How we decide which markets to rebuild

The starting premise

The easiest way to build a successful company is to take a market where customers already know they have a problem, are already paying someone to solve it, and are locked into a solution built on architecture that can't evolve. Then build a better solution on better architecture.

That's the IAIG thesis. Not inventing new markets. Not educating customers. Taking proven markets and rebuilding the incumbent solution from scratch — AI-native.

To do that reliably and repeatedly, we use a consistent market selection framework.

Must-haves

• $500M+ proven market size
  There needs to be enough revenue in the market to make a successful company worth building. We're not interested in markets that are theoretical — we want markets where customers are currently paying real money for a solution that we believe is inadequate.
• Proven willingness to pay
  Market size alone isn't enough. The buyers in this market have already demonstrated they'll pay for software to solve this problem. That removes the educational burden and shortens the sales cycle.
• Incumbents on 10+ year old architecture
  The market leaders built their products before AI was viable. Their technical debt is structural — it's baked into their database models, their pricing, their user experience. They can't just "add AI." They'd have to start over. They won't.
• Per-seat or per-user pricing
  Per-seat pricing is the clearest signal of architectural vulnerability. It means the incumbent built for human users as the unit of value. AI agents don't buy seats. Any market priced this way is exposed to an AI-native competitor who can deliver better outcomes at a fraction of the cost.
• No regulatory moat
  We deliberately avoid markets with heavy compliance barriers — financial services, healthcare, cybersecurity. Regulation slows everything down and creates incumbent advantages that have nothing to do with product quality. We move fast; we stay in markets where speed is a moat.

Nice-to-haves

• Simplicity
  Markets where the core job-to-be-done is conceptually simple — scheduling, forms, support tickets — are easier to disrupt than markets with deeply complex workflows. Simpler core jobs mean faster AI replacement.
• Recent M&A activity
  When strategic acquirers are buying in a category, they're telling the market they want ownership of that capability. That's a signal that a well-built AI-native entrant will be attractive to the same buyers in 12–18 months.
• Clear AI wedge
  The best opportunities have an obvious first thing AI can do dramatically better than the incumbent. Customer support has autonomous ticket resolution. Recruiting has automated sourcing and screening. The clearer the wedge, the faster the product can demonstrate value.

The current portfolio

Every IAIG venture was selected using this framework. Customer support, scheduling, forms, recruiting, visual collaboration, and coaching all passed every must-have criterion. Each has a clear AI wedge. Each is being rebuilt AI-native.

The framework is repeatable. We apply it continuously. When a new market clears all the must-haves and has a defensible AI wedge, we build.

Related reading: Best markets for AI-native SaaS in 2026 →