Vertical SaaS Has a Coverage Problem

Vertical SaaS, software built for a specific industry rather than for a function every business shares, can be one of the better business models in software. You serve an industry the generalists tend to overlook and learn its workflows in depth. Once the product is part of daily work, switching costs can support retention, and in some markets the main competition is a spreadsheet or a manual process.

It also has a structural media problem, and it catches companies at exactly the wrong moment.

Technology reporters need a reason their broader audience should care about an industry-specific product. Industry trade press covers the industry, and treats you as a vendor among vendors. In my experience, neither on its own tends to establish a company as significant to people outside its niche, which becomes a problem the first time you need one of them to take you seriously. Usually that's an investor.

Key takeaways

• In my view, vertical SaaS falls between two kinds of press: technology reporters need a reason their wider audience should care, and trade publications cover the company as one vendor among many.
• BuildOps' CEO, Alok Chanani, published a Newsweek op-ed in April 2024, eleven months before the company's $127 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation in March 2025.
• TechCrunch opened its story on that round with the category, not the company: "Commercial services tech hasn't historically been considered 'sexy,' but the need for innovation in the space is enormous."

Why it happens

The details that make a vertical SaaS company good at its market shrink the audience a technology reporter can write for. Consider a company building scheduling software for independent veterinary clinics. Each part of that description cuts the readership.

Technology reporters covering enterprise software are looking for stories about categories their readers recognize. Veterinary software may need a broader business angle to reach those readers. And the trade press serving veterinarians covers products in the context of the work, which helps buyers and can also inform investors who follow the industry.

So a company can be excellent and growing fast while its coverage stays inside its industry. That matters most when it needs generalist investors.

How does a vertical SaaS company earn coverage outside its niche?

A vertical SaaS company earns coverage outside its niche by finding the story that's genuinely bigger than its product, not by forcing technology press to care about its vertical.

BuildOps is the clearest example we've run. When we started in early 2024 the company had raised $86 million and was preparing for Series C conversations, and the CEO needed credibility beyond trade press before walking into those meetings.

We didn't pitch field service software. We built CEO Alok Chanani's executive positioning around subjects with a wider audience — workforce modernization and military leadership — placing bylines in Newsweek, Forbes and Entrepreneur. Chanani is a former Army captain who served in Iraq, and his Newsweek op-ed in April 2024 argued that technology the military already uses could speed up construction enough to help with the housing shortage. Those are real topics with real readers, and he had genuine standing on both. From that June he also kept writing on the same themes, which kept the argument in public through the year before the round.

Chanani's published work preceded the March 2025 funding announcement by nearly a year. In my view, building that standing before you need it is the step companies most often skip.

When the $127 million round and unicorn valuation came, we framed it as validation for the construction technology category rather than as one company's milestone, and it ran through TechCrunch, Reuters, The Information and LA Business Journal. TechCrunch opened its story on that point: "Commercial services tech hasn't historically been considered 'sexy,' but the need for innovation in the space is enormous." A category story gives a technology reporter a reason to write that a company story doesn't.

The three stories a vertical SaaS company can actually tell

The industry's problem, at national scale. Labor shortages, regulatory shifts, cost pressure: these are business stories. Your product is the illustration, not the subject.

Your executive's expertise on something broader. Workforce, operations, immigration, supply chains, the economics of an overlooked industry. This requires an executive with real standing, and in my experience it's the most reliable path into publications that would never cover your product. When we pitch an executive as a guest, we lead with the argument they'll make, not the résumé, because credentials don't tell a host what the conversation will be. When we edit their op-ed, everything in it has to serve one big idea.

Closer to home, a construction software client made a list in Construction Executive, and my gut said it wasn't luck. We'd had pieces from their executives published there throughout the year, so the editors kept hearing their point of view and kept seeing proof points from us. Someone inside may have pushed for it too, so I can't prove the link. But that's where the buyers and decision makers are.

Category validation. When your round or your milestone can be framed as evidence that an ignored category is real, technology press has a reason to engage.

What doesn't work, in my view, is pitching the software's features to people who don't work in your vertical. Explain why its impact matters to them instead.

How early should executive positioning start?

Executive positioning takes months and has to precede the moment you need it.

A company that starts building credibility when the fundraise begins is competing for attention with a deadline, which is the weakest possible position. A company that spent two quarters establishing its CEO as a voice on a subject the business press cares about walks into those meetings already legible.

Common questions

What is vertical SaaS? Vertical SaaS is software built for a specific industry, such as construction, restaurants or insurance, rather than for a function every business shares, like accounting or email. It can handle one of that industry's workflows or many. When it becomes embedded in daily work, it can be difficult to replace, and in some markets it competes with spreadsheets and manual processes.

What is the difference between vertical and horizontal SaaS? Horizontal SaaS serves one business function across every industry, such as CRM, payroll or messaging. Vertical SaaS serves a particular industry and can address one or several functions within it. For PR, the difference is audience: a horizontal tool has users at almost any company a technology reporter writes about, while a vertical tool is often unfamiliar to readers outside its industry.

Why is vertical SaaS hard to get press for? Technology press needs a reason a general audience should care, and industry trade press covers the company as one vendor among many. Product-focused coverage can leave a company needing a broader business story to reach investors and audiences outside its niche. Trade coverage can contribute to that story. In my experience, an executive with a view on a wider business subject supplies the rest.

Is trade press enough for a vertical SaaS company? For reaching buyers, often yes. Trade press can also reach industry investors and potential recruits. Business and technology coverage extends that reach when a company needs recognition beyond its industry, such as with generalist investors.

Sources

• Alok Chanani, How Military Technology Could Solve America's Housing Shortage, Newsweek, April 17, 2024
• Mary Ann Azevedo, Commercial services platform BuildOps becomes a unicorn, raises $127M, TechCrunch, March 21, 2025
• Akash Sriram, BuildOps valued at $1 billion in funding round, plans to scale operations amid strong demand, Reuters, March 21, 2025
• Sri Muppidi, ServiceTitan Rival BuildOps Mints $1 Billion Valuation, The Information, March 2025
• Keerthi Vedantam, Firm Gets Unicorn Status, Los Angeles Business Journal, March 31, 2025
• RC Victorino, BuildOps, client review of Salient PR, Clutch, September 19, 2025

Salient PR works with vertical SaaS companies including BuildOps, supporting its move from Series B through a $127 million round and $1 billion valuation.