In 2025, a law firm got a new associate. Never complains, never sleeps, reviews contracts in minutes instead of days. This digital colleague, called Harvey, helped cut contract review time by 80% and case research time by two-thirds. Within a year, Harvey’s creators hit nearly $100M in revenue serving 500 law firms and earned a $5B valuation.
Here’s what makes this interesting: Harvey isn’t doing what software usually does. It’s not tracking work or organizing files. It’s actually doing the work junior lawyers used to do. And firms are paying accordingly.
This pattern is showing up everywhere. Across industries, vertical AI applications are stepping into roles traditionally filled by people. They’re not just tools that help you work, they’re doing the work itself. Because of this shift, companies are willing to pay them like team members, not software licenses. The result? These vertical AI solutions could be 10 times bigger than the SaaS products that came before them.
The Difference Between a Cookbook and a Chef
Traditional SaaS gave us useful tools. CRM systems, project dashboards, record-keeping apps. They changed business, but mostly in supporting roles. A SaaS platform might help a hospital log patient data or let a factory track maintenance. Humans still did the heavy lifting.
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