๐ a16z: 'Lighthouse or Landgrab?' โ The Two Enterprise AI Sales Playbooks
a16z partners break down the two go-to-market strategies AI startups use to sell into the enterprise:
โข Lighthouse โ land a few marquee logos (Harvey, Hebbia) to build trust in a brand-new category; slow, high-touch, six-to-seven-figure deals.
โข Landgrab โ win on ROI math and speed against incumbents (Stuut, Decagon); demo-driven, volume-based.
Decagon used the landgrab playbook to scale from 0 to eight figures in ARR in 18 months, tripling its valuation to $4.5B.
๐ก Why it matters: For investors sizing up AI-native fintech and enterprise software bets, the framework is a sharp lens on GTM efficiency and moat durability โ landgrab winners scale fast but risk churn at volume, while lighthouse winners command premium ACVs but grow slower and depend on a handful of trophy accounts.
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