SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK
Here is a new one - The Customer Success Ratio. Calculate this as CSM expense ÷ Net New ARR from Existing Customers. Track it to see if your post-sale team drives growth or burns margin. Rule of thumb: keep it \<10%.
Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending June 13, 2025
AI
Bond Capital's monster 340-slide AI report is a goldmine: ChatGPT scaled 20x faster than the internet (p. 20), 73% say AI sounds human (p. 26), inference costs down 99% (p. 40), agent apps surging (p. 93), revenue scaling fast (p. 102), 70% of GenAI users seeing productivity gains (p. 109).
UNICORN
The 30-year unicorn backlog may finally be moving (this is referencing the 700+ unicorns stuck in private markets). Q2 saw 20 unicorn exits (vs. six last year), led by AI, cyber & health. Wiz's $32B buyout, CoreWeave IPO & more signal some kinda thaw—but with 700+ unicorns still waiting, this logjam may take some time.
VENTURE
VCs seem to be funding two things: AI & SaaS—but in very different ways. AI receives massive rounds, but even pre-revenue SaaS companies must show traction and efficiency. AI = 'fund the vision,' SaaS = 'fund metrics.' Same VCs, two mindsets.
GROWTH
Unlike the focus of #3 above, mostlymetrics breaks down why 10-15% annual SaaS growth is just fine for many. Not every startup is a rocket ship—and that's OK. Realistic growth expectations & compounding wins > unicorn-chasing.
PRODUCTIVITY
I've been having lots of productivity talks over the past few weeks, and this is a great article that validates a lot of the discussions (and, tbh, gave me a few hard truths to act on). It's targeted at engineers, but the 15 productivity hacks here apply to any knowledge worker IMO. High-signal, no fluff.
MARKETING
Here is a GitHub treasure trove: Marketing for Founders. Crowdsourced, no-nonsense advice across positioning, pricing, SEO & more. A really practical resource worth bookmarking for revisits.
PRICING
Check out this go-to pricing guide for early-stage founders. It covers freemium, premium, usage-based, and hybrid models—plus when (and how) to charge more.
MOATS (AI)
Clouded Judgement dives into what modern SaaS moats in the modern AI world look like: Speed isn't just important; it is the moat. As well as scale, network effects, brand, and distribution. But because AI compresses product moats, this all matters more than ever. (also read the rest of that post - tons of nuggets always in there - benchmarks on multiples, revenues, gross margin, etc., etc.)
CASE STUDY
Perplexity AI is scaling fast! Check this deep dive on its acquisition and retention machine. Sixty percent of traffic is direct, mobile usage is exploding, and SEO and product-led virality do the heavy lifting.