As AI models continue to rapidly improve and compete with one another, a new business model is coming into view - vertical AI agents. In this episode of the Lightcone, the hosts consider what effect vertical AI agents will have on incumbent SaaS companies, what use cases make the most sense, and how there could be 300 billion dollar companies in this category alone.
Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) -
0:00 Coming Up
1:01 Jared is fired up about vertical AI agents
7:25 The parallels between early SaaS and LLM’s
9:09 Why didn’t the big companies go into B2B SaaS?
12:25 How employee counts might change
16:25 The argument for more vertical AI unicorns
21:31 Current examples of companies/uses
35:22 AI voice calling companies
40:04 What is the right vertical for you as a founder?
41:36 Outro
Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) -
0:00 Coming Up
1:01 Jared is fired up about vertical AI agents
7:25 The parallels between early SaaS and LLM’s
9:09 Why didn’t the big companies go into B2B SaaS?
12:25 How employee counts might change
16:25 The argument for more vertical AI unicorns
21:31 Current examples of companies/uses
35:22 AI voice calling companies
40:04 What is the right vertical for you as a founder?
41:36 Outro
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Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst All companies and models are being transformed by AI, and we expect these changes become even more apparent when AI agents are more ubiquitous from 2025 ahead. One idea which has arisen lately is how vertical AI Agents will also transform SaaS companies (among other things by replacing teams and lowering other enterprise costs) and generate profits which now are unheard for these companies. Vertical AI agents. Fortunately collaboration, Critical Thinking, creativity and communication will be the foundation of how humanity progresses regardless of the tool and until we get to the Singularity the work of humans is needed to explain an direct AIs to work better. #Lightcone #YCombinator #AIagents #SaaS #vertical_AI_Agents