Phin Barnes · 28 October 2026 · Operating Insight

Got RoTo?

Phin Barnes, Partner @ The GP

Phin Barnes introduces RoTo (Return on Token)—a metric measuring revenue generated per dollar of AI inference spend—as the best north-star for evaluating application-layer AI companies, arguing high and rising RoTo signals genuine specialization, durability, and defensibility against commoditization.

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Topics: AI (Horizontal) · Venture Capital & Startups

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