Why Investors Now Pay for Efficiency, Not Growth

the technology change and the doors it has opened for your company

Author

Ryan Bryden
October 21, 2025

According to Pitchbook, 57.9% of global VC dollars went into AI & ML startups in 2025.

The new age for companies raising capital and turning it into revenue is going to revolve around 1 core idea - efficiency.

High leverage, low incremental costs, and measurable returns.

We have built the entire thesis of our firm around the core idea that companies like yours are going to need help raising funds, and deploying them into go-to-market activities that produce revenue fast, efficiently, and with high leverage.

If you’ve spoken to any investment groups in the last 6 months, you’d know that they’re thinking about this the same way.

Every fund memo has the same first question:

“How efficiently can this team convert capital into revenue?”

The companies receiving venture funding are not the ones who can scale the fastest - but they’re the ones who can scale cheapest, repeatably, and with compounding payback.

Founders who can show:

  • Declining CAC quarter-over-quarter

  • Predictable pipeline creation without headcount bloat

  • Short payback periods on growth spend

are commanding higher valuations and better terms, even with slower topline growth.

Every company you see in major news headline with disproportionate growth has come from a rapid deployment of technology into their company and lean scaling.

So when you’re going to raise and are speaking to investors, it’s crucial to be highlighting how you’re going to stay lean, efficient, and monitor where every dollar is going.

From what we see and believe, in this market, efficiency is the new alpha.

And the founders who master it will own the next cycle - not because they raised the most, but because they needed the least.

If this resonates - or you’re trying to figure out how to show investors that kind of efficiency in your own raise or GTM - drop a reply and we’ll walk you through how we’d build this for your company.

I wanted to share this based on what we’re hearing from buy-side groups and how they’re evaluating deals. Hope this is helpful.