# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending April 16, 2021

Published: 16 April 2021
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-april-16-2021

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

Understanding customer acquisition cost can help create, measure, and improve a growth strategy that can put a business on the path to profitability. [Here is a deep dive into the whys, the whats, and hows of CAC](https://blog.chartmogul.com/customer-acquisition-cost-cac/).

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/customer-acquisition-cost-cac/

## 2. MARKETPLACES

2020 was a bit of a gut punch for many marketplace categories, I even (very optimistically) in [a pre-covid newsletter](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/archives/02-2020)mused what marketplace consolidation will occur in the upcoming year. Little did I know! a16z have just updated [their Marketplace 100](https://a16z.com/marketplace-100/) and guess what? Consolidation was very much a thing: last year, four startups accounted for 76 % of consumer spending. This year more than 70 % of Market Value can be attributed to just one company (Instacart is the Covid winner) and 10% of companies from last year went public or were acquired. Ed Tech is also the newest category winner.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/archives/02-2020

## 3. VENTURE CAPITAL

BOOM! Investments to US-based companies surged to a [record high of $62 Billion](https://research-assets.cbinsights.com/2021/04/05135636/MoneyTree_Headline_Report-Q121_1.png) in Q1 21 according to the PwC and CB Insights [Q1 2021 MoneyTree Headline report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/82sdtyc9a4odtft/CB-Insights_MoneyTree-Q1-2021-Headline.pdf?dl=0) (that's up 62% from Q4 of last year) - to put this into context, it's almost half of all money raised last year (and 2020 was a historical high). Deal activity is also up 14% YoY (1,735 deals) - great sign, unless you are looking for Seed $$'s, as deal activity is up in all stages *except* seed (which is down in comparison to Q4 of last year)

Link: https://research-assets.cbinsights.com/2021/04/05135636/MoneyTree_Headline_Report-Q121_1.png

## 4. PRODUCT MARKETING

Marketing is a very broad practice, see [here for a list of the separate marketing functions that can exist](https://mkt1.substack.com/p/marketing-org-chart). So [here is a very helpful dive into Product Marketing](https://setapp.com/business/what-is-product-marketing)and specifically what the roles and responsibilities are of a Product Marketing Manager.

Link: https://mkt1.substack.com/p/marketing-org-chart

## 5. PERSONALIZATION

Did you know that marketing personalization can [reduce acquisition costs as much as 50%](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/marketings-holy-grail-digital-personalization-at-scale) and [87% of companies see a lift in key growth metrics](https://venturebeat.com/2015/09/23/new-vb-insight-research-shows-web-personalization-is-not-just-for-amazon/) when they employ personalization? SaaS marketers have been leveraging personalization to increase conversion rates, improve customer success, and increase the quality of sales/marketing funnels for some time so here is a [great article from Chart Mogul](https://blog.chartmogul.com/saas-guide-website-personalization)on the (modern-day) personalization fundamentals.

Link: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/marketings-holy-grail-digital-personalization-at-scale

## 6. DEATH TO EMAIL

Just kidding. Email is a long way from going bye-bye, we spend, on average, [over 3 hours a day using it](https://www.slideshare.net/adobe/2019-adobe-email-usage-study), so don't rush out to delete your inbox just yet. Communication platform companies have been making this death-to-email statement for years though - looking at you Yammer. The irony is not lost as I'm sure many of you are suffering from intense Slack/Zoom/Teams fatigue. But guess what? These platforms are absolutely not going anywhere. [A new (VERY Slack-centric) report from Slack](https://slack.com/intl/en-nz/blog/transformation/future-collaborative-communication-platforms-shaping-way-we-work) shows the impact and importance of collaboration platforms in our new post-pandemic workplace environments: 40% of meetings can be replaced, 95% of Slack users say they prefer Slack to video calls when connecting with their team, and 100% of Slack users want to keep using Slack even after the pandemic!

Link: https://www.slideshare.net/adobe/2019-adobe-email-usage-study

## 7. RENEWALS

Existing customers are the lifeblood of growth in a SaaS business, so making sure they renew is an exercise in revenue efficiency. New customer acquisition [costs about $1.10+ per $1 of ARR](https://www.gainsight.com/blog/acquiring-customers-isnt-enough-heres-why-you-need-to-focus-on-retention/)). Compare that to the cost of retaining or up-selling existing customers (about 12c-15c per $1 of ARR) - that’s 8 times cheaper. So [take a peep at this article that not only lists 5 SaaS Renewal Best Practices](https://www.process.st/saas-renewal-best-practices/) but also explains how best to go about calculating renewal rates.

Link: https://www.gainsight.com/blog/acquiring-customers-isnt-enough-heres-why-you-need-to-focus-on-retention/

## 8. COMMISSIONS

How do you pay out your different sales channels? Commission levels of sales are pretty stable across sale types at [about 10-14%](https://dskok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_5d9cb635cd5e8-e1570551370186.png). Commissions on renewals are [only 3% and upsell is 9%](https://dskok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_5d9cb6e187f9b-e1570551598475.png) - however about 50% of the time, this is not paid at all. (Bringing up another subject on [how much revenue a Customer Service Manager](https://tomtunguz.com/how-much-arr-can-a-csm-manage)can manage).

Link: https://dskok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_5d9cb635cd5e8-e1570551370186.png

## 9. CSM ATTRIBUTION

This is an extension of the last link above: How do you account for, or budget the cost, of a Customer Sucess team? The team at Gainsight dives [deep into this question](https://www.gainsight.com/2016/01/29/how-do-you-account-for-the-costs-customer-success-team/) and comes up with some fantastic insight - even though the question itself is complicated and the answers end up being more non-monetary than you would probably like. Owning the renewal, up-sell, cross-sell are key delineation points between expense attribution across different departments who CSM teams may sit under.

Link: https://www.gainsight.com/2016/01/29/how-do-you-account-for-the-costs-customer-success-team/

## 10. CASE STUDY

Dropbox! I've been a big Dropbox user since inception - I was an early birder! As were they to Product Lead Growth strategies - they have a legendary story of 3900% growth in just 15 months! Just mind-boggling. Check out [how they made all that happen](https://www.theflyy.com/blog/dropbox-referral-program-a-case-study-of-3900-percent-growth-in-15-months/).

Link: https://www.theflyy.com/blog/dropbox-referral-program-a-case-study-of-3900-percent-growth-in-15-months/

## POD OF THE WEEK

Customer churn is the bane of SaaS businesses - [data can help understand the causes of churn and take action to reduce it](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4FaTXmRHLSiyfrir3Wzbgl).

Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4FaTXmRHLSiyfrir3Wzbgl