Iconiq’s State of Software in 2025: Forward Deployed Engineers Up 12x; 55% of GTM is Now in Post-Sales; 2025 Is Crushing 2024 For Funding
Summary
ICONIQ Capital’s 2025 software report shows that AI-native companies are rewriting the SaaS playbook with much smaller teams, faster growth, and different go-to-market structures. The article highlights how AI companies are reaching $100M ARR far faster than traditional software businesses while burning more cash in absolute terms but generating better capital efficiency. It also shows a major shift in GTM staffing, with more resources moving into post-sales and forward-deployed engineering. Private AI funding has already surpassed all of 2024 in the first half of 2025, signaling strong investor appetite and accelerating enterprise adoption. Overall, the report frames AI-native software as a new operating model rather than an incremental evolution of traditional SaaS.