Verticals: A Weekly Biz Show

Everyone says AI will replace doctors, automate care, and transform healthcare. But what if the biggest opportunity isn’t in care at all... but in fixing how healthcare actually gets paid? The claims. The denials. The endless back-and-forth between providers and insurance companies. In this episode of Verticals, Luke sits down with Christophe Rimann, Founder and CEO of Camber, to break down how AI...

Everyone says AI agents are the future. But what if most of them… don’t actually work? Not because the tech is bad, but because the way they’re being sold is completely wrong. In this episode of Verticals, Nic sits down with Deepak Chhugani, Founder and CEO of Nuvocargo, to break down why the real opportunity in AI isn’t selling tools or agents, it’s selling outcomes. Deepak shares how he built an...

Everyone says AI will replace humans. But what if the biggest unlock isn’t replacing people at all… it’s removing the invisible work they’re buried under? The spreadsheets. The back-and-forth emails. The manual processes no one sees, but everything depends on. In this episode of Verticals, Luke and Nic sit down with Chris Hladczuk, Founder of Hanover Park, to break down how AI is quietly eliminati...

In this episode of Verticals, Luke and Nic sit down with Dave Pandullo and Scott Hoch, General Partners at Frontier Growth and founders of AQL Growth, to unpack where defensibility, and returns, are really coming from in vertical SaaS.   The conversation centres on why being a system of record is no longer enough, and how the next wave of value is being created by systems of action, platforms that...

In this episode of Verticals, Luke and Nic sit down with Nick Tippmann (Founder & Managing Partner, TipTop VC) to break down what’s really happening as AI agents and workflow tools trigger panic across the markets, and where the real value (and money) will accrue over the next 12–24 months.   Nick shares the operator playbook he learned as founding CMO of Greenlight Guru (a bootstrapped vertic...

Today on Verticals, we sit down with Darren Feike, Founder & CEO of Sante, building a complete operating system for wine & liquor stores.   What looks like a niche is actually massive: the US liquor store market is ~$80B, and the average store does ~$2.5M in annual sales, with ~90% of locations independently owned. Darren breaks down why this market has been overlooked, how regulation crea...

In this episode of Verticals, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Mike Powers, CEO and Co-founder of BuildVision, to unpack one of the hardest problems in vertical software: how to build and monetise products inside complex, multi-stakeholder ecosystems. Commercial construction isn’t a single-buyer market. Value is split across owners, general contractors, OEMs, reps, and financiers, and tr...

In this episode of Verticals, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Michael Saltzman, co-founder and co-CEO of EvolutionIQ, to unpack one of the biggest misconceptions in enterprise AI: Is adoption slow because the technology isn’t ready,or because the enterprise vertical AI playbook hasn’t been written yet?   EvolutionIQ is one of the first vertical AI companies to truly break through in ins...

In this episode of Verticals, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Nate Baker, founder and CEO of Qualia and creator of Fractal, to unpack one of the most controversial questions in modern SaaS: Is TAM actually too small - or are we asking the wrong question entirely? Nate has built one of the most important systems of record in real estate, serving over 500,000 professionals, and has helped...

In this episode of Verticals, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Scott Wolf, founder and former CEO of Levelset, to unpack what it really takes to build and exit a vertical SaaS company, including Levelset’s ~$500M acquisition by Procore.   Scott’s background is unusually eclectic: entrepreneurial roots, early software tinkering, a short stint as a lawyer, and a front-row seat to the const...

In this episode of Verticals, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Rahul Hampel, GM & VP of FinTech at ServiceTitan, to break down what embedded finance actually looks like when it’s done right, and where most vertical SaaS founders go wrong.   Rahul has built and scaled fintech platforms at Plaid, Yelp, and now ServiceTitan. He’s seen companies 3–5x revenue per customer by layering in p...

A group of veteran operators and investors come together on Verticals for a candid, end-of-year conversation on what actually happened in vertical AI in 2025, and what’s coming next in 2026. In this holiday special, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos are joined by Todd Saunders (Founder & CEO, Broadloom) and Omar (Partner, Euclid Ventures) to review last year’s predictions, debate the biggest winner...

A CRO who helped scale a company from its first dollar of revenue to a $500M+ acquisition joins Verticals for a practical conversation on sales, scale, and vertical AI. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Martin Roth, former CRO of Levelset, where he built and scaled the sales organisation from day one through their acquisition by Procore. We go deep on what actually change...

A founder who sold his first company for $100M+ and now builds businesses-in-a-box joins Verticals for a deep, operator-level conversation on vertical software, services, and scale.   In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Dan Friedman — founder of Thinkful (acquired by Chegg) and now co-founder of Bolton & Watt, an incubator launching vertical companies like Moxie (MedSpa...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI, covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Sam Youssef, Founder & CEO of Valsoft, one of the largest vertical SaaS aggregators in the world, with 130+ acquisitio...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI, covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Kyle Norton, CRO of Owner, to break down how one of the fastest-growing vertical SaaS companies went from ~$2M → $50M+ ARR...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI, covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Mike Kopko, CEO of Pearl Health, to break down how AI and value-based care are transforming one of the most complex indust...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI, covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday.   In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Todd Saunders, Founder & CEO of Broadloom (acquired by Syncly), to dig into how he built and sold a $30M ARR vertica...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI, covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Jack Greco, Co-Founder of ACV Auctions and founder of Greco VC, to dig into building marketplaces, the operator-to-investo...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI, covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Brian Litvack, Co-Founder and CEO of LeagueApps, to unpack how he’s built one of the most successful vertical SaaS compani...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI, covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Jeremy Yamaguchi, Founder and CEO of Cabana, to explore how he’s transforming the fragmented pool service industry through...

A VC and a Founder intellectually spar on Vertical Tech & AI - covering the latest news, unpacking in-depth business strategies, and interviewing world-class leaders in the space. New episodes drop every Wednesday. In this episode, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Ilir Sela, Founder and CEO of Slice, to explore how he’s unbundling the franchise model,  empowering 20,000+ independent...