Tiffany Luck, partner at New Enterprise Associates, examines how founders establish durable Vertical AI advantages against platform giants. She draws on e-commerce experience to explain friction in AI adoption. Enterprises struggle to integrate models into daily workflows despite clear potential. Moving beyond shiny objects requires solving practical implementation challenges that deliver tangible productivity gains.

Luck references the Anthropic question, warning that frontier models risk swallowing the application layer. Horizontal tools like Claude guide users from 0% to 80% but fail at the last mile. True differentiation emerges from solving specific operational hardships. Financial planning demonstrates how specialized workflows create defensible positions against general model competition.

Startups build moats through purpose-built product flywheels and forward-deployed engineers embedded with users. Samaya AI exemplifies this approach for equity research, while August transforms legal due diligence. Owning end-to-end workflows delivers concrete ROI artifacts that enterprises value over model identity. Certification standards from bodies like AIUC address cybersecurity and auditability concerns.

Trust develops when outputs match analyst-quality documents, measured in hours saved and accuracy. Interoperability between specialized tools and emerging operating systems defines future engagement. Enterprises prioritize provenance tracking in regulated sectors. This Vertical AI execution determines long-term investor returns.