2025 State of AI: The Builder's Playbook (ICONIQ)

Summary

• The study summarizes an April 2025 survey of 300 executives at software companies building AI products.p.5
• 47% of AI-native products analyzed are already scaling, having proven market fit.p.8
• Only 1% of AI-native companies are still in pre-launch, compared to 11% of AI-enabled companies.p.8
• High growth companies are defined by at least $10M in annual revenue and AI product traction at General Availability or Scaling.p.5
• The report covers product architecture, go-to-market, talent, cost management and internal productivity for AI builders.p.3

Key insights

1. AI-native companies are further along in the development cycle than AI-enabled peers.p.8
2. High growth requires 100%+ YoY revenue growth if revenue is under $25M, and 30%+ if revenue is $250M+.p.5
3. AI-enabled companies add AI capabilities to existing products or create a new non-core AI product.p.6
4. AI-native companies architect their entire value proposition around generative intelligence.p.6
5. The report draws on proprietary survey results alongside in-depth interviews with AI leaders across the ICONIQ community.p.3