The revenue growth rate of leading AI companies is faster than that of any previous technology wave Andreessen has seen.

Judged as of 2026-01-07. True: reported revenue figures for leading AI companies (e.g. OpenAI, Anthropic) show growth in their early years, such as time to reach $1B or $10B in annualised revenue or year-over-year multiples, faster than leading companies of earlier technology waves (PC, internet, mobile, cloud/SaaS) at comparable stages. Mostly true: AI leaders grew faster than nearly all earlier waves' leaders, with a minor exception or a caveat about how growth is measured. Mixed: AI leaders are fastest on some measures but matched or beaten on others (e.g. some earlier companies grew as fast at similar scale). Mostly false: AI growth is very fast, but comparable data shows one or more earlier waves' leaders grew clearly faster, so the claim overstates. False: AI leaders' revenue growth was clearly slower than that of earlier waves.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Salesforce is The GOAT of B2B. It Got to $31B ARR in 19 Years. Anthropic Did it in 4. Here’s Why SaaStr (Jason Lemkin) · 10 May 2026

   “Anthropic (founded 2021): Year 3: $87 million. Year 4: $1 billion. Year 5: $30 billion.”

2. E2 Salesforce is The GOAT of B2B. It Got to $31B ARR in 19 Years. Anthropic Did it in 4. Here’s Why SaaStr (Jason Lemkin) · 10 May 2026

   “Salesforce (founded 1999): Year 5: $100 million. Year 10: $1 billion. Year 15: $4 billion.”

3. E3 OpenAI Crosses $12 Billion ARR: The 3-Year Sprint That Redefined What’s Possible in Scaling Software SaaStr (Jason Lemkin) · 20 August 2025

   “Google/Alphabet (1998-2006): ~8 years”

4. E4 Time-to-Value Compression: AI Companies Hit $1B Revenue in 2-3 ... FourWeekMBA (with The Business Engineer) · 9 January 2026

   “Anthropic’s S-1 gives Anthropic’s annual figures: revenue of $41 million in 2023, $386 million in 2024 and $4,585 million in 2025, then $16,286 million for the six months ended 30 June 2026.”

Anthropic's S-1 figures, as reported in E4, show revenue of $41 million in 2023, $386 million in 2024 and $4,585 million in 2025. That is roughly tenfold growth in each year, and the periods all end before the judge date. E1 has Anthropic going from $87 million to $1 billion between its third and fourth years. E2 has Salesforce, a cloud/SaaS leader, at only $100 million in year 5 and $1 billion in year 10. E3 gives Google about 8 years for a milestone the quote does not name. The comparison mostly covers cloud/SaaS, and the evidence has no direct figures for the PC or mobile waves. So the claim is supported but with a caveat about how complete the comparison is.