2026 Benchmark Report  ·  Free

What are GTM operators
actually doing with AI?

AI adoption is high. But most teams still can't tell you if their growth strategy is working, where the budget is actually going, or whether AI is recommending them to buyers. We're surveying 500 GTM operators to map the full gap across marketing systems, strategy, and AI visibility — and publishing the findings for free.

Take the Survey → What you get
27
questions
~8 min
to complete
500
practitioners surveyed
Free
full report access

Why this matters

Marketers are investing for the world as it was.
Expecting results from the world as it is.

Most GTM teams can describe their AI tools. Far fewer can tell you what those tools cost, whether they're actually moving pipeline, or whether buyers can even find them through AI search. The gap between stated priorities and actual systems is what this survey is designed to expose.

4+

separate tools the average B2B team uses just to manage content and track performance

Strategy in one place. Execution in another. Results somewhere else. Most teams manage content across 4+ tools and have no unified view of what's actually working.

73%

of B2B buyers now use AI tools during vendor research

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini. They're asking AI who to shortlist before they ever visit your site. Most teams have no strategy for showing up in those answers.

~$30K

estimated monthly spend on content, tools, and agencies for a typical Series A–B team

Most can't give you an exact number. Tools, agencies, subscriptions, model APIs — the spend is scattered across vendors, teams, and credit cards. Nobody's tracking the total.

23%

feel confident connecting content and organic spend to pipeline

The other 77% are producing more content than ever and attributing almost none of it to revenue.


What the data is designed to reveal

Three gaps we expect the data to surface.

Most benchmark surveys ask what tools you use. This one is built around a single question: how big is the gap between how AI-forward teams think they are — and how AI-forward they actually are? These are the three hypotheses we're testing.

The Adoption Gap

Teams rate themselves a 7. The data will probably say 3.

Most growth operators feel confident about their AI adoption. When you look at what they're actually using it for — and what they're not — the self-assessment rarely survives contact with the questions.

The Budget Gap

Content is the stated top priority. Budget says otherwise.

Teams consistently list organic and content as their most important acquisition channel. We expect to find the actual monthly spend breakdown tells a very different story.

The Cost Gap

AI is "central to how we work." Most teams have no idea what it costs.

Tools, APIs, and subscriptions have been rolled out across marketing teams everywhere. We think fewer than 1 in 4 growth leads can name their total monthly AI spend.


What you get

~8 minutes in.
A benchmark report back.

Everyone who completes the survey gets early access to the full State of AI-Led Growth report. See exactly how your team compares to 500 GTM operators across AI adoption, budget allocation, content systems, and AI visibility — segmented by role, stage, and company size.

📊

The full benchmark report Everyone

The complete State of AI-Led Growth findings — including all three gap analyses (Adoption, Budget, Cost) — sent to you when it publishes. Free, no paywall.

🎙️

Optional: be quoted or referenced Opt in

When you register, you can opt in to be quoted in the report, cited as a practitioner voice, or tapped as an advisor on this topic. Check the box if you want to be in the room where it happens.


Who it's for

Built for the people who own pipeline.

This isn't a survey for "marketers" broadly. It's for the operators and growth leads who are actually running AI in their GTM motion every day.

🎯

VP / Director of Marketing

Own pipeline. Accountable for AI ROI. Need the benchmark.

📈

Head of Growth

Running experiments. Scaling what works. Want to know what peers are doing.

🚀

Founder / CEO

Doing it yourself at Seed or Series A. Want signal, not fluff.

⚙️

Marketing Ops / RevOps

Building the stack. Measuring what actually matters.


How to use the findings

Data you can actually do something with.

This isn't a report you skim and close. The benchmark is designed to give you specific data points you can act on — and bring to the people who need convincing.

🔍

Surface your own blind spots

See how your self-rated AI adoption stacks up against what peers in your role and stage are actually doing. The gap is usually the most useful data point.

📋

Build the case for leadership

Benchmark data from 500 operators beats an internal opinion every time. Use the findings to justify budget, headcount, or a shift in strategy to your board or leadership team.

💡

Identify where you're behind — and where you're ahead

Filter findings by company stage, team size, and role. Know exactly where you're ahead of the curve, where you're lagging, and what the teams doing it well are prioritizing.

📣

Credibility for the AI visibility conversation

When buyers are using AI to shortlist vendors, "we should probably look into this" doesn't cut it. Real benchmark data on how many teams are tracking — and how many aren't — does.


A look at the questions

Questions worth answering honestly.

27 questions across 7 categories. These six are the ones most respondents don't expect.

AI Adoption On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your team's overall AI adoption?
AI Tools Does your team have visibility into how much you're spending on AI each month — tools, model APIs, and subscriptions combined?
Content Ops What is your team's total monthly marketing budget? Include tools, agencies, programs, and team time.
Content Ops Do you have a single, consolidated view of how all your web properties and content are performing?
AI Visibility Are you actively tracking whether your brand shows up in AI-generated responses across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude?
Results How confident are you in connecting your content and organic efforts to pipeline or revenue?
21 more questions covering AI maturity, marketing systems, spend breakdowns, content strategy, barriers, and where teams are investing next.

About GrowthX

Built by practitioners, for practitioners.

GrowthX builds software and runs growth programs for some of the fastest-growing B2B companies in the world. HubSpot is an investor. This survey is independent research, not a vendor report. The data from this survey directly shapes what we build next for growth teams. No agenda, just the benchmark.

70+
B2B clients served
6,800+
Newsletter subscribers
4
Unicorns built with this system

Take the survey

Be part of the data that shapes teams,
not just the one reading it.

~8 minutes. Free. Every answer you give makes the data sharper — and the report more useful to the whole GTM community.

Take the Survey →
27 questions, ~8 minutes
Free early report access
Full report included, free