AI was supposed to make software cheaper and companies more efficient. Instead, costs are exploding, CFOs are getting squeezed, and founders are pushing their teams harder than ever. CJ and Kyle Poyar dig into the economics behind AI, usage-based pricing, and what all of this means for SaaS growth.

* Usage-Based Credits: Why they’re supposed to save SaaS margins but often trap customers in bad deals.

* 996 Hustle Culture: The rise of 9 a.m.–9 p.m., 6-days-a-week work schedules — and why it’s both romanticized and unsustainable.

* SaaS Payback Periods: Public companies now take 3+ years to recoup CAC, with growth slowing and margins tightening.

* Go-to-Market Engineers: Hype vs. reality of the “unicorn hire” role meant to automate GTM motions.

* Consumer Businesses: Are we sleeping on DTC plays like Blue Apron and ButcherBox while chasing AI trends?

* The “Cracked Engineer” Archetype: Why the most impactful hires might be the failed founders who love solving cross-functional problems.

* Subscription Carwashes: What they teach us about predictable revenue and retention psychology.

* More RVs Than EVs: What this surprising stat says about adoption curves and how we misread “the future.”

* This Week’s Growth Experiments: The tools, tactics, interview questions, and hacks we tried — what worked, what didn’t, and why Kyle is disillusioned by some of them.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by Campfire.

You may know that we use Campfire as our ERP, and it’s been a game changer for our finance workflow. The interface is intuitive, migration was quick and painless, and it's freed us up to focus on strategic work instead of manual processes. In case you don't know, Campfire is an AI-first ERP powering next-gen finance & accounting teams. Helps you close fast, unlock insights and scale smarter.

If you’re curious about where finance tech is heading, and would like to hear more of my thoughts on the topic, don’t miss Campfire's Finance Forward AI Summit - the upcoming summit bringing together the sharpest minds in finance and operations.

You’ll hear directly from industry leaders on how they’re using AI to shape the future of finance, and how your team can get ahead of the curve. I'll be speaking on panels with finance leaders from Anthropic, Snowflake, Mercury and more. The summit is October 28th in San Francisco; I hope to see you there.

Sign up for the summit at campfiresummit.ai or learn more about Campfire at www.campfire.ai.

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

996 Workweeks, Exploding AI Bills & The SaaS Payback Problem

Run the Numbers