# Vertical First, AI Second: Why Domain Experts Win | Vijay Rajendran & Amit Goel, gAI Ventures

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Podcast: [Top Decile Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/top-decile-podcast-7851283)
Published: 2026-07-03T07:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/19df24f9ed362162cf13f5b083c9fb4566c81e40e852dd39660c05bdabed6279/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiI3NjM0OTFhMi01MjZjLTRiNzktOTZhZS0xNjg0MjgwZWIyODciLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiJmOGJlZWFlOC0wMDgzLTQ3NzktYmVlMy01YjRhMjdjYzIyMmYiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OWMxNGUxYTM1ZDgwNDA3YmViYmZmNjciLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmEzNmM0NGYyMWRhMjgxYTgyZWE1MTZmL2Nvbm5vci1zYXR0ZWx5cy1zdHVkaW8tY29tcG9zZXItMjAyNi02LTIwX18xOC00OC0xNS5tcDMifQ==.mp3
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Duration seconds: 1522

## Resource

Vijay Rajendran led portfolio value creation at 500 Global across 2,800 companies in 80 countries before co-founding gAI Ventures. Amit Goel brings 20 years as a payments and identity operator, including building and selling a fintech company. Together they've built a venture studio around one central idea: vertical expertise should drive AI company formation, not the other way around. We get into why most enterprise AI deployments fail despite the hype, what Amit means when he says a task is not a job, and how gAI co-builds from the ground up with domain experts before carving portfolio companies out as independent businesses.

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## Transcript

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