The interesting part of W25 isn't the AI. It's where the non-AI companies are concentrated: construction, agricultural supply chains, freight brokerage, trade services, field ops, equipment leasing.
Industries that still run on email attachments, faxed POs, and a project manager who knows where everything is. YC is making a deliberate bet here.
The verticals showing up disproportionately
- Construction: bid management, project handoff, change-order tracking.
- Freight & logistics: brokerage tooling, dispatch, load matching, claims.
- Agriculture: input procurement, equipment financing, supply-chain visibility.
- Skilled trades: scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, parts inventory.
- Equipment leasing / field service: utilisation, maintenance, contract ops.
Why YC is leaning in now
Two things lined up. First, the 'obvious software markets' (HR, sales, marketing, dev tools) are saturated — the eleventh observability platform is not a company. Second, AI made it economically possible to wedge into industries where the workflows are too messy for traditional SaaS but small enough that a generalist agent + a thin UI can replace a real cost line.
It also matches the 2026 Request for Startups — physical world, regulated workflows, deep operational pain, and 'industries with no software' show up explicitly.
How to position if you're in a boring vertical
- Lead with the industry, not the tech. 'Software for freight brokers' beats 'AI workflow platform'.
- Name the artefact you're killing — the spreadsheet, the PDF, the email thread, the whiteboard.
- Sell to the operator, not IT. The buyer is the dispatcher, the foreman, the broker — not a CTO.
- Don't apologise for the unsexiness. W25 is the proof point YC will fund it.
Key takeaways
- Non-AI W25 companies cluster in industries software has historically ignored.
- The bet maps directly onto the 2026 RFS — physical, regulated, operational.
- If you're building in a boring vertical, lean into it — that's now a feature.