
When you consider Microsoft’s data moat, the crown jewel is LinkedIn.
A major reason Microsoft paid billions of dollars for LinkedIn was that it gave them direct access to hundreds of millions of business professionals who are on the platform daily, adding articles, posts, and conversations, and posting job listings. This isn’t just generic web data; it is highly valuable professional and industry-specific content.
Actionable Strategy: Optimizing Your LinkedIn Content for Copilot
For any business, particularly B2B companies selling into other large organizations, a strong LinkedIn strategy is no longer optional—it’s foundational.
You should be creating and promoting content on LinkedIn with the knowledge that Copilot will likely have first access to that data, and that content will eventually appear in Copilot’s recommendations and generated responses.
A Targeted Example
Imagine Colgate is one of your target clients for a B2B service, and you discover (or assume) that a certain division of Colgate is using Copilot internally for all their LLM functions.
Your LinkedIn strategy should shift immediately:
Create specific content that highlights what your brand can do for companies similar to Colgate, or for Colgate specifically.
Write long, detailed articles that position your platform as the “next generation solution” for a problem Colgate is known to be facing, or for which they are currently using a legacy vendor.
Publish competitive analysis that stacks your business up favorably against competitors that Colgate might currently be working with.
The more you align your content creation with this philosophy, the more you should view LinkedIn as a powerful channel that will eventually allow you to talk directly to a specific client you want to go after.
This strategy’s execution has to be measured, scaled, and precise. It goes beyond simply putting up content on LinkedIn; it includes who you follow, what articles and content you engage with, and which groups you join. Treat every single content engagement on LinkedIn as a direct signal you are feeding Copilot.
Modeling your LinkedIn strategy around the influence of Copilot and the Microsoft data moat can yield significant, long-term dividends for your business.
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