THE INCUMBENTS ARE COMING

Summary from the TLDR Fintech newsletter

Amble argues that AI may strengthen incumbent systems of record because they control the data, permissions, and actions that general-purpose agents increasingly rely on, but that the full customer job usually spans multiple systems and organizations. The best opportunity for vertical AI startups is in high-frequency, judgment-heavy workflows where they can own more of the end-to-end job, build tighter expert learning loops, and become better at producing the actual outcome than either the incumbent's agent or a general-purpose model.