Why The AI Bubble Isn’t Dot-Com 2.0 with David Steinberg, Zeta Global Founder & CEO

Dan Nathan hosts David Steinberg, CEO and founder of Zeta Global, for a wide-ranging conversation recorded after Zeta Live in New York, where Steinberg says the event drove $10 of business for every dollar spent last year and expects 12–14x this year. Steinberg explains Zeta’s 2017 decision to re-architect its platform with proprietary data and AI native to the application layer, a bet he says paid off after ChatGPT made AI a boardroom priority; he cites growth from $283M trailing revenue at the 2021 IPO to about $1.8B this year and strong ROI metrics for clients. He describes intent-driven marketing built on a large opted-in data cloud, expansion into Dynamic Enterprise Intelligence, and the launch of Athena evolving into Athena OS for enterprise-wide use cases. They discuss announcements including making Athena headless and integrated with major models, a custom chip strategy, recent acquisitions like SensorAI for agentic commerce, and a partnership with Palantir Foundry tied to speed, ontology, data sovereignty, and Zeta Gov/FedRAMP. The conversation also covers public-market repricing, valuation multiples, key SaaS KPIs, and the outlook for frontier vs open models and an emerging agentic internet. Timecodes 00:00 - Intro 03:00 - The Bet to Go AI-Native 07:00 - From Marketing to Athena OS 20:00 - Inside the Palantir Partnership 23:45 - Wall Street's 70% Discount 28:00 - Training, Inference & Agents 35:50 - Anthropic IPO & the Frontier Labs 40:00 - Is AI Really a Bubble? — FOLLOW US Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riskreversalmedia/ Twitter: https://x.com/riskreversal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/riskreversalmedia #investing #stocks #stockmarket The financial opinions expressed in Risk Reversal content are for information purposes only. The opinions expressed by the hosts and participants are not an attempt to influence specific trading behavior, investments, or strategies. Past performance does not necessarily predict future outcomes. No specific results or profits are assured when relying on Risk Reversal. Before making any investment or trade, evaluate its suitability for your circumstances and consider consulting your own financial or investment advisor. The financial products discussed in Risk Reversal carry a high level of risk and may not be appropriate for many investors. If you have uncertainties, it's advisable to seek professional advice. Remember that trading involves a risk to your capital, so only invest money that you can afford to lose. Derivatives are not suitable for all investors and involve the risk of losing more than the amount originally deposited and any profit you might have made. This communication is not a recommendation or offer to buy, sell or retain any specific investment or service.