My article in The AI Insider: The SaaS Playbook Is Dead. Here’s What Kills 99.5% of Vertical AI Startups

Exec story summary – link to article is below.

Enterprise AI budgets grew $211 billion in 2025. Enterprise IT budgets grew 2%.
That’s not a market. That’s a bloodbath.

Vertical AI startups are facing a brutal paradox: exponentially more funded competitors fighting over the same shrinking enterprise budget. Traditional SaaS GTM—outbound sequences, demo-first sales, top-of-funnel optimization—was designed for a world that no longer exists.

The real killer? Buyers have already picked their favorite vendor in the first 60% of their research journey. Before your SDR ever gets a meeting, you’ve already lost.

The 0.5% of vertical AI startups that survive won’t win through better technology or more aggressive growth tactics. They’ll win through market shaping GTM—the same strategic approach deep tech companies have used for decades to commercialize breakthrough technology in skeptical, risk-averse markets.

In this breakdown, I unpack the three existential barriers killing vertical AI startups and exactly how market shaping GTM solves all of them:
• The Buyer Attention Crisis — How to become the preliminary favorite during independent research
• The Budget Consolidation Trap — Why “best features” no longer wins procurement decisions
• The Evidence Gap — How to collapse the time required to build enterprise credibility

Read the full article → https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/17/guest-post-three-gtm-challenges-killing-vertical-ai-startups-in-2026-and-why-market-shaping-gtm-solves-all-of-them/