Video

Vertical AI Agents Could Be 10X Bigger Than SaaS

Y Combinator Lightcone (Garry Tan, Jared Friedman, Harj Taggar, Diana Hu) · ycombinator.com

The episode that defined the category thesis; 300 potential billion-dollar companies.

Open on ycombinator.com ↗

It answers 3 questions

  1. Why can AI now handle most support tickets, and should it?
  2. What is my moat if I'm building on someone else's model?
  3. Is there a real startup opportunity in building vertical AI agents?

Read with it

  1. Sierra's founder on agents as the new front door for every brand. sierra.ai Podcast No Priors Ep. 82: Bret Taylor on company-branded agents No Priors (Bret Taylor)
  2. The unvarnished go-to-market grind behind a vertical agent startup. upstartsmedia.com Podcast Jesse Zhang on sales battles, AI wrapper revenge, and making agents work Upstarts Media (Jesse Zhang)
  3. The earlier YC talk with the playbook for picking your vertical. ycombinator.com Video Why Vertical LLM Agents Are The New $1 Billion SaaS Opportunities Y Combinator
  4. A VC's operating manual for going from wedge to platform in a vertical. bvp.com Guide Building Vertical AI: An early stage playbook for founders Bessemer Venture Partners
  5. Market sizing: services are 10x the software market, and agents tap them. bvp.com Article The State of AI 2025 Bessemer Venture Partners
  6. The macro argument for why agents expand rather than shrink the market. a16z.com Article Good news: AI Will Eat Application Software a16z
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