# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending March 4, 2022

Published: 4 March 2022
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-march-4-2022

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

ACV or Annual Contract Value is one of the most popular metrics in the SaaS world; this[article from Chartmogul](https://blog.chartmogul.com/annual-contract-value/) goes into detail about what it is, how to calculate it, and how to leverage it in your business. [This article also looks at Annual Contract Values (ACV) and groups them into animals](http://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2014/10/five-ways-to-build-100-million-business.html) we can all relate to (Mice, Rabbits, Deer, Elephants, and Whales) - Animal Contract Value :-) - anyone, anyone???? This analogy can then be used in turn for [what it takes to build a $100m business and how different segments contribute to total revenues over time](https://blog.chartmogul.com/find-out-which-animals-youre-hunting/). Check #7 here for a spin on ACV

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/annual-contract-value/

## 2. EMAIL

Take a look at this[PowerPoint deck](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s3PJdZpkZSSFT9MqHcHIQly7z9X3IMIb0fOvDy3bi9E/edit#slide=id.g8d379308d7_0_193)from Predictable Revenue on the four pillars they think constitutes a QUALITY sales-based email campaign; it's an excellent resource for anyone with email marketing as part of their business. From Better Marketing is a [complimentary deep dive into a single cold email and why the author opened it](https://medium.com/better-marketing/the-best-cold-e-mail-ive-ever-received-bfa224677b64) (TL;DR - yes, it's all about everything in the email's design, but more about how targeted the message is).

Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s3PJdZpkZSSFT9MqHcHIQly7z9X3IMIb0fOvDy3bi9E/edit#slide=id.g8d379308d7_0_193

## 3. MVP CANVAS

OK - this is a bookmarkable one for me (because visual frameworks are my jam). Y'all have heard of the Lean Canvas and the Business Model Canvas? Well, [check out this spin on applying the framework focused on designing and launching MVPs](https://bramkanstein.com/mvpcanvas/) (don't [burn the Pizza](https://firstround.com/review/dont-serve-burnt-pizza-and-other-lessons-in-building-minimum-lovable-products)). DIFFERENTIATION: Standing out in a saturated sea of SaaS is a tricky problem to solve - pro-tip - never do it on price alone. So ask yourself, "why should someone buy from you?" It requires balancing familiarity and differentiation - [read this article to get you thinking on the topic more](https://cxl.com/blog/differentiation-strategy/).

Link: https://bramkanstein.com/mvpcanvas/

## 4. CUSTOMER PROFILE

Here is an excellent tool for anyone. Sales can be a real uphill battle when sales teams don't truly understand their ideal customer. Building out customer profiles is a beneficial way to identify your best customers. So download [this Profiler kit pdf](https://www.dropbox.com/s/0q7aiwkc3ug78jf/icp-checklist.pdf?dl=0%20)and use these [questions and survey generator](https://close.com/resources/ideal-customer-profile-generator/) to quickly generate the ideal questions and template for your customer profiles. The rest is all on you.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0q7aiwkc3ug78jf/icp-checklist.pdf?dl=0%20

## 5. DEADLINES

Adding on to [#6 from last week's newsletter](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-february-25-2022)on Estimation (which was a super popular post) - Author Douglas Adams once wrote, *"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.".* It's funny because it's true. So when it comes to software development, how do you make peace with that whoosh? Check [this article from Free Code Camp that discusses the art of managing the deadline](https://medium.com/free-code-camp/how-to-make-peace-with-deadlines-in-software-development-6cfe3e993f51) - part of it is complementary to a reference to the [sub-art of saying NO](https://medium.com/free-code-camp/the-most-important-skill-a-programmer-can-learn-9d410c786baf)from a while back.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-february-25-2022

## 6. UPMARKET

Expanding on the Animal Contract Values listed in #1 above, moving upmarket into larger organizations is a [pretty standard SaaS growth strategy](https://tomtunguz.com/when-to-move-up-market/). Zoom just [announced earlier this week](https://www.zdnet.com/article/zoom-gives-weak-q1-outlook-but-sets-sights-on-bigger-customers/) their intention on upmarket growth. Jason Lemkin gives it [a 50/50 chance](https://www.saastr.com/why-there-is-a-5050-chance-youll-tilt-upmarket-in-saas). Increasing ARPU (Average Revenue Per Customer) is good! There is [much to learn](https://www.proposify.com/blog/saas-moving-upmarket), and a lot of time and effort is also required to succeed in this market segment. [Here is an excellent guide from Outreach](https://www.outreach.io/blog/how-to-close-enterprise-sales-deals) on breaking into deals over $100k ARR.

Link: https://tomtunguz.com/when-to-move-up-market/

## 7. CONCENTRATION

Break out your tech dictionaries again because, no, I'm not talking about my brain's ability to get distracted. Lightspeed Venture Partners' Nnamdi Iregbulem has outlined [a new metric he created called weighted average contract value](https://www.protocol.com/enterprise/lightspeed-vc-saas-revenue) (WACV). He argues that this metric provides more meaningful information than ACV (see #1 above). The reason is that B2B SaaS revenue is highly concentrated due to the distribution of the customers being very concentrated: A large number of smaller companies, a moderate number of moderate-scale companies, or a very small number of very large companies).

Link: https://www.protocol.com/enterprise/lightspeed-vc-saas-revenue

## 8. MOBILE

In 2021, only 233 mobile apps crossed the $100 million mark in annual revenue but saw consumers [spending $133 billion](https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/07/app-stores-to-see-record-consumer-spend-of-133-billion-in-2021-143-6-billion-new-app-install), and [75% of them were games](https://www.emarketer.com/content/gaming-dominates-100-million-app-club). The global Mobile gaming market is forecast to reach [$153.5 Billion by 2027](https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/global-mobile-gaming-market-reach-131400149.html)

Link: https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/07/app-stores-to-see-record-consumer-spend-of-133-billion-in-2021-143-6-billion-new-app-install

## 9. PRODUCT MARKETING.

The SaaS world is getting crowded, and competition to [acquire new customers is rising](https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/how-is-cac-changing-over-time). Good Product marketing can give SaaS companies an edge to compete in this hyper-crowded market. Take a look at this [complete guide to Product Marketing in 2022](https://cxl.com/blog/product-marketing/).

Link: https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/how-is-cac-changing-over-time

## 10. CASE STUDY

Expanding on #1, #6 and #7 this week **-** many well-known tech companies (such as Calendly, Atlassian, Zoom, and SurveyMonkey) moved upmarket, Tom Hale has a great [case study on how it was done at SurveyMonkey](https://thenextweb.com/growth-quarters/2020/12/14/3-key-considerations-to-prep-your-saas-offering-to-sell-upmarket/) (who are now well over $400m in ARR) - Enterprise is currently growing 53% YoY and accounts for 29% of total revenue

Link: https://thenextweb.com/growth-quarters/2020/12/14/3-key-considerations-to-prep-your-saas-offering-to-sell-upmarket/

## POD OF THE WEEK

We all dread that small amount of toxic customers who take up a disproportionate amount of people's time and energy, take a listen to this podcast from the team at Startups For The Rest Of Us for [some fantastic tips on dealing with toxic customers](https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-341-how-to-deal-with-toxic-customers).

Link: https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-341-how-to-deal-with-toxic-customers