AI is racking up eye-watering numbers: $252B invested globally last year, $320B in new data centers underway in 2025, and OpenAI valued near $500B. Nvidia, Oracle, SoftBank, and CoreWeave are trading billions in hardware and cloud deals that circle back to each other, a loop some are calling the “infinite money glitch.”

The dot-com boom followed the same script: massive capital inflows and valuations untethered from results. MIT research says 95% of AI pilots still fail. Analysts warn that while Big Tech has pledged hundreds of billions for AI data centers, the revenue so far lags far behind the spend. That mismatch echoes the “dark fiber” overhang of the 2000 crash that led to severely overbuilding infrastructure.

Microsoft’s Azure AI is at an $86B run rate, and OpenAI expects $20B this year. But the question isn’t whether AI will transform the economy, it’s whether today’s trillion-dollar bets can deliver results fast enough to justify the frenzy.

When the story outruns the results, the bubble bursts.

Just as dot-coms collapsed on buzz without revenue, AI companies face scrutiny on results. Marketing must connect the brand promise to tangible outcomes buyers, and investors, can trust.

Private equity is still pouring into tech: 22% of all North American deals in 2025 so far, up from 19% last year.

But the Bain Technology Report makes one thing clear: the days of easy money in software are gone.

For years, SaaS growth was automatic. Buy a promising platform, watch revenues compound, and let multiples do the work. That playbook is breaking down. Penetration curves are flattening in mature sectors, upsell motions are losing power, and pricing hikes are harder to push through.

When capital stops rewarding “easy growth,” the pressure flows straight to the go-to-market engine. Investors will expect growth to come from sharper positioning, disciplined customer acquisition, and more efficient expansion, not just product momentum or market tailwinds.

That means CMOs have to prove marketing can do three things at once:

If the old investment model was about catching a wave, the new one is about building it.

And marketing is now on the hook to help shape that curve.

We help B2B teams build distinction where competitors copy, sharpening narrative, positioning, and content so buyers see clear value, not more of the same.

We don’t normally explore duds at B2BOOM!, but there’s a broader lesson available here.

Nescafé launched “Proudly Brewing Workplace Vibes” to spotlight coffee’s role in workplace culture. Tactically, the instinct was right: emotional value matters more than features. Buyers don’t want specs on a machine, they want connection, collaboration, and culture.

We’re all for “documentary style,” but this particular approach comes off as timid, safe, and low-budget instead of bold, authentic, and social-ready. The bigger opportunity was sitting right there: positioning coffee not simply as good office vibes but as essential infrastructure for culture and productivity in a return-to-office world. That’s value framed squarely around the buyer’s goals.

It’ll be interesting to see if any metrics are shared on this campaign.

Emotion is the right lever in B2B, but you can’t stop at “good vibes.”

The stakes need to be higher. Tie your story to the strategic context buyers care about and deliver it with the craft and ambition that matches the size of the opportunity.

LinkedIn just launched its Company Intelligence API, shifting B2B attribution from lead-level tracking to full company engagement. Instead of counting clicks from a single contact, marketers can now see how entire buying committees interact across paid and organic touchpoints.

The results, apparently, are big:

Early adopters report a 287% increase in companies reached, a 96% lift in pipeline attributed to marketing, and a 43% drop in cost per acquisition.

With buying groups averaging 6–10 people and sales cycles stretching past 200 days, measuring one lead at a time simple does not cut it. Company-level attribution shows the true impact of coordinated plays across marketing and sales.

ABM just got a stronger proof point.

With company-first attribution, CMOs can finally show the revenue impact of account-based programs and win the budget battles that follow.

Lead-level tracking can’t capture buying committees, and proof gets lost in the noise. Attribution needs to show real impact where decisions are made.

We help B2B teams close that gap, aligning brand and demand, building content systems that influence the whole account, and making sure marketing gets credit for driving revenue.

Growth today isn’t handed out by markets. It’s created by CMOs who align brand, demand, and proof better than anyone else.

—Jay