# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending January 15, 2021

Published: 14 January 2021
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-january-15-2021

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: THE ROSE METRIC

Starting 2021 off with Rose colored metrics. People are the most important (and expensive) metric for any company, especially SaaS (yes, I would argue more important than the software product). Revenue per FTE is one metric to measure when it comes to people efficiency, but a better one perhaps is [the ROSE Metric](https://www.thesaascfo.com/saas-rose-metric/), (Return on SaaS Employees). This metric highlights the tradeoffs between headcount, recurring revenue, and EBITDA growth of a SaaS company.

Link: https://www.thesaascfo.com/saas-rose-metric/

## 2. MVP CANVAS

OK - this is interesting (because visual frameworks are my jam). Y’all have heard of the Lean Canvas and the Business Model Canvas? Well [check out this spin on applying the framework focused on designing and launching MVP’s](https://bramkanstein.com/mvpcanvas/) (just don’t [burn the Pizza](https://firstround.com/review/dont-serve-burnt-pizza-and-other-lessons-in-building-minimum-lovable-products))

Link: https://bramkanstein.com/mvpcanvas/

## 3. TOP SAAS

Who are the fastest growing SaaS companies of 2020? [This excel file](https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zunqu3azdshcou/GetLatka.com-Welcome-Data.xlsx?dl=0) shows the largest private SaaS companies ranked by revenue as of last month. There are over 40 SaaS companies with more than $2m in revenue that grew more than 200%

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zunqu3azdshcou/GetLatka.com-Welcome-Data.xlsx?dl=0

## 4. CX REPORT

All companies are under pressure, especially after 2020, to deliver optimal customer experiences (CX) and companies with a 'champion' mindset outperform their counterparts. Getting started it's difficult to know where to make investments that are likely to pay off so [download and read this in-depth Report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/es5t86vocittofz/CX%20Maturity%20report_C%20and%20E_en-UK.pdf?dl=0) (78% of respondents said that customer-centric agility has increased in importance as a result of COVID-19).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/es5t86vocittofz/CX%20Maturity%20report_C%20and%20E_en-UK.pdf?dl=0

## 5. UPSKILLING

If you have a new years resolution to learn something new, then take a look at this comprehensive list of 50 plus [free awesome Certificates to earn in 2021](https://dev.to/panx/50-free-awesome-certificates-to-earn-in-2021-2l7g) from Security to DevOps and Programming languages.

Link: https://dev.to/panx/50-free-awesome-certificates-to-earn-in-2021-2l7g

## 6. CHURN

In our current comic climate, crisis-driven product churn is a legitimate thing as many businesses are continuing with a more austere strategy. As I’ve mentioned quite often [in the past](https://dskok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_5d9cb0905614f-e1570549921759.png) acquiring new customers is much more expensive than retaining an existing one. Creating a culture of customer retention is one of the best things to do, especially during a pandemic. [This article discusses ways to make that happen](https://nethunt.com/blog/how-to-reduce-crisis-driven-product-churn/).

Link: https://dskok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_5d9cb0905614f-e1570549921759.png

## 7. LEADERSHIP

The SBI CEO Advisory Board has defined [three top priorities for high growth CEOs going into the new year](https://salesbenchmarkindex.com/insights/top-priorities-for-ceos-in-2021) - all focusing on business fundamentals and being data-driven.

Link: https://salesbenchmarkindex.com/insights/top-priorities-for-ceos-in-2021

## 8. GROWTH MARKETING

If you're responsible for growth/marketing we've hit the motherlode this week! Dan Siepen has [put together a comprehensive list of resources](https://www.dansiepen.io/growth-marketing-checklists) and the lists are updated often, so make sure you bookmark this page.

Link: https://www.dansiepen.io/growth-marketing-checklists

## 9. PITCH

Getting a VC's attention in the initial pitch meeting is incredibly important - [so here are 10 tips to help your pitch game from Fran Rotman](https://twitter.com/fintechjunkie/status/1341808894641893385) presented in a 28-part Tweet-storm (and check these [16 rookie errors founder make pitching to VC’s](https://www.saastr.com/16-rookie-errors-founders-make-pitching-to-vcs-and-passing-the-20-minute-test/) from Jason Lemkin)

Link: https://twitter.com/fintechjunkie/status/1341808894641893385

## 10. CASE STUDY

Xero! The accounting software company is approaching $1B in ARR so [SaaStr takes a look at how they go there](https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-xero-as-it-approaches-1b-in-arr): Nailing a niche and an LTV of 81 months really helps! Markgrowth also has a great complimentary article on [how Xero acquired 350k SaaS users](https://blog.markgrowth.com/xeros-growth-strategy-how-they-acquired-350k-saas-users-in-the-last-12-months-c077b66145e)in 2018.

Link: https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-xero-as-it-approaches-1b-in-arr

## POD OF THE WEEK

[Sean Ellis: How to rapidly scale growth](https://www.saastock.com/blog/sean-ellis-podcast). Sean discusses when the right time for a startup to really focus on ‘growth’ is and also how to create a culture of experimentation.

Link: https://www.saastock.com/blog/sean-ellis-podcast