New startup ideas · AI and software · Vertical AI agents

startup idea

Permitrun

Machine-run permitting and interconnection review for the agencies that hold up infrastructure.

Permitrun is a subscription system of record for public bodies that review infrastructure: state environmental agencies, utility commissions and grid operators running interconnection studies and NEPA-style reviews.

Software subscription
Government and public sector
$10-100B market
Creates a new category
US first

3/5

venture judge

similar startups, last 2 years (3 all-time)

98%

of 4 nearest real companies still alive

yes

8 matching federal grants and programs

Direction supported by government programs and grants

Test it before you build it

$1,800 · 5 weeks · 25 prospects

For under $1,800 and five weeks, prove that state interconnection review staff will sign a dated paid pilot to have machine-drafted study determinations in their small-generator queue, before any model is trained.

1Focus group: who and where

Engineering division directors and lead interconnection review staff at state public utility commissions, plus interconnection study managers at investor-owned utilities administering a small-generator queue with a published backlog of 100 or more pending applications this quarter

where to find 25 · LinkedIn Sales Navigator filtered on titles 'interconnection', 'utilities engineer' and 'engineering division director' at state public utility commissions and investor-owned utilities; the DOE i2X (Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange) community and its public working group calls; NARUC staff subcommittee rosters published on naruc.org; IREC's interconnection working group contacts; state PUC staff directories, which are public for all 50 states

2Sell first, build later

A 90-day paid pilot on one state's live small-generator interconnection queue: drafted determinations for every new filing in the lane, a founder on site with review staff two days a week, delivery starting within 45 days of signature, success defined as median days-to-determination cut by 30 percent

the ask · $9,500 per pilot, priced under the state's small-purchase or sole-source threshold, then $60,000 per year per commission after conversion

a real yes · A real yes is a signed pilot agreement with a purchase order number or payment voucher and a dated start, or a utility-side pilot invoice paid. Not a yes: staff enthusiasm, an invitation to present at a NARUC meeting, an unpaid data-sharing arrangement, or a letter of interest without a date

3Small experiments

The first one attacks the riskiest assumption; each ends with a number that says whether to run the next.

1. Backlog math cold outreach
$150 · 14 days
Pull the published interconnection queue for 10 states from PUC dockets and utility queue reports, compute average days-in-queue per state, and email each state's review staff a one-page memo with their own number and a request for a 30-minute call. One founder sends 25 emails and books calls over two weeks.
keep going if · 8 of 25 staff contacts book a call after seeing their own backlog number
2. Concierge determination drafts
$200 · 10 days
Take 5 already-decided small-generator applications from one state's public docket, hand-write the study determination for each using the state's own standardized study math and past decisions, and compare against the actual issued determination. Bring the side-by-side to every call as the artifact.
keep going if · 4 of 5 hand drafts match the issued determination on screens passed and upgrade cost within 15 percent, confirmed as credible by at least 3 reviewers on calls
3. Prototype walkthrough calls
$300 · 21 days
Build a clickable Figma prototype showing a reviewer opening a filed application and editing a pre-drafted determination instead of a blank docket, and walk it through on 12 calls with review staff and their managers. Script every call to end by asking for a quarter-long paid pilot on their live queue and a meeting with the person who can approve a small purchase.
keep going if · 5 of 12 calls end with a scheduled meeting that includes a division director or procurement contact
4. Sole-source pilot letter
$500 · 21 days
Send the two most engaged commissions a two-page pilot agreement: 90 days, one small-generator queue lane, drafted determinations for every new filing, priced under their state's small-purchase threshold so no RFP is needed. A founder drives it through general counsel review with weekly follow-ups, since the card's stated risk is that counsel stalls it.
keep going if · 1 of 2 agreements clears general counsel review with a named start date inside 60 days

4Collect a deposit up front

Tesla took $1,000 refundable reservations for the Model 3 and $100 for the Cybertruck before building either: the deposit is the measurement, not the revenue.

no cash yet: take a signed commitment

how · Public agencies cannot credibly prepay, so amount is 0. Collect instead: a pilot agreement signed by the executive director or division director with a dated start, a purchase order or small-purchase voucher in process, and three named review staff calendar-blocked for onboarding week. For an investor-owned utility running the studies, invoice the $9,500 pilot up front instead set up: Stripe Invoicing ↗

what it reserves · One of the two first-cohort pilot slots, the founder on site for the quarter, and the state's own historical dockets used to calibrate its drafts

refund · The pilot agreement includes a 30-day termination for convenience clause with a pro-rated refund of any prepaid utility invoice

target · 1 signed pilot with a purchase order and dated start, plus 1 more in general counsel review, from 25 contacts within 5 weeks

Go: build it if

1 signed paid pilot with a dated start and a PO, 4 of 5 concierge drafts validated by reviewers, and 5 or more commissions asking for the pilot terms

Kill: stop if

After 25 contacts and 12 calls, zero pilot agreements enter counsel review, or reviewers reject the concierge drafts as unusable in more than half of comparisons

Would you run this test?

One tap. The yes-share feeds the Demand pillar of this idea's score; nobody sees who answered.

Budgets are out-of-pocket estimates for a team of one to three, US market. Size the deposit to the deal, and check the terms before taking money in a regulated line.

Scorecard

One score that balances how trendy the idea is, the demand for it and its potential for 100x, with competition measured relative to every other idea in the catalog. Recent startup trends first, government priorities second.

Idea Score, 0-100 · raw 36.3 x 1.64

Warm

competition: more crowded than 20% of ideas · headwind x0.90

+4.1

government priorities, secondary (58 matching grants)

Trend

Is the wave forming now? 2025-26 entrants vs 2023-24, rounds since 2025, the sector's live-batch direction, the 2026 trend analyst.

Entrants 2025-26 vs 2023-24 (similar companies)23
Rounds announced 2025+ in the sector8
Sector direction (live batch)100
2026 trend analyst25

Demand

Does anyone want it? YC's current RFS, companies already paid for something similar, the operator judge, founders' yes-rate in decks, readers who would run the test.

YC asks for it (current RFS: idea / sector)0
Someone already pays (similar companies, recent / all-time)25
Operator judge: real pain25

100x potential

Can it return a fund? The venture judge (double weight), market-size and moat axes, neighbours still alive, the technologist judge.

Venture judge50
Market size axis67
Moat axis100
Neighbours still alive81
Technologist judge75

Score = 100 x cbrt(Trend x Demand x 100x) x (1 - 0.5 x crowding) + government bonus (max 5), calibrated so the 95th-percentile idea scores 90 (order never changes). A geometric mean: a weak pillar cannot be papered over. Percentiles are among the 272 ideas in the catalog; the terms matched were machine-run, permitting, interconnection, review, agencies, hold, infrastructure, subscription.

The idea in full

What: Permitrun is a subscription system of record for public bodies that review infrastructure: state environmental agencies, utility commissions and grid operators running interconnection studies and NEPA-style reviews. It trains on decades of decisions, comment records and engineering studies, and runs learned surrogate models that pre-compute study outcomes so a reviewer edits a drafted determination instead of starting from a blank docket. Developers file into the same system, so both sides of a review work off one live record rather than PDFs.
Why now: Operating regulated physical systems with AI is where money is going right now - Edviro (yc S26) is building AI that operates energy infrastructure and Skymerse (yc S26) is doing autopilot for flight operations - and federal science funding is backing the underlying knowledge machinery, including an NSF I-Corps award for an AI-powered knowledge management system for nuclear fusion; meanwhile no YC Fall 2026 RFS theme covers this cluster, so the public-sector side is uncrowded.
Wedge: first customer and entry point: One state public utility commission's small-generator interconnection queue, where the backlog is measurable, the study math is standardised, and one founder can sit with the review staff for a quarter.
Path to 100x: Infrastructure review and public capital program administration in the US is a $10-100B spend, and this creates a category that does not exist today: permitting operations as software rather than case management. Each completed review adds precedent and calibration data, and once developers file into the same record across states the two-sided pull makes a second system pointless, which is a real network moat in a market that normally has none.
Ceiling: Agency budgets and multi-year procurement could cap annual contract values low enough that even category leadership is a few hundred million in enterprise value.
Closest real companies, as the generator saw them: Edviro operates the energy asset, not the approval that gates it; Locke works on how companies and governments transact; Chromie helps vendors win contracts. Permitrun differs by being bought by the reviewing body and holding the decision record itself.
Main risk: Agencies will not let a model draft a legally challengeable determination, and every adoption stalls in general counsel review.

Five judges

Each judge scores every idea in the catalog with a named rubric; the venture judge decides whether a card is shown at all (4-5 is venture-grade).

Venture investor
3/5
Holding the decision record for both sides of interconnection is a real two-sided moat, but agency budgets and multi-year procurement cap contract values.
Bootstrapper
2/5
Software margins are fine, but selling a legally challengeable determination engine to a state utility commission is a multi-year procurement slog.
Operator
2/5
Agencies will not let a model draft a legally challengeable determination, so adoption stalls in general counsel review despite a measurable interconnection backlog.
Technologist
4/5
Learned surrogate models that pre-compute interconnection study outcomes from decades of engineering dockets is deep expertise no generalist agent vendor can assemble.
Risk
2/5
One state utility commission wedge in a market where general counsel can veto a model drafting a legally challengeable determination.
trends
2/5
Interconnection backlogs were just as painful in 2023, and the card itself concedes no current YC RFS covers the public-sector reviewer.

Similar startups in the directory

Companies whose pitch matches most of the idea's terms (machine-run, permitting, interconnection, review, agencies, hold, infrastructure, subscription): 3 all-time, 1 from the last two years. Same matching as Idea Check.

Verdantyc S26 · 2026 · B2B SaaSalive
AI-native planning & permitting software for local gov
Sparkyc W24 · 2024 · Climate and energyalive
AI-powered workflows for energy infrastructure
Pacesyc S22 · 2022 · Climate and energyalive
Agentic AI for Power Projects and AI Infrastructure

Run this as an Idea Check →

The generator's reference companies

Real companies the model named as closest when it wrote the card, with their fate. A check mark is a company the radar could verify in its directory.

Public money in this direction

US federal grants, SBIR/STTR awards and open opportunities from the radar's public-money feed, matched to the idea's terms; the sector totals give the context.

grants and programs matching the idea

startup-relevant grants in Vertical AI agents

$126M

awarded in the sector, tracked

opportunities open now in the sector

I-Corps: Translation Potential of a Resilient, Low-Cost Internet-of-Things (IoT) Monitoring Platform for Precision Agricultureawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · I-Corps · $50K · posted 2026-08-19
I-Corps: Translation Potential of Edge-Artificial Intelligence (AI) Personalized Risk Prediction for International Travelersawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · I-Corps · $50K · posted 2026-08-19
I-Corps: Translation Potential of Safer, Longer-Life Lithium-Ion Energy Storage for Critical Infrastructureawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · I-Corps · $50K · posted 2026-08-19
SBIR Phase I: Wireless Sidestep Network: Harnessing Sub-terahertz to Enable New Degrees of Freedom in AI Data Center Architecturesawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · SBIR Phase I · $305K · posted 2026-08-18
I-Corps: Translation potential of a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-based bridge monitoring and inspection support technologyawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · I-Corps · $50K · posted 2026-07-24
SBIR Phase II: Air-Breathing Electric Propulsionawardhigh relevance
National Science Foundation · SBIR Phase II · $1M · posted 2026-07-21
VINES: Track 1: U.S-Ireland R&D Partnership: Synchronized Mobile and Stationary Sensor Networks for Real-Time Bridge Health Assessment (SYN-Bridge)awardmedium relevance
National Science Foundation · Use-Inspired NextG, GVF - Global Venture Fund · $700K · posted 2026-07-30
Learning and Optimization-Powered Quickest Change Detection: Theory, Algorithms and Applications for Power Systemsawardmedium relevance
National Science Foundation · EPCL: Energy, Power, Control, · $600K · posted 2026-07-10

All public money by sector →

Market signal

What the radar sees in Vertical AI agents: new companies by cohort year, the forming YC batch, and outcomes since the February snapshot.

Vertical AI agents · 147 → 260 → 362 → 406 → 277 new companies 2022 → 2026 · 95% aliveYC S26: 61 in this cluster, 25% of the batch (was 33% in X26) (F26 is still forming: 21 listed)Since February, of 709 YC companies here: 14 acquired, 8 shut down, 190 rewrote their pitch

Vertical AI agents: companies, trend and grants →

Design attributes

The card is one cell of a designed set: every axis below was chosen before the text was written, and the text had to realize it.

Buyer: Government and public sector
Business model: Software subscription
Path to 100x: Creates a new category
Market size: $10-100B market
Capital intensity: Capital-light (software margins)
Speed to revenue: Revenue in 1-3 years
Technical depth: Deep tech: ML, hardware, bio
Go-to-market: Founder-led sales
Moat: Network effects
Geography: US first
Regulation: Heavily regulated
Vibe: Hot space