# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending May 19, 2023

Published: 18 May 2023
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-may-19-2023

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

**ARR per FTE**: Capital Efficiency is a new-fangled metric we all want to track in these LeanOps times. Benchmarking this - the median is [$143K per FTE](https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vbvyrv32e6uxlu/11%20-%20ARR%20per%20FTE.png?dl=0) according to the 2022 KeyBanc Private SaaS Report. With public companies, it's double that, according to [data from Maritech](https://www.meritechcapital.com/benchmarking/comps-table) and Kyle Polar from Openview, [breaks this down to tell whether you're on the right track](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kyle-poyar_saas-finance-benchmarks-activity-7058793435348004864-2lQ9).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vbvyrv32e6uxlu/11%20-%20ARR%20per%20FTE.png?dl=0

## 2. AD BOT

The internet is only half human - Imperva's [annual Bad Bot report](https://www.imperva.com/resources/reports/2022-Imperva-Bad-Bot-Report.pdf) revealed almost half (47.4%) of all internet traffic was from bots, with bot traffic of the bad kind accounting for over a quarter (27.7%) of all traffic.

Link: https://www.imperva.com/resources/reports/2022-Imperva-Bad-Bot-Report.pdf

## 3. DEX

Crack open your tech dictionaries for another acronym-based entry: Digital Employee Experience. This is all about your internal users - your team. In a surprise to mostly no one, [95% of employees say IT issues decrease workplace productivity and morale](https://venturebeat.com/2022/07/06/report-95-of-employees-say-it-issues-decrease-workplace-productivity-and-morale/) - which is a bigger deal AND a more significant challenge to solve now that digital tools are more mission-critical in today's WFH/Hybrid/Remote work environments.

Link: https://venturebeat.com/2022/07/06/report-95-of-employees-say-it-issues-decrease-workplace-productivity-and-morale/

## 4. SaaS (Born again)

Great article from Harvard Business Review summarizes [how the traditional sales model "funnel" does not apply to modern SaaS](https://hbr.org/2023/04/the-rebirth-of-software-as-a-service) and equates a customer life-cyle to look more like a "Bowtie" rather than a funnel shape because most revenue takes place outside the marketing funnel (which is why modern Customer Success and NDR exists).

Link: https://hbr.org/2023/04/the-rebirth-of-software-as-a-service

## 5. B2B SAAS

Silver Cloud lining time! Adding onto the Harvard Business Review article above is from Boston Consulting Group, who make the case that overall [Tech may be cooling off, but B2B SaaS is not.](https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/winning-strategies-of-hypergrowth-saas-champions) They also bring receipts to back up that claim (B2B SaaS is outpacing Industry growth by 10x) and deliver a playbook that B2B SaaS companies can make to continue the growth trajectory

Link: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/winning-strategies-of-hypergrowth-saas-champions

## 6. PR

Getting good PR if you're an unknown startup is hard (and also can be seen as a low priority in the endless stable of things to get done) - but it's easier than you think without a publicist. [Here is a great 101 article from Point Nine Capital](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/how-to-get-press-coverage-fe9dfb1249c8)(they call it PR for dummies) on how to get great press coverage. ChartMoguls also have [this article late on PR for SaaS](https://blog.chartmogul.com/pr-for-saas) - with some sample scripts!

Link: https://medium.com/point-nine-news/how-to-get-press-coverage-fe9dfb1249c8

## 7. ENTERPRISE ADVICE

a16z convened some early-stage CEOs for a recent event, [discussing business management need-to-knows like hiring, firing, scaling, sales, and marketing](https://a16z.com/2023/05/10/enterprise-startups-advice-on-hiring-firing-scaling-and-selling/).

Link: https://a16z.com/2023/05/10/enterprise-startups-advice-on-hiring-firing-scaling-and-selling/

## 8. DOWN ROUNDS

According to [data from Pitchbook](https://www.dropbox.com/s/o5yzecgjtkvrxai/Q3_2022_PitchBook_Analyst_Note_Down_Rounds_Impacts_and_Exit_Opportunities.pdf?dl=0), down rounds are on the rise but don't worry - read[this article with the author making the point that down rounds won't kill you](https://www.onlycfo.io/p/down-rounds-wont-kill-you).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o5yzecgjtkvrxai/Q3_2022_PitchBook_Analyst_Note_Down_Rounds_Impacts_and_Exit_Opportunities.pdf?dl=0

## 9. STATE OF WORK

A new report from [software.com](http://software.com) on the [future of work](https://assets.website-files.com/6080d45a6168d45abde5cba9/644ff1d30af5474fe3c7b989_2023%20Future%20of%20Work%20Report.pdf) (for Software Development) is an AI baseline of sorts that we should revisit next year. TL;DR - Devs have better work-life integration post-pandemic (with fewer late nights and weekend work), productivity remains unchanged (BUT devs are spending a little less time coding per week), and that's because AI is starting to show up. It will [fundamentally change how Devs work.](https://github.blog/2023-04-14-how-generative-ai-is-changing-the-way-developers-work/)

Link: http://software.com

## 10. CASE STUDY

I'm still trying to figure out why, but last week's article on Product Market Fit was very popular, so let's double down on how [some popular companies got found PMF](https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1653237059321212928) (via a Tweet Thread).

Link: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1653237059321212928

## POD OF THE WEEK

As AI continues on a burn, founders and CEOs (me included) are discussing how to integrate this new superpower and also considering essential questions around data privacy, accuracy, and pricing (me included). [Please take a listen to a16z's Podcast on what we are all already talking about](https://www.stitcher.com/show/a16z-podcast/episode/embedding-ai-the-questions-every-ceo-is-asking-303233417).

Link: https://www.stitcher.com/show/a16z-podcast/episode/embedding-ai-the-questions-every-ceo-is-asking-303233417