# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending February 28, 2020

Published: 28 February 2020
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/february-28th-2020

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

LTV/CAC. The ratio of Lifetime customer value versus customer acquisition cost is one of the primary metrics that companies use to measure efficiency ([3 is the magic number](https://www.founderviews.com/the-famous-31-ltv-cac-ratio-is-it-too-low/)) - but [this article is interesting as it gives 4 reasons (from an advertising lens) as to why LTV/CAC is not a great metric](https://www.growthengblog.com/blog/ltv-cac) for early startups (and what to use instead). HINT: It’s payback period…...

Link: https://www.founderviews.com/the-famous-31-ltv-cac-ratio-is-it-too-low/

## 2. GROWTH

I’m a sucker for good growth stories, especially at the earlier stage of the spectrum, so [here is a good one from Lemist](https://medium.com/@guillaume.moubeche/from-0-to-1m-arr-in-less-than-2-years-and-without-any-fundings-3f0fbc85ddb) on how they grew from zero to $1m ARR in less than 2 years (and without any funding). If you don't like this one, try [this user-focused growth story from Autopilot](https://growthmarketingconf.com/how-autopilot-went-from-0-to-2000-customers-in-18-months/) (who went from 0 to 2,000 customers in 18 months)

Link: https://medium.com/@guillaume.moubeche/from-0-to-1m-arr-in-less-than-2-years-and-without-any-fundings-3f0fbc85ddb

## 3. CASE STUDIES

Are super valuable at early-stages as a company needs to demonstrate to the market not just their credibility but both the business value and the technical context of the product. Heavy Bit have a great guide on [how to craft that first customer case study](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/customer-case-study-template) and Uplift provide [6 best practices to be using in your story](https://www.upliftcontent.com/blog/case-study-best-practices).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/customer-case-study-template

## 4. SALES DATA

To get a really efficient revenue engine running, the fidelity of the data you are collecting before analyzing in the sales funnel is critical. Once you have that cold hard data, [check the following article for (step-by-step) how to perform a sales analysis](https://blog.close.com/sales-analysis).

Link: https://blog.close.com/sales-analysis

## 5. SEO

Always an unavoidable topic, especially if discoverability and content marketing are part of your business strategy. Here is a great little guide on [how to use SEO to boost branded keyword rankings on Google](https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2020/02/seo-branded-keyword-rankings-google/?ref=saas-weekly) with plenty of relatively easy things to tackle and in addition [copyblogger has written a great article on how to get more traffic with SEO](https://copyblogger.com/get-more-traffic-with-seo/?ref=saas-weekly).

Link: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2020/02/seo-branded-keyword-rankings-google/?ref=saas-weekly

## 6. CRYPTO

Not something I mention much as, optically, we still seem to be in a Crypto-Winter, but [behind the scenes a lot is going on](https://medium.com/saxon-advisors/investment-trends-in-crypto-the-rise-of-venture-capital-c32930d95439) (and behind the scenes of those behind the scene is where it’s all happening).

Link: https://medium.com/saxon-advisors/investment-trends-in-crypto-the-rise-of-venture-capital-c32930d95439

## 7. CONVERTIBLE LOANS

They are kind of debt, until they are not. But Convertible Loans are a quick way to access money quickly via an interested investor. Point Nine Capital [describe in detail what is involved in a convertible loan](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/convertible-loans-what-to-look-out-for-404e888ea0c2) and what to look out for.

Link: https://medium.com/point-nine-news/convertible-loans-what-to-look-out-for-404e888ea0c2

## 8. CADENCE

Disruption is such a cliche word, but one thing that differentiates a disruptive force in any industry is simply the cadence with which that force operates. TL;DR: [Cadence IS the advantage](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-drumbeat-of-digital-how-winning-teams-play). Agile ways of working were pioneered by the tech industry ya know. For [fast execution](https://avc.com/2018/06/the-heartbeat/) to work, fast strategy is necessary - [here is BCG’s take](https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/fast-execution-needs-fast-strategy.aspx).

Link: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-drumbeat-of-digital-how-winning-teams-play

## 9. MARKETPLACES

They don’t get enough attention in this newsletter, so time to change that a little this week. Earlier this month a16z introduced [the Marketplace 100](https://a16z.com/2020/02/18/marketplace-100). A ranking of the largest and fastest-growing consumer-facing marketplace startups and private companies. AirBnB tops the list and the next 3 down are all food delivery services - will be interesting to see if any of that consolidates next year. They also have an accompanying article talking about [what might be next for marketplaces](https://a16z.com/2018/11/27/services-marketplaces-service-economy-evolution-whats-next/).

Link: https://a16z.com/2020/02/18/marketplace-100

## 10. SECURITY

From an investor perspective, there is an ever-increasing value seen in good security practices when evaluating startups. Particularly when evaluating mid-market and (especially) enterprise technologies. From Heavbit here a couple of great articles discussing this in detail - from what [investors are looking in a teams response to security](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/startup-security-venture-capital) to [how to pass those awkward, friction-inducing Enterprise Security Reviews](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/passing-enterprise-security-reviews)….and also [how to get started](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/security-from-the-start-startup-security-basics/).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/startup-security-venture-capital

## POD OF THE WEEK

To compliment #9 above, **f**rom a16z: [Metrics and mindsets for retention and engagement](https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/retention-engagement-metrics-cohort-analysis-platforms-marketplaces-zKgUegIs) as marketplaces and other platforms evolve over time

Link: https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/retention-engagement-metrics-cohort-analysis-platforms-marketplaces-zKgUegIs