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A few weeks ago, I attended the Vertex Conference in San Francisco with my co-founder, Fernando. Hosted by Rainforest (a payments platform) and Matrix (a VC firm), the conference was all about how founders across all industries built their vertical SaaS companies.
The theme of the conference was that specialized software can transform entire industries, but only if the technology deeply understands the unique workflows within them.
At SumIt, we see ourselves as part of that movement. Our industry — family office accounting — is often extremely manual. I’ve lived through this pain myself with our family real estate entities, and that was one of the reasons we started SumIt in the first place. Now, we build technology that helps clients focus on decision-making by showing them the accounting and transaction data that actually matters.
This blog will share the key insights we took away from the Vertex Conference and explain how they apply to industries across the board. I’ll also share insights into how the conference takeaways inform SumIt’s product strategy.
If you’ve ever wondered what “vertical SaaS” really means, hopefully these learnings serve as a guide.
SaaS companies often start out as a system of record, i.e., a place where businesses store and organize their data in whatever industry they compete in. But the truth is, industries everywhere don’t need more systems of record. There are so many solutions now, it feels like SaaS is overcrowded with the same dashboards and repositories, but wrapped in different branding.
What’s actually helpful is what companies can do with the data to drive action or change. This is where AI comes in, and that was a huge focus at the Vertex Conference.
In our case, we work in a high-stakes industry with precise workflows. The need to keep humans in the loop will never go away. With AI, we have the ability to transform workflows from being 100% manual to mostly automated, but we will still need humans to review the output.
This is specifically where companies are leveraging AI as partners to users — enhancing the work of accountants rather than replacing them.
At SumIt, we’re applying AI intelligently to save our clients’ manual work, but they will always need to rely on their expertise to validate decisions and control next steps. Our clients manage billions of dollars that span generations within a family and tens or hundreds of entities, so precision is non-negotiable. While AI can speed things up, the human review actually ensures that the numbers on the screen truly reflect reality.
What does this look like in practice? SumIt automates repetitive but high-value tasks, like suggesting transaction categories, but the user still needs to review those categorizations and resolve exceptions. I’ll say it again: AI will not replace these accounting and finance professionals’ expertise, but will help them make decisions faster.
Our long-term vision is this “system of action.” That means that when users log into SumIt, they’ll see all their data alongside suggested actions, which will allow them to review, approve, and move forward with all the context they need.
Another topic from the Vertex Conference was the early days of building a vertical SaaS product. We were joined by a lot of other early-stage founders, and the consensus overall was that depth beats breadth.
Unless you’re revolutionizing an industry that still runs on 25-year-old technology, you won’t win as an all-in-one platform from day one. Finding a starting point is important, and as you expand, you also need to decide if you want to branch out to serve more use cases.
For example, SumIt is laser-focused on solving the most complex and critical accounting workflows for family offices. We first tackled the challenge of multi-entity consolidation, including full, partial, and equity methods, and once we got good feedback on that, we began moving into more advanced accounting like partnership accounting.
This is also where the topic of buy vs. build comes into play. Our clients have a constant need for bill pay and investment reporting, for example, and can’t run without software to handle these items. We decided early to look for integration opportunities for popular vendors in this space, and now integrate with BILL for seamless bill pay workflows and Addepar for robust investment reporting.
Continuing to focus on the areas we excel in allows us to go deep where it matters. We have to make sure we nail these areas down before expanding into adjacent workflows, and also keep in mind when we need to defer to other players for certain functions.
Finally, let’s talk about pricing. There is no one-size-fits-all pricing strategy, especially in the hundreds of industries that SaaS platforms serve.
When we think about traditional SaaS pricing, we usually think about a subscription model. But as AI enables software to deliver measurable results, there’s a new opportunity to align pricing with value delivered.
Think of it like value-based care in healthcare, where providers are paid based on patient outcomes rather than the volume of services performed. For family office accounting, this could mean we move away from flat annual fees and toward pricing models that are tied to outcomes, such as $10 per successful reconciliation, so clients pay directly for the results that matter.
This shift has the potential to make SaaS both more transparent and more aligned to client goals. This will definitely take a mindset shift for most vendors and software users, but leaders seem to predict that this is where pricing models are headed.
The Vertex Conference was a great reminder that focus wins. Specialization is how vertical SaaS companies win in their spaces, and it’s important that founders remember that, especially as they compete when the barrier to entry is at its lowest.
Also, the future is in outcomes. The more we focus on building software that guides users toward the best actions for their businesses, the more we’ll actually contribute something meaningful to the crowded tech market.
I’m grateful that we were able to attend the Vertex Conference and join a space where founders could share their real-life challenges and ideas openly. Events like these help shape the way we think about the future, and we hope that these takeaways can guide tech in the right direction.
