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

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LINKS:

Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

CJ 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-useful

https://www.highalpha.com/saas-benchmarks

https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/presenting-the-state-of-the-agentic-financial-stack

https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/finance-in-2030

https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-algorithm-will-see-you-now/

https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/openai-ceo-sam-altman-forecasts-20-billion-annualized-revenue-year

https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/your-pricing-is-broken

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RELATED EPISODES:

Getting fired 4 times made me a founder | Sam Jacobs of Pavilion

https://youtu.be/8X-JVOF-1A0

How To Win at Early Stage Sales With the Guy Who Helped Take Snyk From $0 to $100M+

https://youtu.be/VKrZCte8fyM

996 Culture, Exploding AI Bills & SaaS Chaos

https://youtu.be/qhrxDL0gsRo

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 Preview and Intro

00:01:43 Sponsors – Pulley and Metronome

00:04:03 Flight Cancellation and Airport Chaos

00:07:23 Being Right vs. Being Useful at Work

00:09:33 Career Paths – Expert vs. Manager

00:10:42 Getting Promoted and Making Others Look Good

00:14:50 What Separates a Good VP of Sales from a Great One

00:17:22 The CFO Mindset Behind Great Sales Leaders

00:21:58 Is OpenAI Too Big To Fail?

00:24:32 AI Investments and Economic Growth

00:26:30 Accounting Games and Useful Life of AI Infrastructure

00:27:38 Agentic Finance and the AI-Driven Finance Stack

00:31:07 2025 SaaS Benchmarks Report Highlights

00:33:24 Realistic Growth Rates by ARR Tier

00:34:15 Efficiency Gains and Headcount Reduction

00:35:05 AI’s Impact on Engineering Teams

00:37:09 Age and Startup Success

00:39:54 The Power of Networks and Mature Relationships

00:40:50 Something You Tried This Week – HVAC Cleaning

00:46:13 Credits – Mostly Growth Closing Remarks

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SPONSORS:

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Metronome 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

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#MostlyGrowthPodcast #StartupFinance #AIPodcast #SaaSLeadership #GoToMarket

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