# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending May 28, 2021

Published: 28 May 2021
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-may-28-2021

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

[MRR (monthly recurring revenue)](https://saasmetrics.co/monthly-recurring-revenue/). In a surprise statement to no one, this is one of the most important metrics a SaaS company has. But MRR is a nuanced metric with a few flavors and this is something that everyone needs a deeper understanding of. [There are different ways to calculate the metrics and once nailed](https://www.business2community.com/brandviews/zendesk/learn-from-the-past-and-prepare-for-the-future-with-monthly-recurring-revenue-02283508), can then be leveraged to easily forecast where you are going as a business and which types of MRR are performing best.

Link: https://saasmetrics.co/monthly-recurring-revenue/

## 2. MARGINS

Real talk time - Investors love SaaS because of the annuity-like returns (with prolific growth) - but if we really scratch the surface on what the margins are.........it's not good. [Sammy Abdullah takes a look at 42 publicly traded SaaS companies](https://blossomstreetventures.medium.com/saas-margins-are-terrible-eaab164866bb) (so this is theoretically companies with [decelerating growth](https://www.scalevp.com/blog/predictable-growth-decay-in-saas-companies)) to highlight how anemic (that it is negative) the median operating margin of these companies are (TL;DR - it's minus 21%) -most are operating at an operating loss.

Link: https://blossomstreetventures.medium.com/saas-margins-are-terrible-eaab164866bb

## 3. INFLATION

Huh? What the heck does this have to do with tech? Well if you have a tech-heavy investment portfolio you sure as heck know why after the [last couple of weeks wild Stock Market (and Crypto) ride](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/12/inflation-worries-slam-stocks-market-analysts-on-navigating-the-noise.html) - let's assume that the fixed Margin costs (see #2 above) are some of the reasoning - but also Tomasz Tunguz gets into it this week looking at the [Inflationary pressures within the Tech Industry in regard to valuations](https://tomtunguz.com/2021-environment/). It's quite a wild ride - especially post 2019 (60% spike)and the market is making it clear that valuations need a cool-off.

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/12/inflation-worries-slam-stocks-market-analysts-on-navigating-the-noise.html

## 4. PRODUCT MARKET FIT

Everyone thinks they have it (when they don’t). Andrew Chen from a16z is great and [his PDF/deck on going from zero to Product-Market Fit](https://www.dropbox.com/s/py6zr7yi82psem1/andrewchen_zerototraction.pdf?dl=0) is excellent (For SaaS he calls this a 5% conversion rate from free-to-paid, or 3X CPA to LTV ratio, or less than 2% monthly churn rate, or TL;DR.... just a clear path to $100k MRR). He also has an [accompanying article with notes](https://andrewchen.co/zero-to-productmarket-fit-presentation/)

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/py6zr7yi82psem1/andrewchen_zerototraction.pdf?dl=0

## 5. TRENDS

In March 2020 the search term for “how to make hand sanitizer” grew by 4,950% worldwide. Opportunity via search is a real thing. Every google search is a problem looking to be solved - some big some small. So how, as an entrepreneur, can we track these kinds of rapid trends? [Google lays down the lesson](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/how-to-use-google-trends) on how to stay on top of market trends leveraging…..you guessed it: [Google Trends](https://www.oberlo.com/blog/google-trends).

Link: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/how-to-use-google-trends

## 6. OUTBOUND

LinkedIn a pretty good source to secure outbound opportunities. From the Predictable Revenue team is a great article on [how SDRs can turn 100 LinkedIn profiles into 10 meetings](https://predictablerevenue.com/blog/how-to-turn-100-linkedin-profiles-into-10-meetings-with-tom-abbott) and Forbes gives a view on [the pros and cons of cold calling](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2020/03/17/the-pros-and-cons-of-cold-calling).

Link: https://predictablerevenue.com/blog/how-to-turn-100-linkedin-profiles-into-10-meetings-with-tom-abbott

## 7. CONTENT MARKETING

I bet you have been told that you need to focus on the top of the funnel - but here is something controversial to read: When it comes to Content Marketing - [focus on the bottom of the funnel first to drive signups](https://growandconvert.com/content-marketing/saas-content-marketing). Whaaaaaaaat? The thinking is - top of the funnel already know their stuff, it’s the bottom part of the funnel that's truly on the learning search.

Link: https://growandconvert.com/content-marketing/saas-content-marketing

## 8. DEMO or DECK?

When it comes to closing deals the teams at [Zoom](https://zoom.us/) and [Chorus](http://chorus.ai/) got together to take a look at what works better - a presentation or a product demonstration, or a bit of both? [Read away for more](https://resources.chorus.ai/home/sales-decks-vs-sales-demos-infographic-2) (and I don’t want to spoil it as the infographic is full of amazing nuggets!).

Link: https://zoom.us/

## 9. GROWTH

Jason Lemkin swooping in this week with a fantastic [top 5 tips to grow an extra 10-20% faster this year](https://www.saastr.com/5-tips-to-growing-10-20-faster-in-15/) - he's always looking for ways to squeeze more performance out of those growth engines metrics and [here is an accompanying article](https://www.innertrends.com/blog/7-steps-to-align-saas-teams) about what kind of growth metrics you may wanna squeeze

Link: https://www.saastr.com/5-tips-to-growing-10-20-faster-in-15/

## 10. CASE STUDY

I got mobbed by [Monday.com](http://Monday.com) adds in 2019 and 2020 - thankfully they are gone but I did evaluate their product for use (so they worked). They have now filed to IPO a couple of weeks back and reporting a [whopping $240m ARR with an 85% YoY growth](https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/17/fast-growth-pushes-an-unprofitable-no-code-startup-into-the-public-markets-inside-monday-coms-ipo-filing/). FYI - they launched 6 years ago. Jason Lemkin has some [great insight on their numbers here](https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-monday-com-at-240000000-arr/).

Link: http://Monday.com

## POD OF THE WEEK

Expanding #8 above from Dan Martell - [How to give product demos that sell using these 5 tips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mm_q0X-R1c)

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mm_q0X-R1c