# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending April 15, 2022

Published: 12 April 2022
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-april-15-2022

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: CAC PAYBACK

CAC is also a measure of cash profitability per customer, and CAC Payback calculates how long it takes for a customer to become cash-flow positive. [Here is how to calculate it (and why it matters)](https://openviewpartners.com/blog/cac-payback-basics-what-it-is-how-to-calculate-it-and-why-it-matters). When benchmarking this metric, it's evident in SaaS that the negative cash trough is long! According to this survey, new customers, on ***average***, take [2 years and 2 months to become profitable](https://www.forentrepreneurs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Slide43.png). This really highlights what will be a deepening dependency on Capital to fuel a SaaS company's growth.

Link: https://openviewpartners.com/blog/cac-payback-basics-what-it-is-how-to-calculate-it-and-why-it-matters

## 2. CHAOS THEORY

Digital Transformations are important, strategically. But the mindset needed for these changes to happen requires a certain kind of improv style to get there - as the systems in place that are required to change or pivot are usually very complex - change IS chaos. So take some time to [read this article](https://think-boundless.com/chaos-theory/) to understand more of what this is about - I also aspire to have the title of "Chaos Manager" one day...

Link: https://think-boundless.com/chaos-theory/

## 3. RYAN BRESLOW

[Ryan](https://twitter.com/theryanking) is the founder of [Bolt](https://www.bolt.com/) and is taking zero prisoners this week on Twitter with three SIGNIFICANT threads calling out Stripe for the [Fast fiasco](https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/05/fast-shuts-doors-after-slow-growth-high-burn-precluded-fundraising-options) and Sequoia Capital for acting like the Mob. Read more on his view on Stripe's impact on Fast (which was a direct competitor to Bolt) [here](https://twitter.com/theryanking/status/1512833718859313156?s=11&t=jGgS6HabE004SXstrv5VJQ)and his teardown of Sequoia [here](https://twitter.com/theryanking/status/1512946585554112514). Finally, wrapping both of those threads up is the third Thread for founders on [how to protect their companies from Hostile Takeovers](https://twitter.com/theryanking/status/1513341709329080321) (such as allegedly what happened to InstaCart by [Sequoia](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQB9_PtagAQfz6u?format=png&name=small)).

Link: https://twitter.com/theryanking

## 4. INVESTORS

Looking to build a list of non-Sequoia investors for your Cap Raise? Check [this new fresh list of 65,000+ Venture capital, Private Equity Firms, Angels and Family Investment Offices contacts](https://www.investorscsv.tech/).

Link: https://www.investorscsv.tech/

## 5. ESOP

Employee Share Option Plans are an excellent idea to incentivize and retain great staff. Not yet figured out your employee stock ownership plan? Check [this cheat sheet](https://www.google.com/search?q=esop+meaning&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS814US814&oq=ESOP+&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l4j69i60l3.4950j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8), or [here's a video version](https://youtu.be/Ue0S22NKoHo) if you prefer to watch it. Obviously, working out the dilution factor of an ESOP is an important metric to know - so [check this page](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/how-does-startup-dilution-for-founders-work-with-esops-and-investment/) for more on that. Finally, [here is a 9-part video post](https://www.secfi.com/equity-academy/the-most-common-questions-about-startup-stock-options-answered-video) of the most common questions about startup options.

Link: https://www.google.com/search?q=esop+meaning&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS814US814&oq=ESOP+&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l4j69i60l3.4950j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

## 6. ESOP BENCHMARKS

Fast follow from above here to [this wonderful site](https://www.indexventures.com/optionplan) that has compiled a set of benchmark data, comprising over 20,000 option grants from more than 1,650 startups across the US and Europe sorted by Seed or Venture stage.

Link: https://www.indexventures.com/optionplan

## 7. PRICING

Getting pricing right is a big deal because a [1% increase in price can generate up to an 11% increase in your profits](http://web.nchu.edu.tw/~hjlee/files/Pricing_Strategy/03_Managing%20price,%20Gaining%20Profit.pdf), so check [this article on a data-driven framework for SaaS packaging and pricing](https://medium.com/inside-personio/developing-a-data-driven-packaging-for-your-saas-product-703a67648dc4)to optimize that increase in profits.

Link: http://web.nchu.edu.tw/~hjlee/files/Pricing_Strategy/03_Managing%20price,%20Gaining%20Profit.pdf

## 8. WRAP-UPS

Add this to your tech dictionaries. Daily standups may no longer work in our new mashed up work-from-anywhere team environment, but Wrap-Ups are the new asynchronous, remote, WFH workaround. Possible fit? Take a [read here of how to try them out](https://blog.xmtp.com/goodbye-standups-hello-wrap-ups).

Link: https://blog.xmtp.com/goodbye-standups-hello-wrap-ups

## 9. EXPERIMENTS

Every path toward growth and revenue is a hypothesis in startup land, so read how[to run a growth experiment](https://mannhowie.com/growth-experiment) (in 4 easy steps!). [Testing versions](https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/ab-tests/) of things is something to embed across your company and culture as you experiment towards growth - it's why failure is key to not failing. When conducting experiments such as A/B tests, get started with [this refresher](https://hbr.org/2017/06/a-refresher-on-ab-testing) and then [this Step-by-Step Guide](https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/ab-testing-google-analytics/). Go Practice has [some great advice on making these experiments run faster](https://gopractice.io/blog/ab-tests-take-longer-than-should/).

Link: https://mannhowie.com/growth-experiment

## 10. CASE STUDY

Complimenting #9 above**.** On the extreme end of A/B testing is [booking.com](http://booking.com) which [often runs over 1,000 tests simultaneously!](https://partner.booking.com/en-us/click-magazine/role-experimentation-bookingcom) But here is the payoff: [That flywheel](https://vwo.com/blog/cro-best-practices-booking/) enabled Booking.com to compound at healthy growth rates while maintaining ~30% EBITDA margins and scaling Google ad spend to approximately $4 billion per year!

Link: http://booking.com

## POD OF THE WEEK

From the SaaS Revolution Show - Andy Whyte, CEO of MEDDICC (quite the acronym: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion and Competition), [discusses how to get ahead of complex SaaS sales.](https://thesaasrevolutionshow.simplecast.com/episodes/staying-ahead-in-the-complex-sale-with-andy-whyte-ceo-meddicc)

Link: https://thesaasrevolutionshow.simplecast.com/episodes/staying-ahead-in-the-complex-sale-with-andy-whyte-ceo-meddicc