The inside track on tech, innovation (ai) and scaling

We analysed a bank of recent interviews with go-to-market leaders to see how senior leaders talk about their AI approaches. Only 16 of 55 C-level executives (29%) provide concrete detail on how their functions practically use AI. The good news? Mid-level executives are much more on the ball. 29 of 31 interviewees for more junior roles (median salary c. £160k) gave highly specific operational detail on how they are building with AI.

Out of a recent GTM candidate pool, 45 candidates (37%) cited a lack of upward mobility as fuel for their decision to interview for a new role. The underlying dynamics are even more telling. Multiple leaders pointed to identical structural bottlenecks, such as a founder retaining the chief title, strict policies blocking external executive appointments, or an impending public listing precipitating an outside hire. For founders holding onto operational leadership titles, the ultimate ceiling capping your highest performers may well be yourself.

Still think that CEO pay in the UK lags behind the States? Not if you're Josh Payne. The Nscale CEO's total compensation last year was $23.2 million, according to Nscale's pre-IPO S1 filing (opens external source).

The dollar amount is huge for a private company, yes, but the bit we thought was especially interesting? How much of Payne's package was in equity. His base and bonus together (a bit more than $722k) was just 3.2% of his total compensation package. For the fastest-growing companies making big bets on the future, that is the kind of aggressive structure board directors and other shareholders want to see.