Kyler
Cheatham
Partner at The Confluencial
"Why Vertical Intelligence Beats General AI Every Time"
"Why Vertical Intelligence Beats General AI Every Time"
Don’t miss out and join visionaries, innovators, and thought leaders from all over the world at the Women in Tech Global Conference.
Vote by Sharing
Unite 100 000 Women in Tech to Drive Change with Purpose and Impact.
Do you want to see this session? Help increase the sharing count and the session visibility. Sessions with +10 votes will be available to career ticket holders.
Please note that it might take some time until your share & vote is reflected.
Session: Why Vertical Intelligence Beats General AI Every Time
If I hear about one more AI startup that “works for everyone,” I’m out. The market is flooded with tools trying to be everything to everyone. Most of them are just general AI bolted onto broken workflows, dressed up with a new UI and a bigger promise. The demos look great. The adoption does not. The ROI never shows up.This talk is about why vertical intelligence wins. Not because it is trendier, but because it is honest about how work actually gets done.
Instead of horizontal platforms and generic copilots, vertical agents are built inside real workflows, trained on domain-specific context, and designed to make decisions, not just generate output. Using our Heavy industry Catapult agent as a real example, I’ll walk through how workflow-aware intelligence creates speed to value, real differentiation, and outcomes you can measure.
We’ll cover how to tell the difference between AI that sounds impressive and AI that actually works, why “AI everywhere” is usually a warning sign, and how doing fewer things extremely well beats trying to boil the ocean.
Key Takeaways
- General AI is not a strategy
- Vertical intelligence starts with one workflow, not a platform
- AI that stops at insight is unfinished
- The fastest path to growth is narrow and uncomfortable
- Proof beats personalization
Bio
Kyler Cheatham, Partner, The ConfluencialKyler is a Partner at The Confluencial, a performance and enterprise technology firm focused on complex manufacturing, heavy industry, and speed-to-value transformation.
Female founder, operator, and technology strategist specializing in AI-enabled business modernization, ERP, and enterprise systems
Recognized globally for leadership at the intersection of generative AI, enterprise technology, and people-centered transformation
Female Founder Rising Star Award Global Winner, Women in Tech Network, 2025
Most Disruptive Award Finalist, Women in Tech Global Awards, 2025
Generative AI Innovation Award Finalist, empowHERaccess Global Prestige Awards, 2025
Named Top 30 Voices in FinTech, Soltesz Institute, 2025
Women in AI thought leader and contributor to River AI, featured in Solutions Review
Lecturer at Colorado Mesa University’s business school and mentor to emerging women leaders in software and technology
Over 25,000 followers on TikTok and LinkedIn
