Clive Mayhew · Vertical AI

Changing
the game.

Use what you already know
to build what comes next.

Start with your experience. Understand the work. Discover what AI can make possible for your business.

Vertical AI: Changing the Game by Clive Mayhew

Vertical AI: Changing the Game
A forthcoming book by Clive Mayhew

Your experience is
the starting point.

Vertical AI: Changing the Game is a practical guide for founders, business owners and leaders who want to turn industry knowledge into meaningful change.

Across 12 chapters, Clive explores customer intent, connected workflows, memory, trust and the places where human judgement matters most. Not AI for its own sake. A better way to carry work through to an outcome.

Opens an email draft to vertical@clive.ai. Send it to request your copy.

Vertical AI explained.

What is Vertical AI?

Vertical AI is built around how an industry actually works. In golf, that means understanding the golfer, the course, the rules and the staff who bring it together. Connect that intelligence to trusted information, business systems and clear permissions, and a request can move towards a confirmed outcome. People set the direction, exercise judgement and supervise. AI helps carry out the work. The workflow becomes the product.

What is the Pro Shop Moment?

Watch what happens when the phone rings while a golfer is waiting at the counter. A simple request can send someone through several systems, a set of rules and a conversation with a colleague before they can confirm anything. That is the Pro Shop Moment: seeing where staff rescue the process. Follow one request from start to finish. Notice the handoffs, the repeated information and the knowledge that lives in someone’s head.

Why start with customer intent?

A golfer wants a game for four on Friday. They are thinking about the outcome, not which menu to open. Start there. Let the customer express what they want, clarify what is missing, then check the rules, availability and permission to act. Some requests will need a person to take over. Working backwards from a confirmed outcome helps you see which systems, decisions and human checks the workflow actually needs.

What advantage do industry insiders have?

You know the exceptions, the awkward handoffs and the questions customers ask when the standard process breaks down. That experience is valuable. A general AI model does not automatically know your organisation’s rules, current information or who can approve a change. Insiders can help identify what matters and make those requirements explicit. The opportunity is to combine experience with reliable execution, while testing the result carefully. Industry knowledge is an advantage, not a guarantee that outsiders cannot compete.

What can readers put into practice?

Start by auditing one customer journey. Trace the friction, then choose one workflow worth investigating. Write down the information, decisions and permissions it needs, and where human judgement belongs. You might aim for fewer repeated questions, faster booking changes or clearer confirmations. Record how the work happens today, then compare it with a supervised trial. The book gives you a practical starting point and exercises to work through; the results still have to be measured in your business.

Explore the chapter summaries 12 chapters
  1. 01

    The Pro Shop Moment

    See the everyday friction that reveals a much larger operational opportunity.

    FDE Playbook: The Front Door Audit
  2. 02

    The New Front Door

    Understand why the first moment of customer intent is becoming a strategic position.

    FDE Playbook: The Intent Audit & Front Door Vulnerability Assessment
  3. 03

    The Operating Layer—Why the Workflow Is the Product

    Move beyond passive software and build the coordinating layer that carries work forward.

    FDE Playbook: Mapping the Operating Layer
  4. 04

    The CEO as Workflow Architect

    Lead the redesign of motion, memory, human judgment and intelligent execution.

    FDE Playbook: CEO Workflow Architecture Matrix
  5. 05

    Direction, Supervision, Execution

    Give people and intelligent systems the work each is best equipped to carry.

    FDE Playbook: DSE Work Allocation Framework
  6. 06

    Memory Changes Everything

    Replace episodic transactions with context, continuity and an organisation that learns.

    FDE Playbook: Memory Architecture Blueprint
  7. 07

    Intent Replaces Navigation

    Let customers begin with the outcome they want instead of learning your menus and systems.

    FDE Playbook: Intent-to-Action Logic Mapping
  8. 08

    The New Moat

    Compound workflow depth, memory, trust and distribution into durable advantage.

    FDE Playbook: Building Your Vertical Moat Scorecard
  9. 09

    Where Humans Matter Most

    Elevate people into work where stakes, judgment, empathy and accountability matter.

    FDE Playbook: Human Elevation & Escalation Protocol
  10. 10

    Trust Is the Deciding Layer

    Turn capability into operational permission through clear boundaries and supervision.

    FDE Playbook: Operational Trust & Guardrail Framework
  11. 11

    The Founder’s Window

    Recognise a category becoming structurally available before the market names it.

    FDE Playbook: Operator-Architect Wedge Plan
  12. 12

    What Leaders Must Do Now

    Replace scattered AI experiments with a focused portfolio of redesigned workflows.

    FDE Playbook: Enterprise Workflow Portfolio Roadmap
What is vertical AI? →

In conversation.

What No One Tells You · Kristy Valentine

Clive Mayhew - Founder Golf.AI and Author Vertical AI

Press play to watch here. If the player is unavailable, open the episode on YouTube or Spotify.

More conversations: The ModGolf Podcast ↗

Read it. Then take it into the field.

Get closer to
the real work.

The FDE Playbooks turn the book’s ideas into practical exercises. Begin with the Front Door Audit: follow a customer request and see what it really takes to get the job done.

01

Observe

Listen to the requests your customers bring you.

02

Map

Follow the steps, systems and hidden human effort.

03

Choose

Find one workflow worth investigating further.

Explore the FDE Playbook

A free self-guided starting point. Prefer support? Explore the consultant-led audit.

Clive Mayhew.

Entrepreneur. Investor. Author.
Still building what comes next.

From Netscape to GOLF.AI, Clive has spent more than 30 years at the intersection of technology and business. He believes the next opportunity belongs to people who know their industries inside out.

Meet Clive →
Clive Mayhew, author of Vertical AI: Changing the Game

04 / We’re here to help

You don’t have to
work it out alone.

Bring the business you know. We’ll help you find a practical place to start.

Front Door Audit Consultancy Program

Find the friction.
See the next move.

A guided Front Door Audit for time-poor entrepreneurs and business owners, delivered remotely by a CLIVE.AI consultant. Review three common customer requests and receive a written report, one recommended starting project and a walkthrough.

Included bonus: learn how to keep going with AI, with reusable prompts and guidance.

Global Introductory Pricing

US$2,500USD

Suggested USD for other or unknown locations. Fixed introductory market prices, not exchange-rate conversions. You can change the currency.

Start my Front Door Audit enquiry

We’ll confirm the scope, timing and total price before you commit. No payment or booking is taken by the enquiry form.