# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending January 25, 2019

Published: 25 January 2019
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-january-25-2019

## 1. FUNDING IN REVIEW

VC funding in 2018 eclipsed $100b for the first time since the dot-com era with [$130.9B invested by US VCs](https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/4Q-2018-pitchbook-nvca-venture-monitor). [PwC](https://www.pwc.com/) and [CB Insights](https://www.cbinsights.com/) also report [what happened in Q4 2018 globally with their quarterly VC report](https://www.cbinsights.com/reports/CB-Insights_MoneyTree-Q4-2018.pdf). The fewer-but-larger deal trend continues into the new year (more money being spent into less deals) and [this infographic](https://files.pitchbook.com/website/images/ar/large/b/PB-NVCA-VM-Datagraphic-4Q-2018-v3_FqJ.png) can save you a read about this trend. Also, evidently, there still remains a [massive gender bias in Startup Funding](https://www.feld.com/archives/2019/01/implicit-gender-bias-in-startup-funding.html).

Link: https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/4Q-2018-pitchbook-nvca-venture-monitor

## 2. IoT

[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/)'s top 5 [IoT predictions for 2019](https://www.evernote.com/l/AAHkbRLnCw9IbrFo2DbhJRSCRQPbuEX8hac) - 5G is coming!

Link: https://www.businessinsider.com/

## 3. Customer Success

Do you know a business needing to deploy a Customer Success team? [Here is breakdown of how to structure the first 90 days](https://hackernoon.com/first-90-days-plan-for-customer-success-management-aaf1718bd184)

Link: https://hackernoon.com/first-90-days-plan-for-customer-success-management-aaf1718bd184

## 4. Go to Market

Finding go-to-market strategies are hard and require strong packaging paired with pricing and using the freemium strategy has fluctuated from being hot to hated. This article takes a deep dive into Freemium as a strategy and asks [Is it time to rethink Freemium as a SaaS Go-To-Market strategy](https://www.appcues.com/blog/rethink-freemium)?

Link: https://www.appcues.com/blog/rethink-freemium

## 5. AI

What did the mice say? [Project “DeepSqueak" uses AI to translate ultrasonic vocalizations of rats and mice](https://www.geekwire.com/2019/mice-say-deepsqueak-uses-ai-translate-ultrasonic-vocalizations). OK, Why? Well you can’t make this stuff up - DeepSqueak is designed to help researchers figure out what rodents are saying during drug experiments (and the work is already yielding insights).

Link: https://www.geekwire.com/2019/mice-say-deepsqueak-uses-ai-translate-ultrasonic-vocalizations

## 6. SaaS REVENUE

[How (and when) to convert bookings into revenue recognition](https://blog.chartmogul.com/saas-metrics-refresher-revenue-recognition) - knowing this is key to understanding Cash at hand.

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/saas-metrics-refresher-revenue-recognition

## 7. Digital Advertising

[Amazon's online ad business is set to more than quadruple by 2023](https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-ad-business-will-quadruple-by-2023-brian-wieser-pivotal-research-2019-1) —Amazon made roughly $9 billion from advertising spend in 2018 and expects to hit $38 billion by 2023.

Link: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-ad-business-will-quadruple-by-2023-brian-wieser-pivotal-research-2019-1

## 8. Microsoft

Microsoft has performed a massive Business model turn around over the past 4 years and proved to be an incredibly resilient Tech company from an investors perspective, especially given the Stock Market behavior of the past few months. [CB Insights serves up a massive (67 page) report of Microsoft's recent transformation](https://nztradeandenterprise-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/jon_davies_nzte_govt_nz/EcAICsxBV8RKlW50X9JmrCUBHKVtAeWmsxbF-RYszyoGsg?e=rrdelE) (downloadable PDF).

Link: https://nztradeandenterprise-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/jon_davies_nzte_govt_nz/EcAICsxBV8RKlW50X9JmrCUBHKVtAeWmsxbF-RYszyoGsg?e=rrdelE

## 9. SALES DEEPDIVE

Just how do tech companies measure and reward sales teams? Well we [wrote a neat summary based on last years Bridge Groups Sales Development Metrics and Compensation Research Report](https://medium.com/north-america-tech-for-kiwis/2018-sdr-metrics-report-from-the-bridge-group-f7fee0ad46df), hopefully giving you a digestible read. **BONUS:** Download compensation calculators (as an Excel sheet) [here for SDR's](https://nztradeandenterprise-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/jon_davies_nzte_govt_nz/EVQqRjMXq6pAszaw-hwGDzQBSamdRMbu-CGt8zF7TYBzpA?e=iuQ1vt) and [here for AE's](https://nztradeandenterprise-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/jon_davies_nzte_govt_nz/EUVvo6Hi8H5PkPG-TtopQn8BoMf3DFeireB84xc5lgj0Nw?e=77VFF2).

Link: https://medium.com/north-america-tech-for-kiwis/2018-sdr-metrics-report-from-the-bridge-group-f7fee0ad46df

## 10. Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg’s New Years resolution for 2019 is to [host a series of public discussions about the future of technology in society](https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10106021347128881). He has been setting an annual personal goal for himself since 2009 and this comes from a year where Facebook and Zuckerberg faced a barrage of criticism worldwide about their business practices. Mark Benioff (CEO Of Salesforce) also [compared Facebook to Smoking](https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-a-damaging-to-your-health-as-cigarettes-say-tech-experts-2019-1) in comments earlier this week at the World Economic Forum.

Link: https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10106021347128881

## POD OF THE WEEK

From a16z, [Brian McCoullough chronicles the history and evolution of the internet](https://a16z.com/2018/12/24/how-internet-happened-evolution-of-tech)

**BONUS FROM GOOGLE**: For the Good of NZ? [Google](https://ai.google/#faqs) has launched an artificial intelligence contest for [social good](https://ai.google/social-good/impact-challenge). Please share with any companies who you think may be a good fit.

Link: https://a16z.com/2018/12/24/how-internet-happened-evolution-of-tech