Spoke to an RVP recently & had a super interesting conversation.

It seems like the buying cycle is vastly changing right now, especially since 2026 started.

Potential customers can use LLMs that are very intertwined within their workflows today to ask about product recommendations, if they would work, drawbacks, and pros.

This can get them 90% of the way there to see if the product would fit.

Sales reps used to be gate keepers of info, this is no longer true.

Many companies now also offer extremely generous free trials now too. You pair the free trial along with an LLM and you can basically do a whole POC of a product without ever talking to sales.