The weekly top 10 for B2B tech operators · Every Friday
Net Dollar Retention is an important metric in the new world of Product Led Growth. It’s used to help answer the following: "*Does my startup need to increase customer acquisition/marketing spend*?" Tomasz Tunguz writes in detail about this and Crunchbase does the work to calculate what good NDR benchmarks should look like.
) part 1: Two significant reads this week (and one in 2 parts) - the first one is from a16z who are proposing an agenda for the future of the Internet. The firm envisions a post Web 2.0 article and discusses "web3" (which is mainly all things crypto. blockchain, De-Fi (see below), NFTs, and DAOs). Their positioning is that this isn’t just a new wave of innovation — it’s an opportunity for a reset.
) part 2: This two-part series goes beyond an agenda and describes what could await us in this more decentralized future. Change is coming! Part 1 here (taking us through Web 1.0 and 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0) and Part 2 here on how to create that future.
Open source is coming to the fintech world, and a real possible future within that is leveraging blockchain ledger capabilities beyond cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Etherium via Decentralized Finance (Defi) - here is a little 101 intro on what Defi Infrastructure is.
While I'm in the crypto mood this week, have you ever wondered how the funding and cap-table of a crypto/token-based startup works? Tomasz Tunguz explains how the equity and token cap tables work.
OK - hear me out on this one: There has never been a more significant time for a different way of thinking about change in modern organizations. Digital Transformations are important, strategically. But the mindset needed requires a certain kind of improv style to get there - as the systems in place that are needed to change or pivot are usually very complex - change IS chaos. So take some time to read this article to understand more of what this is about - I also aspire to have the title of "Chaos Manager" one day...
Now it's its fourth year (which is like 28 Dog AI years) the State of AI Report is out for 2021 and it's a 188 page Google Slide deck! AI has been pretty clutch in the last year with faster simulations of human machinery such as proteins and RNA - starting at Slide 24; 88% of top AI educators/faculty have received funding from Big Tech (MSFT, APPL, IBM, et al); and a record amount of funding this year into AI startups with over USD $115B raised (slide 141)
This is a framework for managing them - I found this a really helpful article with a template that is now on my wall! An HD version of it is here. A little bonus is a compilation of mental models that entrepreneurs and investors leverage to develop new startup ideas & venture theses from the same author.
Here is a list of 9 great marketing tips for B2B SaaS businesses and BTW - 2022 is coming. It can't be worse than 2021 (can it??) so here is a planning guide for all you B2B marketeers.
Contrary to traditional startup lore, not every founder is a domain or industry expert (and I've got my hand up here). Here are 6 lessons from founders who (successfully) founded a startup in a space they are not an expert in.
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