Air Street Capital’s Nathan Benaich just dropped the 2025 State of AI Report — a 313-page tour de force on where artificial intelligence is today and where it’s headed next. In this episode, Dave “CAC” Kellogg and Ray “Growth” Rike break down the highlights, surprises, and bold predictions shaping the future of AI, software, and the global economy.

They explore:

• Why this report is becoming the “Mary Meeker Internet Report” of the AI era
• Key insights across research breakthroughs, model performance, geopolitics, enterprise adoption, and market maturity
• The Top 10 Predictions that could define the next 12 months — from AI agents running $5B in ad spend to the first UN emergency debate on AI security

Predictions discussed include:

• Retailers generating 5%+ of online sales via agentic checkout
• Open-sourcing frontier models to win government favor
• AI-driven scientific discoveries completed end-to-end by autonomous agents
• Deepfake or agent-led cyberattacks prompting NATO-level action
• A real-time generative video game dominating Twitch
• “AI neutrality” emerging as a new foreign policy doctrine
• AI-produced films earning major audience praise (and backlash)
• A Chinese lab surpassing U.S. AI leadership
• Datacenter NIMBYism shaping local elections
• And even AI entering U.S. presidential politics through executive orders and court battles

If you work in B2B software, this episode is your roadmap to how AI is transforming not just technology — but business models, economics, and the balance of global power.

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AI Agents (also known as Agentic AI) are quickly becoming one of the most talked-about ways for enterprises to operationalize generative AI. G2 recently released a new research report — “A Leap of Trust: AI Agents Are Winning Hearts and Wallets” — highlighting where adoption is happening and why.

In this episode, Dave “CAC” Kellogg and Ray “Growth” Rike break down the report’s findings and what they mean for business leaders evaluating AI strategies today, including:

• How efficiency and effectiveness gains translate into real business outcomes
• The connection between Parkinson’s Law and AI Agent scaling
• Which industries are leading AI Agent adoption
• The top use cases emerging across the enterprise
• Why Time to Value may be faster than expected
• Containment Rate — the new metric that matters
• And whether AI Agents accelerate a return to IT-centric projects

If you're evaluating how to bring Generative AI into your organization — including whether to deploy packaged AI applications or pursue an agentic approach — this conversation is full of practical insights and thought-provoking perspectives you won’t want to miss.

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The buzz about ROI from AI software investments is palpable, so Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike take on the topic of measuring Return on Investment on AI software investments. During today's episode, Dave and Ray discuss the details on measuring ROI including:

• Defining Return on Investment
• Soft vs Hard Benefits
• Productivity - the primary benefit of AI investments today
• Buy versus Build & Run - an old problem is new again
• ROI models need to go beyond payback period
• Look back reviews - the value vs the reality

Return on Investment (ROI) is not a new term - but one that is coming back into favor thanks to AI. If you are considering making or continuing an investment in AI software and project for your organization - this episode has something of value for you!

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9-9-6. A term to describe the work culture of working 9AM - 9PM six days a week. This term is most often associated with those founders, companies, and their employees that work in generational software opportunities - such as we see right now with AI Software.

Dave and Ray discuss 9-9-6 from multiple angles in today's episode including:

• What 9-9-6 is
• Where did it originate
• Why is it trending
• The importance of Winning in the early stage of a new software era
• Geoffrey Moore's segmentation of new enterprise software markets (Gorillas, Chimps and Monkeys)
• Historic examples of those companies that became category leader
• Why the grind is not the point - Winning is
• Why the choice of entering a 9-9-6 environment makes choosing the company even more important

If you are currently in an early-stage AI-Native software company or considering making the move - this episode is a must listen!

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The Forward-Deployed Engineer (FDE) represents a fundamental reimagining of the technical role in high-stakes enterprise environments. At its core, an FDE is a software engineer embedded directly with customers to solve their most complex—and often ambiguous—problems.

Palantir is widely credited as the originator and early adopter of the FDE model, initially referring to these engineers as “Deltas.” In this episode, Dave “CAC” Kellogg and Ray “Growth” Rike explore multiple dimensions of the Forward-Deployed Engineer role, including:

• The origin of the FDE
• How the military influenced the term
• Whether the FDE belongs in a technology-enabled services company or a software company
• How an FDE differs from a traditional technical services consultant
• Where FDE expenses should be allocated—COGS vs. OPEX
• How those allocation decisions impact key metrics
• The hiring trends shaping the future of the FDE

If you’re building an AI-native application or an agentic AI company with outcome-based pricing, this episode is packed with insights and ideas on why a Forward-Deployed Engineer could be your next—and most important—hire.

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Iconiq recently published its State of Software 2025: Rethinking the Playbook. Whenever a new industry benchmark report is published, Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike try to quickly read, analyze and decide if the report should be discussed on an episode of the Metrics Brothers. The Iconiq State of Software 2025 is a solid industry report that includes several key findings that Dave and Ray discuss during this episode including:

• Ai-Native vs AI-Enabled vs non-AI segmentation
• Growth's impact on Enterprise Value to Revenue multiples
• Revenue growth trends by company size
• Net Revenue Retention Benchmarks
• CAC Payback Period Benchmarks
• Adoption vs Engagement vs Outcomes for AI software companies
• Funnel Conversion metrics for AI vs non-AI companies

If you are interested in how the top tier, maybe I should say top quartile of SaaS companies are performing, in context of SaaS companies leveraging AI, those not leveraging AI and AI-Native software companies - this episode has something for everyone!

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The Bessemer Venture Partners Cloud 100 Benchmarks Report 2025 provides a snapshot into the top 100 PRIVATE SaaS/Cloud/AI companies. This year's report is full of new insights and trends that highlight how AI is impacting the software industry as we know it. Some of the key points in the report that our hosts Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss during today's episode include:

•  The Cloud 100 $1,117 billion in aggregate value - a 36% increase from $820 billion in 2024
• The top 10 companies account for $598 billion of the aggregate value - 54% of entire list versus 46% last year
• OpenAI valued at $300 billion exceeds the combined value of last year’s top 10
• AI companies dominate this year’s list, comprising $464 billion in value - last year AI company total valuation was $176B (21%)
• The average Cloud 100 company reached the $100M (Centaur) milestone in just 7.5 years - AI companies only 5.7 years

The story on the Cloud 100 valuation multiples provide an interesting story on how valuation and growth are not necessarily trending in the same direction:

• The average Cloud 100 revenue multiple was 20x fell for third straight and down from 34X (41%) since 2021

If you are interested in how the SaaS and Cloud industry is evolving - by the number, and how AI-Native software companies are changing the benchmarks this episode is a MUST listen!

Bessemer Cloud 100 Benchmark 2025 Report is available by clicking here

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Positive Business Outlook or Work-Life Balance - which is more important? The "Grindscore" metric combines the two to determine the attractiveness of a company for employees. 

Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss the metric from many different angles including:

• The origin of the Grindscore metric
• Positive Business Outlook (PBO) + Work-Life Balance (WLB)
• Sample of Private and Public Company Grindscores
• Why a high PBO and high WLB scores the same as a low PBO and an average WLB (flaws of the metric)

This episode covers a metric that most software companies are not using - and the conversation may put a light on some of the reasons why?!

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Positive Business Outlook or Work-Life Balance - which is more important? The "Grindscore" metric combines the two to determine the attractiveness of a company for employees. 

Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss the metric from many different angles including:

• The origin of the Grindscore metric
• Positive Business Outlook (PBO) + Work-Life Balance (WLB)
• Sample of Private and Public Company Grindscores
• Why a high PBO and high WLB scores the same as a low PBO and an average WLB (flaws of the metric)

This episode covers a metric\ that most software companies are not using - and the conversation may put a light on some of the reasons why?!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bessemer Venture Partners recently released their State of AI 2025 Report, a space exploration manual for the AI software era. With AI now the dominant software force, let's dive into what Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike took away from the report in today's episode:

• The key differences in performance metrics between AI Supernovas and Shooting Stars
• Why Vertical AI companies have a unique opportunity to outperform horizontal AI companies in the early days
• The importance of building a structured Proof of Concept or Pilot program into your customer acquisition process
• The top 5 predictions for the AI market in 2026
• Top 10 takeaways for Native-AI founders and executive leaders

The top five predictions from the report for AI in 2026 include:

1. The browser will emerge as a dominant interface for agentic AI
2. 2026 will be the year of generative video
3. Evaluations and data lineage will become a critical catalyst for AI product development
4. A new AI-native social media giant could emerge
5. The incumbents strike back as AI M&A heats up

For the best listening experience, open the Bessemer Venture Partners State of AI 2025 report and follow along as Dave and Ray discuss the highlights.

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