Provide AI explainability features for legacy industries

“AI-native” is everywhere and everyone is calling themselves “Vertical AI”. But most of what we’re seeing is still vertical SaaS with an AI feature stapled on top. Which is still totally valuable as a product. Hell, Spark is in this spot right now (not for long). The catch: in slower-moving industries it’s big teams, real compliance, and even slower governance. “AI features” don’t automatically translate into adoption. People don’t buy features. They buy when they’re confident. Here’s the key distinction: Vertical SaaS = deterministic workflow Click button → thing happens → verify it immediately. Vertical AI = probabilistic judgment It makes a call. A recommendation. Sometimes an action. And the value shows up later: fewer problems, better outcomes. This hits hard in Spark’s world of new dev. Workflows are still a struggle… and that should be easy part! The harder part is everything around the workflow: - Which leads are real vs tire-kickers (and who needs a call today) - Which “quiet agent” keeps closing (and why they’re not in your whale program) - Which contracts are drifting into risk (rescission windows, missing addenda, weird gaps in comms) - Which deposits don’t match what the trust ledger expects - Which purchasers are likely to fall out (and why) - Which department is about to have a “why is this still not working?” meeting on Friday at 4:30 In regulated, high-stakes industries, the buyer isn’t just buying software: - They’re buying trust - They’re buying the right to be wrong less often - They’re buying fewer escalations, fewer reworks, fewer “how did we miss this?” post-mortems And that changes everything: - What you build: guardrails + audit trails + “show your work” become the product - How you sell: belief + change management matter as much as features - How you price: outcomes start to matter more than seats - How you measure value: not clicks! Fewer mistakes, faster cycles, less chaos Spark started as vertical SaaS (and we’re proud of that). Deterministic workflows in new dev are still a goldmine: pipeline → reservations → contracts → deposits → amendments → closing → homeowner care. But the defensibility shift happens when the product starts making judgment calls inside those workflows. Safely. In new dev (and most compliance-heavy verticals), the winners won’t have the loudest demo. They’ll have the longest half-life with the deepest dataset. (Also: fewer Friday 4:30pm huddles. That’s the real TAM.)