# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending October 6, 2023 Published: 5 October 2023 Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-october-6-2023 ## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: CHURN In [this post,](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/monthly-churn-benchmarks)Lenny Rachitsky asks, "What is a good monthly churn for a SaaS business?". Zero is the obvious correct answer - but he took to a benchmarking exercise and sourced good data to develop [this chart](https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa15abbdc-c994-4688-bb26-3d75ee3d0366_2728x2320.png). For B2C SaaS: 3% - 5% churn is GOOD, and less than 2% is GREAT. For B2B SMB: 2.5% - 5% is GOOD, less than 1.5% is GREAT. For B2B Enterprise: 1% - 2% is GOOD, less than 0.5% is GREAT. Link: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/monthly-churn-benchmarks ## 2. DEV TOOLS Anna Debenham of Boldstart Ventures was given access to a subset of this year's raw data from OpenView's [Product Benchmarks Report](https://openviewpartners.com/2023-product-benchmarks/) focusing on dev tools. The report reveals [trends in dev-tool product-led growth strategies](https://medium.com/boldstart-ventures/so-what-does-good-look-like-product-benchmarks-for-dev-tools-in-2023-c41884c2b388) - 31% organic leads and increasing reliance on sales-generated leads. Conversion from site visitors to users is 10% (median), with varied activation rates depending on the product. The median 28-day retention rate is 23%, and conversion to a paid account is 5%. The article discusses a new entry for our Tech Dictionaries - a "sandwich model" strategy, combining product and sales for sustained growth. Link: https://openviewpartners.com/2023-product-benchmarks/ ## 3. FUNDING One of the cool things to come out of the [SaaStr Annual](https://www.saastr.com/) conference every year is the updates to the [SaaS Funding Napkin](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/what-does-it-take-to-raise-capital-in-saas-in-2022-7ebe55c86e3e) from Point Nine Capital. 2023 has been a tough year - so it's great to finally get the [in-depth dive into what it takes to raise capital in 2023](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/what-does-it-take-to-raise-capital-in-saas-in-2023-56d8f617714) and the updated [TL;DR napkin](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/j0lo40xz56j998yvo90mg/SaaSFundingNapkin2023final.png?rlkey=ilpe0xidmurnh4coh3cfx2fqm&dl=0). You can also watch the SaaStr Annual 2023 presentation from last month [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVlH0idIWRQ). Link: https://www.saastr.com/ ## 4. VENTURE [Last month's post](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-september-8-2023) about the SaaS IPO marketplace was popular, and I had a few responses debating whether the potential end of the IPO freeze is happening now. Well, guess what? It looks like it's not over yet. According to [this article](https://www.pymnts.com/news/ipo/2023/vcs-tell-startups-to-pump-brakes-on-ipo-plans/) - VCs are advising their portfolio startups to postpone their IPO plans until the interest rates stabilize, but really a) Recent IPOs by Instacart and ARM were pretty [low energy](https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/instacart-shares-fall-further-below-ipo-price-2023-09-27/), and b) They want rates to drop, not stabilize. It's all about [fund returns](https://twitter.com/jasonlk/status/1375489939354251265). Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-september-8-2023 ## 5. AI 1/2 Cynically, big tech companies are trying to moat out and win the AI space via [lobbying and regulatory capture](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/13/tech-leaders-washington-ai-saferty-forum-elon-musk-zuckerberg-pichai). Link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/13/tech-leaders-washington-ai-saferty-forum-elon-musk-zuckerberg-pichai ## 6. AI 2/2 According to [this article and the full slideshow from Battery Ventures](https://www.battery.com/blog/when-it-comes-to-enterprise-tech-spending-buyer-enthusiasm-is-not-dead-yet), despite the tech-spend turndown, 50% of enterprise buyers are expecting to increase their AI spending in the next 6 months, and 79% plan to deploy generative AI in the next year. Link: https://www.battery.com/blog/when-it-comes-to-enterprise-tech-spending-buyer-enthusiasm-is-not-dead-yet ## 7. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Requires [outstanding leadership](https://www.atlassian.com/agile/product-management/product-manager) - here are interviews with [the Head of Growth at Reddit](https://gopractice.io/blog/interview-with-vaibhav-sahgal-reddit/) and [the Head of Product at Twitter](https://gopractice.io/blog/interview-with-scott-eblen-twitter/) (pre "X") on creating a good vision and strategy, but quality Product Discovery is the hidden skill. [This article leverages Slack and Dropbox examples, highlighting the importance of understanding market gaps and user needs](https://www.koruux.com/blog/key-product-discovery-techniques/) with various techniques, such as reverse discovery, continuous discovery frameworks, and competitor analysis sprints, that can transform product leadership. Link: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/product-management/product-manager ## 8. BENCHMARKS Check this [fun little Product Benchmarks calculator](https://productbenchmarkscalculator.com/) from OpenView (referenced in #2 above) that you can use to see how you compare to the 1,000+ B2B SaaS companies surveyed in our 2023 Product Benchmarks. Link: https://productbenchmarkscalculator.com/ ## 9. COLD OUTREACH Cold email is still a go-to modern-day sales tool. Predictable Revenue has a[PowerPoint deck](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s3PJdZpkZSSFT9MqHcHIQly7z9X3IMIb0fOvDy3bi9E/edit#slide=id.g8d379308d7_0_193)for four pillars constituting a quality sales-based email campaign. Here is a [3-step guide to getting noticed by email](https://www.dropbox.com/s/h1bihjgyvmha3fg/ebook-email-your-way-out-of-the-ice-ages-leadiq.pdf?dl=0), and finally, check out this "[How to automate cold outreach motion](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lucas-perret_how-to-automate-your-cold-outreach-motion-activity-7102254828524818432-FDGN)" cheat sheet by Lucas Perret; it includes triggers and prompts. Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s3PJdZpkZSSFT9MqHcHIQly7z9X3IMIb0fOvDy3bi9E/edit#slide=id.g8d379308d7_0_193 ## 10. CASE STUDY The never-ending quest to create the perfect homepage. While there's no such thing as a "perfect homepage," there are certainly best practices you can follow - [this article breaks it all down](https://wraptext.equals.com/creating-the-perfect-homepage/). Link: https://wraptext.equals.com/creating-the-perfect-homepage/ ## POD OF THE WEEK Speaking of regulatory capture (#5 above), this is a super fun talk from the All In Summit (of All In Podcast fame) by Bill Gurley (of SuperPumped fame) about [how regulation favors incumbents](https://twitter.com/theallinpod/status/1702908187287212257?). Link: https://twitter.com/theallinpod/status/1702908187287212257?