# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending June 5, 2020

Published: 4 June 2020
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-june-5-2020

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

Gross Margin. It’s my (unpopular to some) opinion that Margin is the do-or-die metric for recurring revenue based businesses. It’s why [VC’s love SaaS Businesses](https://leadedgecapital.com/why-we-like-saas-businesses/) so much. According to David Skok and Co, the Median is [78%!](https://www.forentrepreneurs.com/2019-saas-private-survey-results-part-1/) (This is after respondents were asked to back out stock-based compensation BUT includes customer support expenses. The SaaSCFO has you covered for [best ways to calculate this though](https://www.thesaascfo.com/how-to-calculate-saas-gross-margin/).

Link: https://leadedgecapital.com/why-we-like-saas-businesses/

## 2. MARKETING

When it comes to growth marketing - a lot is email dependent. Andrus Purde at Outfunnel takes a look at some of the best in the game in [this post](https://outfunnel.com/the-big-email-marketing-teardown) - there is a bunch we can all learn from this tear down - great stuff!

Link: https://outfunnel.com/the-big-email-marketing-teardown

## 3. THE SEED ROUND

Last week I referenced a [path to Series A story](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/9-tricks-to-be-series-a-ready-f93b2a050c85). This week, let's look at the Seed round, and more specifically, [what an investor expects within a seed round contracts](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/seed-funding-terms-its-the-upside-stupid-2a1b661bea8) (and why), it’s a great framework for founders to understand why certain terms are required at Seed stage.

Link: https://medium.com/point-nine-news/9-tricks-to-be-series-a-ready-f93b2a050c85

## 4. ESOP

Employee Share Option Plans are a wonderful idea to incentivize and retain great staff, so here is a bit of a deep dive here - but all from the same source, Alexander Jarvis’s Blog (who’s run courses on Udemy in the past): Starting with a [cheat Sheet to terms](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/esop-terms-cheat-sheet/), how to [size an ESOP plan](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/size-employee-ownership-share-plans-startups), understanding [how dilution will work with an ESOP plan](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/how-does-startup-dilution-for-founders-work-with-esops-and-investment) (complete with a calculator), and the [full ESOP deep dive](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/esop-plan-excel-template-step-step-guide-retain-attract-top-staff) complete with videos, slide show, and am Excel based planning tool.

Link: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/esop-terms-cheat-sheet/

## 5. GROWTH

Five ways to build a $100M business - just follow [this simple video](https://twitter.com/PointNineCap/status/1097809510666854400), find your target market animal spirit, and you are good to go. This is a fantastic way to think about customers, segments, pricing, and cohorts.

Link: https://twitter.com/PointNineCap/status/1097809510666854400

## 6. STRATEGY

As an expansion on above, because there are many different ways to build a SaaS business, it [depends on the “animals sprit" of the target market](https://blog.chartmogul.com/find-out-which-animals-youre-hunting) as to which strategy is best.

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/find-out-which-animals-youre-hunting

## 7. VC

US-based startups raised fewer total rounds in Q1'20 compared to recent quarters, but [mega-rounds (deals work over $100m) rose sharply](https://www.cbinsights.com/research/startups-vc-funding-us-mega-rounds/) (up nearly 50% compared to the prior quarter.). At the lower check size end of town, it also looks like [the VC Hustle (to wind deals) is over and pragmatic and controlled approaches to investing have returned](https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/coronavirus-forces-venture-capitalists-to-follow-new-script).

Link: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/startups-vc-funding-us-mega-rounds/

## 8. PRICING

Current climates have really put a bit of a brake in most mid-enterprise SaaS sales cycles, I’m certainly seeing it. Everyone is just moving cautiously toward their digital initiatives. [Here are three of the key changes to enterprise software buying habits, and how your team can adapt](https://www.heavybit.com/library/enterprise-pricing-donnie-berkholz/). CoBloom have a complimentary article on how to develop a [cross-functional pricing squad](https://www.cobloom.com/blog/how-to-assemble-an-effective-saas-pricing-team).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/enterprise-pricing-donnie-berkholz/

## 9. JUST DO IT

It's easy to get caught up in the details and troubles that 2020 is slapping us in the face with. As a leader, keeping the beat and progressing the business forward during this time takes some help. So [read this from Henry Ward from Carta on how to create a continued Bias for Action](https://medium.com/@henrysward/a-bias-to-action-4add3bd9ab77).

Link: https://medium.com/@henrysward/a-bias-to-action-4add3bd9ab77

## 10. FRICTION

Taking the friction out of their sales processes is one fo the best things to improve the efficiency and cadence of a business. Jason lemkin from SaaStr recently asked for some top troops on smoothing out points of friction - [check it out](https://www.saastr.com/60-top-tips-to-take-friction-out-of-your-sales-processes-and-close-more-faster/?ref=saas-weekly), it's a great list.

Link: https://www.saastr.com/60-top-tips-to-take-friction-out-of-your-sales-processes-and-close-more-faster/?ref=saas-weekly

## POD OF THE WEEK

To add onto #8 above - [here is the video expanding on pricing and packaging for mid-enterprise sales](https://youtu.be/OJZAl0Z70ac) during COVID times.

Link: https://youtu.be/OJZAl0Z70ac