# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending March 20, 2026

Published: 20 March 2026
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-march-20-2026

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

ARR - Kyle Poyar makes a case that [ARR is just not that trusty a metric for AI-native companies](https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/rethinking-saas-metrics-for-ai) and proposes gross profit per million tokens (see #6 below). [Late last year](https://tomtunguz.com/gross-profit-per-token), Tomasz Tunguz found that this metric tracks closely with AI company trading multiples (and also [revenue per employee](https://tomtunguz.com/communication-tax-small-orgs/)). The logic: In an 80% margin SaaS world, ARR was a great proxy for value. In a 20-60% margin AI world (with wildly variable cost structures), it ain't.

Link: https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/rethinking-saas-metrics-for-ai

## 2. DATA

I don't think I have more to add than the title of this article: "[You Cannot Be Data-Driven Without Experimentation](https://www.reforge.com/blog/you-cannot-be-data-driven-without-experimentation?ref=saas-weekly)," but the opposite of that is also a truth to hammer home "You Cannot run experiments successfully without being data-driven". We all [overestimate our experimentation skills AND our Data collection skills](https://www.reforge.com/blog/why-most-analytics-efforts-fail).

Link: https://www.reforge.com/blog/you-cannot-be-data-driven-without-experimentation?ref=saas-weekly

## 3. VENTURE

Bloody hell - [The Big Book of VC](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hlg2hyonzmuismm12994s/Big-Book-of-VC-2025-annual-edition-v10-public-compressed.pdf?rlkey=03fazpihj5zj3itzzg1f53csk&dl=0) is a BEAST of a PDF: AI captured 51% of all global venture funding but only 30% of deal volume - capital concentrating into fewer, bigger bets. Secondaries hit $102B in H1 2025, overtaking IPOs as an exit mechanism for the first time. Only 25% of current unicorns are realistically IPO-ready, and 60% of 2025 IPOs are priced below the last private round.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hlg2hyonzmuismm12994s/Big-Book-of-VC-2025-annual-edition-v10-public-compressed.pdf?rlkey=03fazpihj5zj3itzzg1f53csk&dl=0

## 4. BRAND

Ever wonder what the heck those ads are that have no meaningful call to action? [System1 analyzed 195 US TV ads](https://mnorthfield.substack.com/p/more-emotionmore-attentionbetter) and found that ads using characters, dialogue, and expressive people drive sustained attention; product shots and voiceover lose it, even from interested buyers. For us operators: 94% of B2B buyers build their shortlist before contacting a vendor, and 77% buy from their original top choice. Being in memory before they're in-market can make you an easy part of the deal.

Link: https://mnorthfield.substack.com/p/more-emotionmore-attentionbetter

## 5. PRICING

Bessemer's [AI pricing playbook](https://www.bvp.com/atlas/the-ai-pricing-and-monetization-playbook) is out and identifies the core structural shift: SaaS charged for access, AI must charge for outcomes. The problem is that outcome-based pricing requires knowing your cost-to-serve per transaction before you set a price - most teams don't. Get the unit economics wrong at pricing design, and every enterprise contract becomes a margin liability at scale.

Link: https://www.bvp.com/atlas/the-ai-pricing-and-monetization-playbook

## 6. PRICING 2

Clay just took an immediate 10% revenue hit to [restructure pricing around a platform + tokens model](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-pricing-memo-internal) - separating out data credits (cost pass-through at 50-90% reduction) from workflow actions (value). [Kyle Poyar's read](https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/a-new-vision-for-ai-pricing): this is where AI pricing is heading. Credit-based pricing surged 126% in 2025. The operator question is whether your customers can predict their bill, and whether your margin survives if they can't.

Link: https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-pricing-memo-internal

## 7. RETENTION

ChatGPT *was* the [fastest-growing consumer app](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley) in history. Claude just became [the fastest-growing enterprise product](https://www.saastr.com/claude-is-the-fastest-growing-enterprise-product-ever-and-it-makes-it-simple-to-cancel-why-do-you-make-it-so-hard/), growing from $1B to $14B ARR in 14 months. The twist: Anthropic built a one-click cancel button into the product. Lemkin's point lands harder for that reason: a [2024 FTC/ICPEN study](https://www.icpen.org/sites/default/files/2024-07/Public%20Report%20ICPEN%20Dark%20Patterns%20Sweep.pdf) found 76% of SaaS companies deploy dark patterns to trap churning customers. If the category winner doesn't need to, neither do you.

Link: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley

## 8. COMPREHENSION DEBT

Folks, there is a new kind of debt in town - comprehension. An Anthropic randomized trial found that AI coding assistance produced the same velocity but 17% lower comprehension scores - and developers using AI for passive delegation scored below 40% on comprehension tests vs. above 65% for those using it for active inquiry. The tool isn't the problem; how you use it is.

## 9. GOVERNANCE

Whoops! Some of [Amazon's AI coding assistants](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/10/amazon-plans-deep-dive-internal-meeting-address-ai-related-outages.html) contributed to four P1 incidents in one week! $6.3M in lost eCom orders and a 99% drop in order volume across North America - ouch. The response: a 90-day safety reset and mandatory two-person review for all code changes. [Tomasz Tunguz's frame is the harder question](https://tomtunguz.com/you-are-responsible-your-agent): AI-generated code produces 70% more issues than human code, Utah has already eliminated the hallucination defence in law, and the company bears liability for every action its agents take.

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/10/amazon-plans-deep-dive-internal-meeting-address-ai-related-outages.html

## 10. CASE STUDY

NON-DILUTES: The VC Corner has compiled [80+ non-dilutive funding sources across grants](https://www.thevccorner.com/p/non-dilutive-funding-sources-startups-database), RBF, venture debt, prizes, and cloud credits. One founder stacked four sources to raise $1.2M at zero dilution. The stacking math is the hook: cloud credits alone (I'm a big fan) across three major providers are worth $800K+, government grant programs run 15-20% approval rates for Phase I at $50K-$500K per award, and the global RBF market hit $5.8B in 2024, growing at 70% annually.

Link: https://www.thevccorner.com/p/non-dilutive-funding-sources-startups-database

## POD OF THE WEEK

Chris Degnan scaled revenue at Snowflake from [$0 to more than $3B ARR](https://medium.com/@jmprunet/agentic-ai-is-a-massive-opportunity-for-b2b-software-c7f55002e147).

Link: https://medium.com/@jmprunet/agentic-ai-is-a-massive-opportunity-for-b2b-software-c7f55002e147