# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending November 8, 2024

Published: 7 November 2024
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-november-8-2024

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: EXPANSION

[Net Dollar Retention is getting harder to come by](https://openviewpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Chart-8.png) but never harder than new customer acquisition efforts. Top-quartile companies have been hit hard, seeing NRR drop from 119% to 107%. But at scale, [more growth is from Expansion vs. New](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/bnsnwy3xjtx91tsa0haeh/Retention-vs-New.png?rlkey=uknwcn5glomd7mwaxho56jhsm&dl=0).

Link: https://openviewpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Chart-8.png

## 2. GO TO MARKET 1

Tomasz Tunguz from Theory Ventures [shares key insights on the evolving GTM landscape for SaaS](https://www.saastr.com/state-of-saas-go-to-market-with-theory-ventures-general-partner-tomasz-tunguz/). This is a great read full of good nuggets. TL;DR: 14-day trials convert best for free trials; Assisted sales (for example, follow-up from sales reps on trial leads) can boost conversion rates by nearly 4x, and [Payback Periods and Quotas are both up](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q6lzkw30q3729ucd7fwok/Payback-Periods-and-Quotas-are-both-up.jpeg?rlkey=iqezcpxmhv4z07vy4oiaowi4n&dl=0) in parallel (and [AI isn't impacting conversion rate](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/iafxgzket5e1l1lzsnp9v/AI-Isn-t-Impacting-Conversion-Rate.jpeg?rlkey=sparn5ngncydvseekyh5kt2he&dl=0) or ARR growth). The big takeaway is that to maximize SaaS growth focusing on enterprise NDR (Net Dollar Retention) targets of 120% is, like, the best idea ever.

Link: https://www.saastr.com/state-of-saas-go-to-market-with-theory-ventures-general-partner-tomasz-tunguz/

## 3. GO TO MARKET 2

ICONIQ has a [GTM report out for 2024](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pgery5r09fa4aseqy82hg/The-State-of-GTM-in-2024.pdf?rlkey=4ix91umlew44nd4wiib79xo8k&dl=0), showing that ARR growth rates have slowed, particularly for companies under $200M ARR. Sales productivity is also down for most companies, though those over $200M ARR saw gains. 54% of companies use PLG (up from 40% in 2023). Partnerships drive significant revenue for companies over $100M ARR, with three-year contracts becoming standard.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pgery5r09fa4aseqy82hg/The-State-of-GTM-in-2024.pdf?rlkey=4ix91umlew44nd4wiib79xo8k&dl=0

## 4. OUTBOUND vs INBOUND

How you handle an inbound lead vs an outbound lead is quite different. Check [this article from Jack Jorgovan on how Outbound leads differ](https://jake-jorgovan.com/blog/how-to-close-outbound-leads) (and how to close them). The team at predictable revenue have been running over 50 outbound sales experiments to find out what works best (and what doesn't.). [Watch the whole series on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAxmz91coGiNze-0mTDjrgrGOnvTqJ9uD). SaaS Weekly also has a [guide on automating outbound emails](https://getsaasweekly.com/blog/how-to-automate-outbound-marketing-emails-to-generate-leads/) by leveraging intent signals to drive better-targeted campaigns

Link: https://jake-jorgovan.com/blog/how-to-close-outbound-leads

## 5. PRODUCTIVITY

Tomasz Tunguz makes a second appliance this week, [highlighting AI's accelerating impact on business](https://tomtunguz.com/if-ai-keep-accelerating-impact-business/). As companies increasingly allocate budgets to AI (41% from new funding), those that best embrace AI's chaotic nature and measure outcomes will lead the next wave—and that may already be priced into public companies.

Link: https://tomtunguz.com/if-ai-keep-accelerating-impact-business/

## 6. PMF

[Product-Market Fit is a spectrum and a gradual one, moving through stages of demand, customer satisfaction, and efficiency](https://iwantproductmarketfit.substack.com/p/the-product-market-fit-scale). Success means balancing high customer needs with scalable growth. Check out [this dynamic scale](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/e8q77n33ppup4f4l0letr/Product-Market-Fit-Scale.jpeg?rlkey=bje1pguryrfegqkxtui4vroxl&dl=0) - it's pretty interesting as it enables measures across multiple dimensions.

Link: https://iwantproductmarketfit.substack.com/p/the-product-market-fit-scale

## 7. CAPITAL 1

Because we are in a weird time of Venture Capital (and the [length between rounds is now much longer](https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/series-a-startups-more-time-series-b-funding-xai-quantum/) than a couple of years ago), we should all [know the round-between-round differences](https://magid.substack.com/p/rounds-between-rounds): bridge rounds, extension rounds, and in-between rounds.

Link: https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/series-a-startups-more-time-series-b-funding-xai-quantum/

## 8. CAPITAL 2 (seed)

AngelList data shows that, on average, [seed-stage companies have about 18 months to secure a Series A](https://www.angellist.com/blog/after-18-months-your-investment-probably-isnt-getting-marked-up). Because if a startup isn't marked up by then, it's likely to stall.

Link: https://www.angellist.com/blog/after-18-months-your-investment-probably-isnt-getting-marked-up

## 9. GPU WARS

Earlier this year, I referenced the [start of the "AI Wars"](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-may-10-2024) for public cloud. But check this article from Tomasz Tunguz; we're going deeper into the [GPU Wars](https://tomtunguz.com/cloud-earnings-q3-24/). AWS's AI business is growing at triple-digit percentages YoY. But they are also saying that growth is limited by GPUs. Amazon and Google are also developing their own chips.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-may-10-2024

## 10. CASE STUDY

How many hours should founders work? Check out [this analysis of YCombinator Founders](https://lunaray.substack.com/p/how-many-hours-should-founders-work). It's a 3-part series, but a good TL;DR is that pre-product-market fit founders work the most hours, with time spent decreasing as companies grow and gain traction. For many of us, it's a good read for a) Validation and b) Tips on managing work and time.

Link: https://lunaray.substack.com/p/how-many-hours-should-founders-work

## POD OF THE WEEK

There is way too much really valuable info in #2 above, and Tomasz Tunguz presented all of this in a great SaaStr presentation earlier this year, [which you can watch here](https://youtu.be/SjM4gFA2AYY).

Link: https://youtu.be/SjM4gFA2AYY