# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending May 5, 2023

Published: 4 May 2023
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-may-5-2023

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

**Customer Renewal Rate** measures the percentage of customers who renew their subscriptions at the end of each subscription period. High renewal rates inform companies about product-market fit, market, pricing fit, value, business model viability, etc. [The authors of this article from Profitwell](https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/renewal-rate) describe the formula and differentiate between renewal and retention - one is actively renewing, and the other is not actively canceling.

Link: https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/renewal-rate

## 2. 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), almost 7.5% of all venture funding rounds in the U.S. in Q1 2023 were down rounds. They also note that over [400 unicorns haven't raised new funding since 2021](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-24/tech-startups-vcs-brace-for-wave-of-down-rounds-as-downturn-lingers?leadSource=uverify%20wall), and 94% (of tech unicorns) are unprofitable.

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

## 3. VENTURE

But wait - there is more. The [Q1 '23 Venture Monitor report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/zu44s19ljjv1v4l/Q1_2023_PitchBook-NVCA_Venture_Monitor.pdf?dl=0) from Pitchbook dropped last month, and we may have the beginnings of a Startup pipeline problem: The angel and seed markets are at a 2.5-year low. The early stage Venture is the same (A&B rounds), while the late stage is at pre-2018 levels (21-quarter low). CBInsights has [the same news, just different graphs](https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/venture-trends-q1-2023).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zu44s19ljjv1v4l/Q1_2023_PitchBook-NVCA_Venture_Monitor.pdf?dl=0

## 4. DEMO

This one interests me (and apparently some people reading [last week's newsletter](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-april-28-2023)) - as the path to Demo is *precisely* the primary call to action my website is designed for. I assume it is the same for many of you B2B people, so....." [Should Your Website Drive Prospects to a Demo?](https://kellblog.com/2021/11/21/should-your-website-drive-prospects-to-a-demo/)" Read the article to determine if this is a problem at your startup.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-april-28-2023

## 5. MARKETING

Bookmark this article from the MKT1 Newsletter that dives into [how to organize a B2B growth marketing team](https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/growth-marketing-org-chart) as we move away from just a demand gen/Growth hacking worldview.

Link: https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/growth-marketing-org-chart

## 6. BOTTOMS UP

Crack (get it) open your tech dictionaries for this one. Stage 2 has a Go To Market Analysis Model called the [Bottoms Up Model](https://www.stage2.capital/blog/the-secret-weapon-to-gtm-scaling-bottoms-up-model) (Bonus [Worksheet here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15SWw4rXG2Am0haW77f_rjQrjh-35f3Sv/edit#gid=774002742)), starting with Current State to assess if Sales & Marketing efforts are well matched to the products' finance plan and unit economics.

Link: https://www.stage2.capital/blog/the-secret-weapon-to-gtm-scaling-bottoms-up-model

## 7. VIDEO

Complimenting the above, nailing introductory and Demo videos is an art form. Need help to figure out where to start or have video-block? Get inspiration from [this curated collection of some of the best](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/intro-and-demo-videos-from-famous-startups), and [here is a list of 6 videos every SaaS Company needs](https://blog.goldenspiralmarketing.com/6-videos-every-saas-company-needs). (TL;DR Explainers, Company, Testimonials, landing, page, FAQ, and Personalized Sales)

Link: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/intro-and-demo-videos-from-famous-startups

## 8. INTERNET

[Big earnings from Big Tech](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-28/all-in-bets-on-faang-stock-boom-pay-out-in-week-of-big-earnings) last week, and see #10 below for a reason for this post; over the past 30 years, the Internet has launched some of the world's [biggest companies](https://companiesmarketcap.com/internet/largest-internet-companies-by-market-cap/#google_vignette) - Google (~$1.4 Trillion), Amazon (~$1.1 Trillion), Facebook (~$615 Billion), and Netflix (~$150b). BUT - growth was all almost single digit. AI has landed, and none of it is powered by Big Tech (yet). The next earning season will [be informative on that front](https://www.businessinsider.com/big-tech-hiring-will-get-hit-by-ai-2023-4).

Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-28/all-in-bets-on-faang-stock-boom-pay-out-in-week-of-big-earnings

## 9. AI

Another week, another [eternity of progress in AI](https://twitter.com/aakashg0/status/1653050252025552898?s=20): Italy restores [access to ChatGPT](https://www.reuters.com/technology/chatgpt-is-available-again-users-italy-spokesperson-says-2023-04-28/), the Godfather of AI [quits Google](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/technology/ai-google-chatbot-engineer-quits-hinton.html), StabilityAI releases a [ChatGPT competitor](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/04/stable-diffusion-for-language-stability-launches-open-source-ai-chatbot/), Palantir releases a [Military AI Platform](https://twitter.com/thealexbanks/status/1651560588362002433) (and it's scary), and a study found [ChatGPT outperforms Physicians](https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1651965137006522369?s=20) both in skill and empathy.

Link: https://twitter.com/aakashg0/status/1653050252025552898?s=20

## 10. CASE STUDY

The World Wide Web [turned 30 years old](https://www.npr.org/2023/04/30/1172276538/world-wide-web-internet-anniversary) (publicly) last week, and we've come a long way since the Web protocol and code became royalty-free in 1993. [Here is a history of how that all started](https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web/short-history-web#:~:text=Where%20the%20Web%20was%20born,and%20institutes%20around%20the%20world.) from the OGs of Web Tech (where it was birthed pre-public in 1991) - CERN - with the badass domain of [home.cern](http://home.cern). The [Wall Street Journal has an excellent visual story](https://www.wsj.com/story/the-world-wide-web-turns-30-a-history-of-the-internet-technology-d037519d) of the Web with images of Mosaic (the first image-based browser), AOL Online CDs, and Y2K flashbacks!

Link: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/30/1172276538/world-wide-web-internet-anniversary

## POD OF THE WEEK

Complementing #6 above - Mark Roberge of Stage 2 covers [common SaaS sales potholes and how to avoid them](http://Common SaaS Sales Potholes and How to Avoid Them).

Link: http://Common SaaS Sales Potholes and How to Avoid Them