AI can strengthen your established and practical SaaS business, even in your slower-moving vertical market. It’s not all about about AI-first…yet.
Maybe you brushed off AI tech and ignored it. You’ve got plenty to do in your SaaS business every day.
Maybe you are losing sleep, fearing how it might turn out in a few years, after so many years of building your business.
David Yuan is the founder of Tidemark, an active growth equity investor focusing on vertical SaaS companies with outsized advantages that can become “control points” in their markets and grow very big.
Dave and Tidemark have invested in successful companies like Toast, ServiceTitan, Karbon, and Dutchie. Many have reached billion-dollar revenues with big IPO exits.
Dave and the Tidemark team have generously shared some of the most useful strategic growth frameworks for vertical SaaS companies to grow through winning market share, expanding with additional products, and extending through an industry ecosystem serving new markets.
Tidemark supports the global community of practical vertical SaaS founders by publishing their vertical SaaS growth frameworks, their annual Vertical SaaS Benchmarketing Report, and hosting the annual Vertical SaaS Collective Live conference for founders. Info at tidemarkcap.com.
AI technology is improving steadily, representing both an opportunity and a threat for entrenched vertical SaaS companies, depending on how they respond.
As Dave sees it:
“Vertical SaaS founders should not be asleep with AI. You can wave it off, view it as a toy, and say that no one’s going to trust that outcome or use it. That may have been the case last year, but things are changing really quickly.
“Lots of smart people are making AI technologies better every month, and you have a massive opportunity to improve it with your data and workflow.
“Jump into it to control your destiny. Don’t get caught sleeping without AI in your product in a useful way.”
Dave is investing in control point vertical SaaS players who are nimble, responsive, and practical about their AI future.
He doesn’t say “SaaS is dead” as social media clickbait shouts at us.
He recommends that founders leverage practical AI tools to improve business execution and learn which AI-powered features will add real value for customers.
Do you understand how AI-first startups in your vertical or niche aim to dislodge your control point advantage?
Check out this powerful interview with Dave Yuan on the Practical Founders Podcast.
