Vertical AI Agents Could Be 10X Bigger Than SaaS

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

Harj TaggarhostDiana HuhostGarry TanhostJared Friedmanhost

Nov 22, 202442mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: November 22, 2024
Duration: 42m
Channel: Y Combinator
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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

SPEAKERS

Harj Taggar
host
Diana Hu
host
Garry Tan
host
Jared Friedman
host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Y Combinator, featuring Harj Taggar and Diana Hu, Vertical AI Agents Could Be 10X Bigger Than SaaS explores vertical AI Agents Poised To Eclipse SaaS And Reshape Workforces The hosts argue that vertical AI agents—AI systems tailored to specific business functions—could produce at least 300 new billion‑dollar companies, potentially becoming 10x larger than today’s SaaS winners because they replace both software and headcount.

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