Workflow depth
Go beyond isolated tasks and understand how work actually moves across an industry—from first intent to completed outcome.
Forthcoming bookClive Mayhew
Vertical AI:Changing
the Game
How domain embedded AI transforms workflows, organisations and customer experiences.
A field guide for founders and leaders ready to stop buying isolated AI tools—and start redesigning how work actually moves.
Official cover01 / 01
01The central argument
Software stored work.
Vertical AI carries it forward.
For decades, businesses bought applications that stored records for separate departments. The data became digital, but people remained the manual glue—translating requests, bridging systems and absorbing every interruption.
Vertical AI begins with natural intent, applies deep industry knowledge and coordinates the workflow through to an outcome. It is not another chatbot at the edge of the business. It is the emerging operating layer for the industry.
Vertical AI brings AI into the workflows of a particular industry. It combines domain knowledge, connected systems and clear authority to move a customer request towards a completed outcome, with human oversight where judgement is needed. Explore what vertical AI means in practice.
01Customer intent
02Domain reasoning
03Workflow execution
04Trusted outcome
02The new moat
Four layers.
One compounding advantage.
The defining Vertical AI company becomes useful, remembers, earns permission and owns the place where demand begins.
Memory
Turn one-off interactions into continuous service by carrying the right context forward and removing the cost of starting again.
Trust
Build the permissions, guardrails, supervision and restraint that allow intelligent systems to move into meaningful work.
Distribution
Become the preferred place where customer demand begins—and earn the position to coordinate everything that follows.
03Inside the book
Twelve chapters · Twelve field exercises
From one ringing phone to a new operating model.
Each chapter advances the argument and ends with an FDE Playbook—a practical exercise that turns the idea into a decision, map or operating framework for your business.
Act IChapters 1–3
Chapters 1–3
Find the front door
Begin where customer intent first meets the operating reality of the business, then follow the hidden human effort that carries the request through disconnected systems.
01
The Pro Shop Moment
See the everyday friction that reveals a much larger operational opportunity.
FDE PlaybookThe Front Door Audit
02
The New Front Door
Understand why the first moment of customer intent is becoming a strategic position.
FDE PlaybookThe Intent Audit & Front Door Vulnerability Assessment
03
The Operating Layer—Why the Workflow Is the Product
Move beyond passive software and build the coordinating layer that carries work forward.
FDE PlaybookMapping the Operating Layer
Act IIChapters 4–6
Chapters 4–6
Redesign how work moves
Make workflow architecture a leadership discipline, redistribute work across direction, supervision and execution, and give the system the continuity to learn.
04
The CEO as Workflow Architect
Lead the redesign of motion, memory, human judgment and intelligent execution.
FDE PlaybookCEO Workflow Architecture Matrix
05
Direction, Supervision, Execution
Give people and intelligent systems the work each is best equipped to carry.
FDE PlaybookDSE Work Allocation Framework
06
Memory Changes Everything
Replace episodic transactions with context, continuity and an organisation that learns.
FDE PlaybookMemory Architecture Blueprint
Act IIIChapters 7–9
Chapters 7–9
Build compounding advantage
Replace navigation with intent, combine the four layers of defensibility and elevate people into the moments where judgment, meaning and empathy matter most.
07
Intent Replaces Navigation
Let customers begin with the outcome they want instead of learning your menus and systems.
FDE PlaybookIntent-to-Action Logic Mapping
08
The New Moat
Compound workflow depth, memory, trust and distribution into durable advantage.
FDE PlaybookBuilding Your Vertical Moat Scorecard
09
Where Humans Matter Most
Elevate people into work where stakes, judgment, empathy and accountability matter.
FDE PlaybookHuman Elevation & Escalation Protocol
Act IVChapters 10–12 & conclusion
Chapters 10–12 & conclusion
Lead the change now
Turn capability into permission, recognise the founder’s window and move from scattered AI experiments to a deliberate portfolio of redesigned workflows.
10
Trust Is the Deciding Layer
Turn capability into operational permission through clear boundaries and supervision.
FDE PlaybookOperational Trust & Guardrail Framework
11
The Founder’s Window
Recognise a category becoming structurally available before the market names it.
FDE PlaybookOperator-Architect Wedge Plan
12
What Leaders Must Do Now
Replace scattered AI experiments with a focused portfolio of redesigned workflows.
FDE PlaybookEnterprise Workflow Portfolio Roadmap
04A book built for action
Become the Forward Deployed Engineer
See the lived workflow. Then redesign it.
The FDE Playbooks send you into the field: map the front door, uncover hidden human labour, divide direction from supervision and execution, design memory, set trust boundaries and build a focused portfolio of flagship workflows.
THE OUTCOMEA practical roadmap from operational friction to durable advantage.
05Who it is for
For people prepared to redesign work
Lead the shift from software tools to intelligent operating layers.
01
Founders
Find the narrow operational wedge that can grow into an industry operating layer.
02
Business leaders
Turn AI strategy into a practical discipline for redesigning how work moves.
03
Owners & operators
Remove repeated friction while making customer service more personal and effective.
04
Technology leaders
Build systems around domain depth, memory, trust and measurable outcomes.
Read · Explore · Build
Questions about the book
What is vertical AI?
AI designed around the knowledge, rules and workflows of a particular industry. The goal is to turn a customer’s intent into a verified outcome. Read the practical guide.
Who is the book for?
Founders, business leaders, owners, operators and technology leaders who want to build with AI and understand its impact firsthand. Golf is the starting point; the lessons apply across service industries. Explore a hotel workflow example.
What is an FDE Playbook?
A field exercise that asks you to work as a Forward Deployed Engineer: observe real work, identify friction and build a better workflow. Each of the book’s 12 chapters includes one. Try the first exercise.
How can I read Chapter 1?
Read an excerpt online, then request the complete free chapter by email. The request button opens an email draft to vertical@clive.ai; send that draft to request your copy.
When will the book be published?
Vertical AI: Changing the Game by Clive Mayhew is forthcoming from Dean Publishing. A publication date and ISBN have not been announced on this site.
Coming soonVertical AI
Find your
Pro Shop Moment.
Request your free copy of Chapter 1 from Clive Mayhew.
Request Chapter 1, free by emailOpens an email draft. Send it to request your copy, or read an excerpt online.