EPISODE · Nov 15, 2025 · 47 MIN
Too Big to Fail: The OpenAI Edition | Mostly Growth
from Run the Numbers · host CJ Gustafson
In this episode of Mostly Growth, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar dig into what it means to be useful rather than just right at work, exploring how communication, empathy, and impact matter more than technical precision as careers mature. They share candid lessons from their own paths—CJ’s focus on making others look good to earn promotions and Kyle’s evolution into a domain expert through public writing—before unpacking what separates good from great VPs of Sales with insights from Pavilion founder Sam Jacobs. The conversation then shifts to OpenAI’s “too big to fail” claims, the economic ripple effects of AI infrastructure spending, and how finance leaders can stay grounded in reality. Rounding out the episode, the hosts preview their latest research—CJ’s “Agentic Finance” report on AI in the finance stack and Kyle’s 2025 SaaS Benchmarks—and close with lighthearted banter about founder age stats, home maintenance mishaps, and the price of professional Christmas lights—LINKS:Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/https://sarahcharlton.substack.com/p/from-being-right-to-being-usefulhttps://www.highalpha.com/saas-benchmarkshttps://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/presenting-the-state-of-the-agentic-financial-stackhttps://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/finance-in-2030https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-algorithm-will-see-you-now/https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/openai-ceo-sam-altman-forecasts-20-billion-annualized-revenue-yearhttps://www.growthunhinged.com/p/your-pricing-is-broken—RELATED EPISODES:When the marketing math doesn’t math | with Emily Kramerhttps://youtu.be/sSuoV_YSrlwGetting fired 4 times made me a founder | Sam Jacobs of Pavilionhttps://youtu.be/8X-JVOF-1A0How To Win at Early Stage Sales With the Guy Who Helped Take Snyk From $0 to $100M+https://youtu.be/VKrZCte8fyM996 Culture, Exploding AI Bills & SaaS Chaoshttps://youtu.be/qhrxDL0gsRo—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:18 Sponsors – Pulley and Metronome00:05:09 Flight Cancellation and Airport Chaos00:07:58 Being Right vs. Being Useful00:11:17 Getting Promoted Early by Making Others Look Good00:15:25 What Separates a Good VP of Sales from a Great One00:18:24 Sales Leaders as Capital Allocators00:21:14 The Organizational Tax of Sales Support00:22:33 Is OpenAI Too Big to Fail?00:25:31 AI Investments, Alternatives, and Market Impact00:27:50 Bailouts and Economic Reality00:28:20 Agentic Finance and the AI-Driven Finance Stack00:31:43 SaaS Benchmarks Report 2025 Overview00:33:59 Growth Rates by ARR Tier and Scale00:35:40 AI’s Impact on Engineering Teams00:37:45 Age and Startup Success00:39:42 Building Durable Businesses Over Time00:41:25 Something You Tried This Week – HVAC Cleaning00:43:19 Outsourcing Holiday Cheer – Professional Light Installation00:47:08 Credits – Mostly Growth Closing Remarks—SPONSORS:Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com—#MostlyGrowthPodcast #StartupFinance #AIPodcast #SaaSLeadership #GoToMarket This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com
What this episode covers
In this episode of Mostly Growth, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar dig into what it means to be useful rather than just right at work, exploring how communication, empathy, and impact matter more than technical precision as careers mature. They share candid lessons from their own paths—CJ’s focus on making others look good to earn promotions and Kyle’s evolution into a domain expert through public writing—before unpacking what separates good from great VPs of Sales with insights from Pavilion founder Sam Jacobs. The conversation then shifts to OpenAI’s “too big to fail” claims, the economic ripple effects of AI infrastructure spending, and how finance leaders can stay grounded in reality. Rounding out the episode, the hosts preview their latest research—CJ’s “Agentic Finance” report on AI in the finance stack and Kyle’s 2025 SaaS Benchmarks—and close with lighthearted banter about founder age stats, home maintenance mishaps, and the price of professional Christmas lights—LINKS:Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/https://sarahcharlton.substack.com/p/from-being-right-to-being-usefulhttps://www.highalpha.com/saas-benchmarkshttps://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/presenting-the-state-of-the-agentic-financial-stackhttps://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/finance-in-2030https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-algorithm-will-see-you-now/https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/openai-ceo-sam-altman-forecasts-20-billion-annualized-revenue-yearhttps://www.growthunhinged.com/p/your-pricing-is-broken—RELATED EPISODES:When the marketing math doesn’t math | with Emily Kramerhttps://youtu.be/sSuoV_YSrlwGetting fired 4 times made me a founder | Sam Jacobs of Pavilionhttps://youtu.be/8X-JVOF-1A0How To Win at Early Stage Sales With the Guy Who Helped Take Snyk From $0 to $100M+https://youtu.be/VKrZCte8fyM996 Culture, Exploding AI Bills & SaaS Chaoshttps://youtu.be/qhrxDL0gsRo—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:18 Sponsors – Pulley and Metronome00:05:09 Flight Cancellation and Airport Chaos00:07:58 Being Right vs. Being Useful00:11:17 Getting Promoted Early by Making Others Look Good00:15:25 What Separates a Good VP of Sales from a Great One00:18:24 Sales Leaders as Capital Allocators00:21:14 The Organizational Tax of Sales Support00:22:33 Is OpenAI Too Big to Fail?00:25:31 AI Investments, Alternatives, and Market Impact00:27:50 Bailouts and Economic Reality00:28:20 Agentic Finance and the AI-Driven Finance Stack00:31:43 SaaS Benchmarks Report 2025 Overview00:33:59 Growth Rates by ARR Tier and Scale00:35:40 AI’s Impact on Engineering Teams00:37:45 Age and Startup Success00:39:42 Building Durable Businesses Over Time00:41:25 Something You Tried This Week – HVAC Cleaning00:43:19 Outsourcing Holiday Cheer – Professional Light Installation00:47:08 Credits – Mostly Growth Closing Remarks—SPONSORS:Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com—#MostlyGrowthPodcast #StartupFinance #AIPodcast #SaaSLeadership #GoToMarket This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com
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Too Big to Fail: The OpenAI Edition | Mostly Growth
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