I had a conversation this week with a technical founder turned VC named Caleb. We started where most technical people start: what’s real and what’s vapor. But quickly, we got to the question that matters for Series A investors right now.
What should diligence look like in an AI world where almost anything can be built and everyone can generate revenue?
The old SaaS metrics don’t hold.
ARR isn’t reliable.
Logos lie.
And the categories blur fast.
So what actually matters?
What cuts through the demo shine, the inflated numbers, and the temporary excitement?
Four markers kept surfacing in our conversation, and they should anchor every traction-stage evaluation today.
1. Token usage as the early smoke test
If your product is actually solving a daily pain point, customers burn tokens.
A lot of them.
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