Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending April 24, 2026

SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: CRO

Conversation Rate Optimization, Banklinko has created a great web guide about what it is and how to design for CRO within a business.

MULTIPLES

Redpoint's 2026 Market Update puts it bluntly: public SaaS trades at 4.1x NTM revenue, the lowest multiple in a decade, with software down 20% YTD - dead last in the S&P 500. Horizontal SaaS is down 35% LTM, while vertical and infra held flat. Holy crap - This means that public SaaS is now the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500, down 20% YTD. Median NTM revenue multiple has collapsed to 4.1x - the lowest in a decade.

RETENTION

Fast follow from above - as this report is JUICY! Redpoint also surveyed 141 CIOs: 54% are actively consolidating vendors; 45% of AI budgets are replacing existing software spend; AI features are the #1 driver of software spend increases at 58%, so that spend is cannibalizing existing budgets (and SaaS), not expanding them. Customer service, finance ops, and project management top the replacement list. 46% of CIOs expect usage/outcome-based pricing to grow, while 29% say seat-based pricing will decline.

GTM EFFICIENCY

AI-native companies are hitting $10M ARR within 9 months of their first $1M! That's roughly 3x faster than the best SaaS benchmarks (per Kyle Poyar's interviews with founders at Clay, Gamma, HeyGen, and Fyxer). The playbook: delay AE hires until $2M ARR, pair forward-deployed engineers 1:1 with sellers, and keep lifetime burn below ARR - no big deal.

DEPLOYMENT

FDEs are a new term for me. Forward Deployed Engineers. The biggest bottleneck in AI right now isn't the models - it's getting them deployed. Lemkin flags the FDE shortage: enterprise customers with proper training hit 60-80% automation rates, while self-serve lands around 20%.

PRODUCTIVITY

Price's Law isn't a new concept - but always so relevant - the square root of your headcount produces 50% of output. AI-first startups are proving it at scale. As mentioned a few weeks back (#9), Tunguz did the org chart math: 150 people equals 11,175 communication channels; 30 people + AI equal only 435. (and Anthropic generates ~$5M revenue per employee vs $200-300K at traditional SaaS).

TASTE

The VC Corner argues that taste is now the only moat AI can't replicate. Times have changed, fast! Coinbase says 40% of its code is now AI-generated. Lovable ships working apps in minutes. When creation is being radically commoditized, a scarce skill is curation - knowing what to cut, not what to build. We're the hipsters!

TOOLS

Claude Skills are under-appreciated, and I've been customizing a bunch this month for my personal use (they avoid re-prompting, no copy-pasting context, and makes your token use more efficient). The AI Corner published a highly bookmarkable 25 copy-paste Skills for startup marketing covering content, SEO, CRO, email, and positioning.

VENTURE

Anyone who's raised here has heard the dreaded phrases: "Too early," "too crowded," "not in our thesis" - VC-isms. This article breaks down the *real*reasons VCs say no. 10 rejection themes, decoded with some brutal clarity. A must-bookmark/read in prep for your next raise.

CASE STUDY

Anthropic has reportedly hit $30B ARR, passing OpenAI's $25B, per The AI Corner. The kicker: it's spending roughly 4x less on training costs and projecting positive free cash flow by 2027 - three years ahead of OpenAI. Over 1,000 enterprise customers now spend $1M+ annually, up from 500 two months ago.