I spent some time recently reading through some of Slow Venture’s materials and slide decks.

Namely I came across one that spoke about the future of SaaS, and specifically vertical software. They also spoke about growth buyouts (GBO’s). I’ve spent years in the startup world building consumer products but for the past year have been working for a VSaas company.

I wanted to add some of my thoughts about what I think successful VSaas companies will look like. First, with all businesses, the founder is one of the most important aspects, and in VSaas, it is extremely important that the founder understands the problem inside and out. This usually means that the founder worked themselves in the industry they are now building for. They know the people and the problem as well as anyone.

Second, ideally you are building software for an industry that has traditionally been underserved and has archaic processes. As an example, one industry gaining traction in new software is the construction world.

Third is the use of tailwinds. With the new administration we are likely to see a lot of tailwinds appear that we didn’t see coming for specific industries. AI has also presented a massive catalyst for building new software. Many new construction management softwares are incorporating AI into procurement management.

Problems like these ones aren’t solved directly by AI, but the technology itself helps better solutions and processes present themselves that were not possible before.

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