Everyone is spending on AI.
Almost no one knows the return.
Greyspace is a quarterly benchmark of AI spend and return for venture- and growth-stage software companies. Operators submit what they spend and what they get back. In return they receive anonymised peer data and exactly where they rank against companies like them: a view that exists nowhere else.
| Specimen | Peer distribution | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| P25 | Med | P75 | |
| Code AI-authored | 14% | 31% | 55% |
| AI rework rate | 15% | 28% | 45% |
| Perceived productivity gain | 15% | 30% | 55% |
| AI spend, % of COGS | 2% | 5% | 9% |
What participants receive
- I
Where you rank against your peers
Your percentile against companies your size, stage and class.
- II
Your four-pillar comparison
Spend, usage, quality and outcomes, each set against the cohort median.
- III
A quarterly, board-ready report
Delivered in the weeks after each quarter closes.
- IV
Confidentiality by construction
Your figures are never shown; you see only the aggregates and your standing.
What we measure, and whether it’s working
Four pillars. On each, your reported numbers are ranked against companies like you.
Spend
What you spend on AI, and how that spend breaks down.
Usage
How widely, and how deeply, AI is actually used.
Quality
Whether engineering quality holds up as AI takes on more.
Outcomes
What it is doing to revenue, retention and margin.
The Greyspace Index
The Index is where you stand, not a score we invented. On four pillars, your reported numbers are ranked against peers your size; your overall standing is your percentile against your cohort. Equal weight, no invented scale.
The ranking sharpens as more peers report each quarter.
Method & confidentiality
Greyspace is independently run by Harry, a growth-equity investor. Every submission is vetted by hand for legitimacy and data quality, and the benchmark is shaped by the operators it measures, who help decide what each quarter looks at.
Your figures are never shown. You see only the aggregates: medians and quartiles within your peer group.
Figures are submitted and attested by a C-suite signatory.
Your data is used to produce the benchmark and nothing else. It is never sold or shared.
Your standing comes from ranking you against your cohort, not from a formula we invented.
For PE & VC
Put your whole portfolio on one scale. See exactly where every company you back ranks, against each other and against the market, with a cross-portfolio view no one else can access.
Begin
For C-suite operators at venture- and growth-stage software companies. Every submission is reviewed by a person.