This year, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle will spend about $780 billion building AI capacity.
Only 2% of S&P 500 companies track what AI does for them over time.
The rest of a16z’s new State of Markets report points the same way:
69% of the S&P 500 already runs AI in production
the top 1% of AI users spends about 8x more than the top 10%
86% of US venture dollars went to AI companies this year
startups that raised recently still grow as fast as they did in 2021
What it means for you? Companies are spending on AI faster than they can prove what it returns. The startups that close that gap for their customers are the ones winning budgets and rounds right now, and the data shows exactly where they sit.
📚 In this guide, we turn 100+ charts and the a16z partners’ podcast into six decisions: what to measure, who to sell to first, how to keep margins, where software still gets paid, what investors expect and where to build next.
Inside you will find:
How to Sell AI Your Buyers Can Measure See why 69% of large companies run AI but only 2% track it, and build that metric into your product.
Why Your First Customers Should Be Power Users Find out how the top 1% of AI users pulls away from everyone else, and how to find them in your market.
How to Cut Your Inference Bill While Compute Gets More Expensive Learn the caching, routing and fine-tuning moves that keep margins healthy as GPU prices rise.
Which Software Still Gets Paid, and the Path Your Company Should Take See why cyber and vertical software held up, and how to choose between growth and margins.
The Numbers You Need to Raise in 2027 Compare your growth, margin and runway with the benchmarks investors are using today.
Where a16z Is Looking to Invest Next Find out the seven areas a16z is focusing on, with the startups already winning in each.
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1. How to Sell AI Your Buyers Can Measure
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