# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending January 4, 2019

Published: 4 January 2019
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-january-4-2019

1. Late last year, [Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/) obtained confidential startup salary information from top venture-capital firm, [Andreessen Horowitz](https://a16z.com/) (a16z). [Check how much Silicon Valley startup execs really get paid](https://www.businessinsider.com/a16z-data-startup-executives-salary-equity-bonus-pay-2018-9).

2. [Who makes the smart speaker with the highest IQ](https://loupventures.com/annual-smart-speaker-iq-test)? [Loupventures](https://loupventures.com/) asked each of the top 4 brand speakers 800 questions each. (HINT: The answer rhymes with Dougal)

3. [How to Build Growth Teams](http://1g1uem2nc4jy1gzhn943ro0gz50-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/how-to-build-a-growth-team.pdf) from [Andrew Chen](https://andrewchen.co/) of [a16z](https://a16z.com/) (shareable PDF!)

4. Callaghan Innovation report on the [potential impact for blockchain technologies on the New Zealand economy](https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/news-and-events/distributed-ledgers-and-blockchain-report).

5. Southeast Asia remains the [best market for FinTechs](https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2018/12/142758-robocash-report-says-asean-is-best-market-for-near-term-fintech-development). Fintech investments in ASEAN countries in 2018 will exceed the $5.7 billion invested in 2017 by 20% to 30%

6. [Smart Speaker penetration hit critical mass over 2018](https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/28/smart-speakers-hit-critical-mass-in-2018/). The smart speaker market nearly doubled, reaching around 41 percent of U.S. consumers, up from 21.5 percent in 2017.

7. [Microsoft](https://www.microsoft.com/) ends 2018 as [Americas most valuable company](https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-will-end-2018-as-americas-most-valuable-company/). Other tech companies (Amazon and Apple) reached a far higher market cap in 2018, both exceeding valuations of over $1 Trillion, however with the stock market bear run late in the year, Microsoft proved to be much more resilient.

8. 15+ of The [Top Sales & Marketing Mistakes](https://www.saastr.com/15-top-sales-marketing-mistakes-saas-startups-make/) SaaS Startups Make from Jason Lemkin of SaaStr

9. Innovation disrupted. [CB Insights](https://www.cbinsights.com/) just published a fantastic report on [the disruption of traditional business management consulting](https://nztradeandenterprise-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/jon_davies_nzte_govt_nz/EcAbk-0mIwdIlN3_oz2MfNYBLgsxI5o9-YQA6h7DDKexhw?e=aXbkP1). A lot for NZTE to extract in this, as well as NZ’s Jumpshift/[Adeption](http://www.adeption.io/) who are disrupting

10. NZTE are off to CES next week and will have a bunch of reporting coming out of the conference. But [here is a teaser of what to expect](https://www.businessinsider.com/ces-2019-preview-tech-announcements-2018-12). CES is also becoming the center of [innovations in the automative industry](https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/new-cars-and-technology-features-displayed-at-ces-2019).

11. [Making it big in the US](https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/innovation/109496402/making-it-big-in-the-us--kiwi-companies-that-got-away) - Kiwi tech companies that 'got away’ - very interesting article on Stuff about Kiwi tech companies journeys to the US.

BONUS: Founder University is a free course Jason Calacanis and Wilson Sonsini lead in San Francisco designed for founders that have a product in market, but have yet to raise a Series A. The next class is next month: February 11-13. If you know of a suitable founder, they can [apply here](https://www.founder.university/february-2019) ( deadline is January 7th).

 POD OF THE WEEK:

David Skok on choosing the [right metrics for the right growth stage](https://simplecast.com/s/ce8c96af)