the Conversational Agents playbook
TLDR: I'm really interested in vertical-specific communications platforms that start narrow and compound into category dominance.
The playbook is straightforward:
Step 1: Voice as the wedge
Build the AI receptionist for one vertical. Dental practices, HVAC companies, property management - pick one. Price at $500-1000/month. They save $3k+/month on labor. You have profitable unit economics from day one.
Step 2: Bet on infrastructure convergence
ElevenLabs will build email and SMS. We have to - unified comms need consistent voice across channels. When a customer calls, texts, then emails, it should feel like one conversation, not three different systems. Build assuming this happens. You'll have a unified platform while competitors stitch together Twilio + SendGrid + random voice APIs.
Step 3: Use the information advantage
You're now seeing everything. Which dental practices convert 40% of cleaning patients to high-margin cosmetic procedures. Which HVAC companies upsell maintenance contracts at 3x industry average.
Use this information asymmetry to:
- Finance high-performers at better rates than banks (you see real-time cash flow)
- Acquire the exceptional ones at boring-industry multiples (2-3x EBITDA)
- Roll them up, automate their comms, expand margins
The bet ElevenLabs will win the infrastructure - human-quality conversation at impossible-for-humans scale across modalities. The opportunity is using this to build defensible data advantages in specific verticals. First mover in each vertical wins. The window is open for maybe 18 months.