The Briefing

A 32-month CAC payback period in the $1M–$10M ARR band signals either patient capital or structural inefficiency, depending on whether you believe growth-at-all-costs still has defenders left. The metric sits at the intersection of three tensions shaping B2B software economics: whetherQ1 private benchmarks will force recalibration of what "good" looks like post-ZIRP, how Kellogg's practitioner voice continues filling the strategy vacuum left by retreating VCs, and whether agentic security systems justify premium pricing or merely add another layer to an already bloated stack. The real tell arrives in Q2 data—if payback periods haven't compressed by then, the Series B market will do the compressing itself.