# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending September 13, 2024

Published: 13 September 2024
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-september-13-2024

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

[Growth Endurance Score (GES](https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/a-guide-to-growth-endurance-score))**.** This is a new one for me, and it's a metric that assesses a company's ability to sustain growth over time (something I have been discussing quite a bit lately, trying to maintain my own growth momentum). GES measures this efficiency by factoring in both net retention and customer acquisition efficiency. A high GES correlates with long-term business health and resilience. This score provides valuable insights for businesses aiming for consistent, sustainable growth. Bessemer has [drilled deeper into it and Bessemer and plotted ARR growth lost YoY](https://www.bvp.com/atlas/scaling-to-100-million#Growth-Endurance), and found that the decay is fairly predictable at 30%. That's a benchmark. In other words, you should expect next year's growth rate to be 70% of the current year as the stakes get higher.

Link: https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/a-guide-to-growth-endurance-score

## 2. GO TO MARKET

Go-to-market motions can be pretty specific and your GTM motions can [impact your marketing strategy and your org chart](https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/gtm-motion). Robert Kaminski has [distilled GTM motions into 5 types in this article](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/heyrobk_the-use-cases-are-endless-founders-use-activity-7153041418435854336-c8Y6/) based on a number of use cases; the [summary diagram](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/D4E22AQFXFiR9Rt99kA/feedshare-shrink_2048_1536/0/1705417969822?e=1708560000&v=beta&t=fN0vSjpd3hta2Lz10BiO61uj0SGNw26JgI-_yyOvBhA) at the bottom is great.

Link: https://newsletter.mkt1.co/p/gtm-motion

## 3. NET REVENUE RETENTION (NRR)

NRR is one metric I'm a fan of and has become a new modern gold standard for SaaS growth. So much so that [ChartMogul now has a trends and benchmark report](https://chartmogul.com/reports/saas-retention-the-new-normal): industry average NRR ranges from 90% to 100%, and the top-performing SaaS companies achieve NRRs 120%+. It's an action-packed NRR report, though, with lots of fantastic insight.

Link: https://chartmogul.com/reports/saas-retention-the-new-normal

## 4. CHANNEL

If, like me and a lot of other enterprisy B2B SaaS, channel-based partnerships are something you want to explore, take a good read of [BVP's guide to building SaaS channel partnerships](https://www.bvp.com/atlas/the-gtm-guide-to-building-saas-channel-partnerships). Selecting the right partners, aligning incentives, and establishing clear communication and training protocols are all included.

Link: https://www.bvp.com/atlas/the-gtm-guide-to-building-saas-channel-partnerships

## 5. SAFEs

Last month we reviewed [how much dilution founders typically experience during SAFE rounds](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-august-2-2024). But how does that reflect how much equity founders typically give up during these SAFE rounds? Check [this short but sweet Carta article with data on the average valuation cap by stage and fundraise size](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peterjameswalker_startups-safes-fundraising-activity-7224852183349964801-9Cw2). For example, raising $250K-$499K ("Angel Round") often comes with a median valuation cap of $8M, while $5M+ rounds ("Jumbo Seed Round") see a median cap of $36M. Founders should focus on ownership dilution as much as valuation caps to understand the real impact on their equity.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-august-2-2024

## 6. AI

There are some fancy charts in this [University paper on ChatGPT use](https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insights/the-adoption-of-chatgpt): Journalists, developers, and marketers are the highest users of ChatGPT compared to other roles. [Here is some great revenue data](https://x.com/SaaSletter/status/1827046987885391917) for the big AI players, as well as the [Top 100 AI Consumer apps](https://a16z.com/100-gen-ai-apps-3) according to a16z.

Link: https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insights/the-adoption-of-chatgpt

## 7. SPEND

Kinda bleeding out of #6 above, AI vendors like OpenAI are leading first-time purchases and a sharp increase in AI-related AP spend, according to [this great business spending report from Ramp](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/h1aq9izrqa8v2tw3x0yyg/Ramp_Summer_2024_Spending_Report-1.pdf?rlkey=sp1z8isnw15e3bfknhzgx5n6n&dl=0). Companies are also leaning into independent contractors and pulling back on advertising, indicators of a more cautious approach as economic uncertainty continues for most. This shift toward AI and flexible labor indicates where companies see value in the current market.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/h1aq9izrqa8v2tw3x0yyg/Ramp_Summer_2024_Spending_Report-1.pdf?rlkey=sp1z8isnw15e3bfknhzgx5n6n&dl=0

## 8. PITCH DECK

I know pitch deck posts are popular here because creating the perfect pitch deck is every Founder's stress-dream. [Data-driven VC offers some data drive insight on optimal decks](https://www.newsletter.datadrivenvc.io/p/the-perfect-pitch-deck-10-examples) from startups that nailed their presentations, highlighting key elements like storytelling, market validation, and financial projections.

Link: https://www.newsletter.datadrivenvc.io/p/the-perfect-pitch-deck-10-examples

## 9. PIPELINE

Looking for some inspiration to build additional pipelines for the rest of the year? The [Growth Unhinged Blog has some inspirations for you to review](https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/how-to-build-more-pipeline-in-2024).

Link: https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/how-to-build-more-pipeline-in-2024

## 10. CASE STUDY

Talk about diversification - with [thin profit margins on their primary business](https://perfectunion.us/as-ubers-profit-margins-grow-workers-make-less-and-less/), Uber has now diversified heavily into advertising. They are generating $1b in advertising revenue, [according to their Q2 20224 report](https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2024/Uber-Announces-Results-for-Second-Quarter-2024/).

Link: https://perfectunion.us/as-ubers-profit-margins-grow-workers-make-less-and-less/

## POD OF THE WEEK

Last week's [Founder Led Sales post](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-september-6-2024) was a popular one - so here is a [great Pod covering Founder led Sales](https://youtu.be/ROsrlUFAVZs) and why PMF, problem solving, getting those early adopters, and invalidating things are all best done by founders.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-september-6-2024