# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending February 24, 2023

Published: 23 February 2023
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-february-24-2023

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

Here is another list (seven) of the [SaaS metrics that VCs evaluate Startups on](https://georgian.io/g7-the-seven-saas-metrics-georgian-uses-to-evaluate-growth-stage-software-companies/) - the bonus is that it comes with a downloadable [Google Worksheet template](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yLYmpDnnbsfVHvTpx9DoXFCbK_sdujaS8_l0c_VU0UE/edit?usp=sharing)(make a copy for yourself).

Link: https://georgian.io/g7-the-seven-saas-metrics-georgian-uses-to-evaluate-growth-stage-software-companies/

## 2. BUSINESS MODEL

You will be asked often, especially when pitching, about your go-to-market business model: [This is a pretty long but very high-value read from Alex Jarvis](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/if-you-do-this-one-thing-your-startup-business-model-is-doomed-to-succeed) with real-life examples of good business models (and some good humor thrown in). The business model is ***always*** more important than the product (but of course, they both matter - but so does timing. There is a more extended PDF version - [so I got that for ya too](https://www.dropbox.com/s/i71z9ddy68u04ou/If%20you%20do%20this%20one%20thing%20your%20startup%20business%20model%20is%20doomed%20to%20succeed.pdf?dl=0).

Link: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/if-you-do-this-one-thing-your-startup-business-model-is-doomed-to-succeed

## 3. MARKET SIZING

The dreaded slide on everyone's pitch deck that is required to outline the business model and pricing in #2 above. What's the size of the market? TL;DR [if the market is small, same with your startup](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/big-can-get-market-sizing-question-killed-many-startup-fundraises/). Understanding the nuances of[TAM, TOM, and SOM](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tam-sam-som) is a great way to complete the slide but get started with your TAM first via [this guide from Bling Capital on how to size a market (in 30 minutes!)](https://blog.blingcap.com/2023/02/13/How-to-Size-a-Market/).

Link: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/big-can-get-market-sizing-question-killed-many-startup-fundraises/

## 4. VENTURE 1

A couple of weeks back, I discussed the potential of a mass extinction event coming for early & mid-stage startups ([#8 and #9](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-february-10-2023))- same is probably valid for Venture and, according to this article, a "[horde of ailing venture capital zombies](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/16/rise-of-zombie-vcs-haunts-tech-investors-as-startup-valuations-plunge.html)" will emerge in the coming years.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-february-10-2023

## 5. VENTURE 2

Adding to evidence for the impending VC Apocalypse above, January's VC funding landscape stats are in [this Crunchbase report](https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/monthly-vc-funding-openai-recap-january-2023/) - all rounds were down except seed. And that includes the banger of a round from OpenAI (ChatGPT's Parent) of [$10 Billion](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-23/microsoft-makes-multibillion-dollar-investment-in-openai).

Link: https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/monthly-vc-funding-openai-recap-january-2023/

## 6. SMB

In general, the Old SaaS-Skool guidance was to start chasing the most significant contract values as soon as possible (hello Enterprise!). But according to Craft, [newer school thinking is to focus on SMBs](https://medium.com/craft-ventures/enterprises-vs-smbs-whos-the-better-customer-for-b2b-saas-startups-9a0d4efe69e9), as sales velocity is a better strategy than chasing contract size - and [SMBs are plentiful](https://www.nextinsurance.com/blog/the-united-states-of-small-business/). However - the downside of SaaS-for-SMB is [discussed in this article from SaaStr](https://www.saastr.com/the-challenge-with-smb-saas-high-growth-can-only-mask-high-churn-for-just-so-long/) - CHURN!

Link: https://medium.com/craft-ventures/enterprises-vs-smbs-whos-the-better-customer-for-b2b-saas-startups-9a0d4efe69e9

## 7. PRODUCT LED FRAMEWORKS

Bookmark this as it's [the first part of a pretty amazing 3-part series](https://www.calixa.io/blog/framework-to-finding-monetizing-product-qualified-leads) from [Calixa](https://www.calixa.io/) covering PLG fundamentals, starting with defining what a PQL (product qualified lead) is and how to find it.

Link: https://www.calixa.io/blog/framework-to-finding-monetizing-product-qualified-leads

## 8. B2B MARKETING 1

SaaS B2B Marketing is a [unique beast](https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-saas-marketing-is-different/). I'm running a new demand generation campaign and finding out the hard way that growth marketing and demand generation are different. So don't learn the hard way, as I did. Instead, read [this too-late-for-me article from Emily Kramer if MKT1](https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/growth-marketing-org-chart?) on the difference (and how to organize your B2B growth marketing team).

Link: https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-saas-marketing-is-different/

## 9. B2B MARKETING 2

Now that market conditions dictate [profits are more important than growth](https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/02/investors-have-flipped-their-weighting-of-growth-versus-profitability/), what is the role of growth marketing? And i[s it even marketing in the first place](https://www.em-v.com/blog/if-growth-is-not-marketing-then-what-is-growth-marketing)?

Link: https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/02/investors-have-flipped-their-weighting-of-growth-versus-profitability/

## 10. CASE STUDY

According to the [Bessemer Cloud Index](https://cloudindex.bvp.com/), only 11 of its 75 companies earn a profit today, but [here is Slab's path to startup profitability](https://slab.com/blog/path-to-startup-profitability/).

Link: https://cloudindex.bvp.com/

## POD OF THE WEEK

A [great discussion in the Y-Combinator Podcast on the normalization of Startup jobs](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/y-combinator/id1236907421?i=1000599070215) in the US and beyond (and how the drift from non-conformists (less than 15 years ago) to mainly conformity today.

Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/y-combinator/id1236907421?i=1000599070215