2026 Won’t Wait: What Companies Need to Do Now

For years, the dominant business model was “growth at all cost.” Companies raised massive rounds, burned through cash, and scaled as quickly as possible — often without worrying about profitability or discipline.

Then came the market reset. Investors pulled back. Budgets tightened, and “efficient growth” became the phrase of the moment. Suddenly, the mandate was to do more with less and to prove financial prudence above all else.

Now, in 2025, we’re in a new era. It’s no longer just about chasing unsustainable growth or calibrating for efficiency. It’s about balancing responsible growth while still moving fast enough to win in competitive markets. And achieving that balance requires two things: strong operational discipline and a differentiated, unique narrative.

From More Data to Better Use of It

One of the clearest divides we see between companies that are winning and those that are stalling is how well they handle data. The leaders aren’t just collecting data, they’re operationalizing it. They know what signals to pay attention to, where the data lives, who owns it, and how to use it across the business, from customer conversations to product decisions.

That’s the irony. We’ve got more tools and integrations than ever, but teams are actually more siloed than they used to be. Everyone’s chasing the next platform or dashboard, but the basic need hasn’t changed: you still have to make sense of the data in service of a bigger strategy. And honestly, that’s getting harder, not easier, as tech stacks keep ballooning and alignment falls apart.

This is why entire categories of software exist to solve the problem of data disparity. Despite all the technology available, very few companies have figured out how to truly be data-informed. That gap is an opportunity, but it’s also a risk. If you can’t connect the dots, you can’t compete.

The temptation, of course, is to chase shortcuts. We’re surrounded by stories of businesses that scale overnight, like the Labubu toy craze that turned into a billion-dollar brand almost instantly. But those are outliers, not operating models. (Something we remind our clients of weekly!) Chasing virality or burning millions on influencer payments is gambling more than it is an actual strategy.

In today’s market, the companies that win will be the ones that scale responsibly. That means building an operational foundation where data drives real decisions, not noise.

Stop Sounding Like Everyone Else

Sometimes it feels like we’re back in the early analytics boom where every vendor promised more insights, more dashboards, and more power to the business user. But after sitting through enough demos, you couldn’t tell one company from the next.

Fast forward to today, and it’s the same playbook, just swap in “AI agents” for “analytics.” Everyone’s claiming to “redefine” or “revolutionize their respective market, but when you peel it back, very few can explain what actually makes them different. And it’s not helping sales cycles, investor pitches, or media conversations.

But the reality is that your product isn’t the same as everyone else’s. So why is your story? Differentiation comes from being able to articulate what’s unique in the clearest, simplest way possible, and without leaning on buzzwords that a dozen other companies are using on any given day.

90% of our time is spent trying to understand why anyone should actually care about any given company. This isn’t just about what you’re delivering to your customers. You need to think bigger. What is your business doing that’s causing a fundamental shift in the industry? What is so unique about you that people should stop what they’re doing and pay attention?

Take Cognition Labs. When they launched Devin, they talked about being the first AI agent to replace a junior engineer. They didn’t talk about how you could automate code or speed up your existing engineers. They talked about a complete shift in the industry and how work was getting done. They told a story, and it was a provocative one.

That’s where the good stuff is, and the companies that are nailing their storytelling are the ones that people are really paying attention to.

The New Reality Check

For years, companies could coast on momentum with big funding rounds, buzzy headlines, and borrowed language from competitors. Not anymore. The tide is turning, and the market is a lot less forgiving than it used to be.

If you’re not scaling in a way that’s sustainable, or if your story sounds like every other company in your space, you won’t get the benefit of the doubt. You’ll get ignored. And in this environment, being ignored is the fastest way to become irrelevant.

2025 belongs to the companies that can marry discipline with distinction.

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