Dave 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.
In this episode, Dave shares some of the most useful strategic growth frameworks for vertical SaaS companies to grow through winning market share, expanding with additional products, and even extending through an industry ecosystem serving new markets. We also talk about the impact of AI on established vertical SaaS players and how it’s both an opportunity or a threat for founders in early 2025.
Tidemark supports the global community of practical vertical SaaS founders by publishing their strategic growth frameworks, their annual Vertical SaaS Benchmarketing Report, and they host the annual Vertical SaaS Collective Live conference for founders.
Quote from Dave Yuan, founder at Tidemark
“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, but things are changing really quickly.
“Lots of smart people are making it 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.”
