Which frontier model will win the AI-platform battle?

AI platform selection remains uncertain as frontier models rapidly evolve. Dave Steer, Chief Marketing Officer at Webflow, brings two decades of scaling experience at GitLab, Cloudflare, and other category-defining companies to discuss navigating the current AI landscape. He argues that context-aware platforms built on top of commodity frontier models will determine competitive advantage, with marketing workflow platforms like Webflow positioning to compete against developer-focused tools like GitHub and GitLab. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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  From advertising to software as a service to data, across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55% to 65% open rate.

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  Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising.

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  Typical lifespan of an article is about 24 to 36 hours.

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  If we're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action, then it's just a matter of timing.

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  Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world-class marketers that use technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

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  I'm Benjamin Shapiro and joining me today is Dave Steer, the CMO of Webflow, which is a platform helping marketing teams build and optimize websites with enterprise-grade performance and AI-driven personalization. And today, Dave is going to show us how to navigate the AI boom and deliver digital experiences that move the needle. If you had to bet on one to win the battle, which frontier model are you picking?

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  I can't, I can't, I can't make that bet because, or I can't make that call because things are changing all the time. I've really enjoyed using ChatGPT. In my last job, we were, we were an Anthropic shop, so I used Claude all the time. And so I can't make the call at this point. I think, I think the game, I said early innings earlier, I'm committing to early innings.

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  That's not an answer.

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  I'm sticking to it, Ben.

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  Okay. Yeah, I have mixed emotions. I use mostly Claude right now. And I do think that, you know, the rumor is we've hit max frontier model with GPT-5, and it's just not getting incrementally better. I don't believe that for one possible second. I do think that understanding context and be able to pull in more research from the rest of the real world will continue to get better and continue to refine tone. The more I think about it, and I haven't been bullish on them before, but I think Gemini, because of the context that Google has and the access to the underlying data source, I would probably put my chips into that stack, but I am very hesitant. I think GPT

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  has the first mover advantage. I use Claude and think that right now it's the best model. And I think that when you look at the underlying data source, how could you beat Google? And that's my take.

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  I mean, look, we're three years into a decades-long journey. The other side of it is, it's the, it might even be the wrong question to ask because the frontier model is the commodity, or will increasingly become the commodity. It's the context that's added on top of it. And so, and so for me, the interesting questions, and I have, I have, I have skin in the game, I have a stake in this, is which platforms on which parts of workflows, marketing workflows, et cetera, you can, but you can also say developer workflows, which platforms that sit on top of these models have the best context available? And there's a big race with GitHub and GitLab, and I think in the marketing world,

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  Webflow is, is a, you know, it's going to give it a go.

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  All right. Well, I'm rooting for you from the sidelines, and I appreciate you coming on the podcast. And one last question for you. I know this is off the record, and we just have to ask, who's your favorite Red Sox player?

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  A big poppy. When you said big poppy, I remember taking my daughter to Red Sox games and we'd always go just to see big poppy.

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  I've always been a Mark Pedroia fan because he's the most fun to say with a Boston accent, and I'll save everybody from hearing it, but

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  Same.

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  That wraps up this episode of the Martech Podcast. Thanks for listening to my conversation with Dave Steer, the CMO of Webflow. If you'd like to get in touch with Dave, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes or on martechpod.com, or you can visit his company's website, which is webflow.com. And if you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or visit us on YouTube, where we'll be back in your feed next week. All right, that's it for today, but until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

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  Thanks for listening to the Martech Podcast, an I Hear Everything production. Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit ihereverything.com.