# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending February 10, 2023

Published: 9 February 2023
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-february-10-2023

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

ACV, or Annual Contract Value, is one of the most popular metrics in the SaaS world. This[article from Chartmogul](https://blog.chartmogul.com/annual-contract-value/) goes into detail about what it is, how to calculate it, and how to leverage it in your business. Here are some excellent recent data on [ACV within scaled SaaS companies](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/average-contract-value-saas-sammy-abdullah-1c). TLDR, the median ACV is $49K.

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/annual-contract-value/

## 2. WEBSITE

Quick Question "[Is Your Website Stressing Out Visitors](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/06/website-stressing-out-visitors/)"? Quick Answer: Probably. Read further on the WJTBD (Web Jobs to be Done) or TL;DR - remove the noise and focus on the [jobs you need the website to do](https://www.lean-labs.com/blog/the-jobs-to-be-done-framework-b2b-site-strategy).

Link: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/06/website-stressing-out-visitors/

## 3. VENTURE

From[Law of VC](https://lawofvc.substack.com/) is the [Ultimate Guide to Fund Terms](https://lawofvc.substack.com/p/24-episode-the-ultimate-guide-to) that can tell you all of the critical terms that govern venture capital funds so you can nod knowingly when pitching to all of those VCs.

Link: https://lawofvc.substack.com/

## 4. REVIEWS

According to Gartner's 2023 [Global Software Buying Trends report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpe0s95vbjrmk30/2023-global-software-buying-trends-report.pdf?dl=0), user reviews, and ratings influence the purchase decisions most - 41%. And of those reviews - customer reviews are trusted by 49% and peer recommendations by 50%. On the other hand, recommendations from industry influencers are used by only 37%, 32% have outgrown their current technology, and 30% have concerns about security and cyber attacks - good information to know when targeting new SMB B2B Customers!

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpe0s95vbjrmk30/2023-global-software-buying-trends-report.pdf?dl=0

## 5. BUYERS

Software is generally a boom during Economic downturns - the downside of which is more competitiveness. So take note that in [the same report above](https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpe0s95vbjrmk30/2023-global-software-buying-trends-report.pdf?dl=0), almost 70% of small to medium-sized businesses plan to increase their spend on software this year, many to increase productivity (47%), and security is a Top Priority for Software Buyers at 42% (more so than ease of use - 38%).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpe0s95vbjrmk30/2023-global-software-buying-trends-report.pdf?dl=0

## 6. PRICING

It's never right as it has to evolve (and [we need to charge more](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/12/15/camels-and-rubber-duckies/)). Intercom makes the case that [a solid pricing strategy helps shape an entire business model](https://www.intercom.com/blog/pricing-strategy-business-model).

Link: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/12/15/camels-and-rubber-duckies/

## 7. PAYFAC

Crack open them Tech Dictionaries again: [PayFac](https://staxpayments.com/blog/payfac-whats-a-payment-facilitator/) (or Payments Facilitator) is something I have implemented to create an additional (recurring) revenue line to the business, but it was only this week that I discovered a pre-existing portmanteau for that. Stripe has a [good guide](https://stripe.com/en-nz/guides/payfacs) on bringing PayFac in-house, and [here is a downloadable PDF](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ax5hhqvk2mjvf1t/HowToBecomeAPayfac_Blog_1222.pdf?dl=0) on the same topic. Very low touch once it's up and running!

Link: https://staxpayments.com/blog/payfac-whats-a-payment-facilitator/

## 8. STARTUPS 1

This is a bit of a ying and yang 2-part post: Tom Loverro of [IVP](https://www.ivp.com/) makes the case via a Twitter Thread (and also mentioned in last week's [All In Podcast](https://youtu.be/Ymo6Yzjv_KY?t=2052)) that there's[a mass extinction event coming for early & mid-stage startups](https://twitter.com/tomloverro/status/1620466827519496194?lh_aid=3853160&lh_cid=ekl0pyl52i&di=eaa1080e6b1dc0f8e04f84405664df17) this year and next (due to short cash runways and the acute inability to raise cash in this market).

Link: https://www.ivp.com/

## 9. STARTUPS 2

To contradict (a little) the post above, Nnamdi Iregbulem, a Partner at [Lightspeed Venture Partners](https://lsvp.com/), makes an in-depth argument that [we don't have nearly enough startups](https://whoisnnamdi.substack.com/p/not-enough-startups) (well, at least the good ones)

Link: https://lsvp.com/

## 10. CASE STUDY

Successful onboarding is challenging in person - it's 10x harder in today's remote work environments. [This is how Zapier does it](https://www.process.st/effective-remote-onboarding/) (and leverages their own product to use automation to do it), and [here are some lessons learned from Slack](https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/remote-new-hire-onboarding).

Link: https://www.process.st/effective-remote-onboarding/

## POD OF THE WEEK

The Video-version of #10 - [Employee onboarding secrets from Zapier](https://youtu.be/dJrpT1vyQgY) founder Wade Foster.

Link: https://youtu.be/dJrpT1vyQgY