TOP 10 IN TECH
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​TOP 10 IN TECH

​a weekly newsletter
Curated SaaS and tech insight from around the web repackaged for people to put to good us

Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending November 27, 2020

11/27/2020

 
  1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: Share of Wallet. This is a fun one for all you marketplace people (who should also check this other article on Marketplace Liquidity).Share of Wallet is a measure of a marketplace going from being one of many options to becoming the main option. for a buyer (AND also a supplier).
  2. MARKETING: Guess what? Your marketing team is slow!. Take a read of this article on frameworks to make your marketers speed up. Tech companies are market differentiators in-part due to the fact that they operate at a cadence that is faster than most. Speed is a competitive advantage that your marketing teams need to leverage!
  3. SECURITY: Even ignoring everything else that has made this year bonkers,  2020 has also been an absolute doozy of a year for cyber attacks and breaches. here are some stats: 60% increase in the average ransomware payment from Q1-Q2 2020, Web App attacks are up 800% from last year, and Coronavirus alone  is blamed for a 238% rise in cyber attacks on banks. So first steps - protect your perimeter, especially if you are running WordPress.
  4. PRICING: The debates are always passionate when discussing the merits of expose the pricing of a SaaS product via a public facing page. But regardless of what side of that argument you want to sit on, a simple truth remains: The pricing model of your product serves as the entry point for your customers. Public or not. Chartmogul reviewed 600+ publicly facing SaaS pricing pages and analyzed them to learn how subscription software companies price, package, and position their products - its a great read.  and Alexandre Dewez has done something similar with benchmarking the pricing model of 100+ subscription based mobile apps.
  5. TECHNOGRAPHIC: Add this doozy of a Portmanteau to your dictionaries and spell checker - you should also read that article too as I don't know about you, but the number of tech vendors we use to run our tech business stresses me out, with services flopping in and out all the time! Which leads nicely into this article: How Many Technologies Can a Company Adopt at Once?  Answer - there is always one more (JK, but not really).
  6. SALES: Budgeting for growth - we could spend a whole newsletter on that topic, but lets not. But how much sales budget should there be? Zoominfo have some answers for ya! Bad news - spend is on the rise.
  7. GROWTH MARKETING: For all of you who appreciated last weeks Great guide to Growth Marketing Success I have an update from the same author:  15 Growth Marketing Tactics to Turbocharge Your Startup.
  8. TRAFFIC:  An Indie Hacker short double-article whammy on web-traffic : a) How to boost traffic to your boring-ass SaaS product  (basically create some FREE exciting/useful tools related in some way and share them around) and b) How to rank higher in those pesky product based search results (pro-tip - use Reddit!! Genius)
  9. MOATS: Moats are one of the best ways to provide a competitive advantage for your business and can moats come in all kinds of different flavors (such as speed, Brand, or growth). This post lists some other popular and effective ways for B2B SaaS companies to create such moats for their products.
  10. UNICORNS: At the end of 2013, there were just 43 $1Billion plus valued unicorns, by October 2015 there were 141. Last week it hit the 500 mark for the first time. Full Excel sheet here from CBInsights


POD OF THE WEEK: Startup US Legal Basics in the US (and what kid of entity to form)  from the team at Wilson Sonsini, one of the premier legal forms for US startups. 

Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending November 20, 2020

11/20/2020

 
  1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: LTV This metric represents the average revenue that a customer generates before they churn. ChartMogul have a great online calculator here. Go advanced mode as this calculator references the traditional formula as well as the David Skok version (which is the advanced one, but viewed as being more realistic)....and check here for a thought provoking read of why your LTV may be lower than you think.
  2. CODE: Hard truth - some of your code stinks. Take a read of this for the kind of bad smells your repo may have.  Meh - but how much does it matter? Well here is a report that gives you that cold-hard number . In this report Stripe also calculates the developer "community" to be valued at about $3 trillion GDP globally.
  3. DELIGHT AUDIT. Its the Age of the Customer you know, so this should be a thing - enough with the  eye rolling! This is an in-depth post from CopyHackers on how to make this kind of Audit happen and here is a case study on how 3 big Tech companies (GitLab, HubSpot and Zoom) make delight happen. Also here is a Case Study on building a customer centric B2B organization from McKinsey
  4. WRITING: Being able to write well is a skill that needs to sit with founders. So here is 3 step guide - Step 1. How to position your startup and achieve your unique value prop; Step 2. how to write well and one more version for good measure; and Step 3 top tips for telling stories.
  5. GROWTH MARKETING: For all those who have mastered step 4 above, here is a great guide to Growth Marketing Success - as the author points out, Growth "hacking" is not a series of "hacks." It's a rigorous methodology consisting of experimenting, collecting data, and leveraging human psychology.
  6. MONEY: Just because cash is key to eeevvverrrything right now. Take some time to review some fundamentals on cash management (in 2020)  - it's a printable PDF from PitchBook! and understanding SaaS P&L statements.
  7. MANAGEMENT: Thinking of moving from engineering to management? Awesome! But guess what, the rules have kind of changed in 2020 and you probably wont code anymore - but it's still a technical job.
  8. SALES ANALYSIS: Every company wants to boost your sales and close more deals right? So take a read and a bookmark to this article as it is a really deep dive into comprehensive Sales Analysis - listing 4 different analysis types and then providing  9 tips on how to use this quality sales sales analysis data to generate more revenue.
  9. DECIDE: Because human beings are weird we often make decisions using  predictable (and fairly subconscious) mental shortcuts  - in the UX world, the term used is 'Heuristics'.  Check this (ultimate) guide to heuristics evaluation, complete with cast studies!
  10. RULE OF 40: What is the 40% rule for SaaS companies? This video explains more but basically when a VC backed SaaS businesses (of over ~ $2m ARR) adds profit + growth rate, the total should be equal to 40% (or more). This helps calculate the cadence of a business: The faster they grow, the less profitable they need to be. Rule of 40 stocks have outperformed the broader indices and IT benchmarks over the last 15 years.
​
POD OF THE WEEK: Trello (now part of Atlassian) is well beyond 50,000,000 users. Check this vid-cast from Jason Lemkin and SaaStr on the fo

Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending November 13, 2020

11/13/2020

 
  1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: EXPANSION: A lot of SaaS companies are fixated on customer acquisition, leaving customer expansion as an underrated growth strategy that SaaS companies often gloss over. Hard facts: Every dollar of new customer revenue in 2020 costs $1.60  - expansion is the growth bargain - with each dollar of expansion revenue costing $0.69. Using the analogy of Ice Cream (you had my attention right there) this article goes in-depth to identify and separate out three differing kinds of expansion along with five strategies you can deploy.
  2. DATA: I don’t think I have more to add than the title of this article: "You Cannot Be Data-Driven Without Experimentation” but the opposite of that is also a truth to hammer home "You Cannot run experiments successfully without being data-driven”. We all overestimate our experimentation skills AND our Data collection skills.
  3. MARKETING: I like the fact that the authors of this article didn't use the words "ultimate" or "top" in their B2B SaaS Marketing Guide - 2020 edition. It's a collection of learnings for founders and b2b marketers who are looking to build their b2b marketing programs - very much a book-markable link.
  4. FORWARD MULTIPLES: This is a preferred metric used to value SaaS companies, who generally carry very few assets, little to no profitability, but all kinds of potential. That number is wildly variable and often bonkers - as of June 2020, the median SaaS valuation multiple for public companies stands at 11.4x ARR. So how is that number calculated? The answer?.....it depends: But a companies revenue growth and sales efficiency dominate the model. Cash flow margins, net income margins (profitability), gross margins, and many other metrics are largely irrelevant.
  5. SALES: Deal mechanics! How can Account Executives who are getting the same amount of meetings booked by SDRs out-perform their counterparts? According to this article - best-practice deal mechanics. It's about what also happens between meetings, using video, phone, and LinkedIn to engage all the decision-makers involved in complex enterprise deals, giving your prospects an out, and setting next steps. Jason Lemkin also swoops in this week with some top tips on tips to help sales execs close more.
  6. NO CODE: Codeless apps have been here for a while! Technology infrastructure has become so commoditized and abstracted that we have now reached a point in time where web services, apps, and integrations can be provisioned visually with zero amounts of line-based code written. AWS has legitimized this practice into the main-stream via Amazon Honeycode, a tool that makes it possible to build web and mobile applications without coding and this article goes into depth outlining the current squad of no-code players, tools, and haters.
  7. CI/CD: Continuous improvement (CI) is not just a process that dev teams use to iterate and ship software quickly, the process identifies opportunities to reduce waste and streamline work within any department or team. CI can easily be confused with Continuous Deployment and Continuous Delivery - but they are not the same. This article from Angel.co helps clarify the differences and makes the case why CI is the optimal dev strategy for delivering great customer experiences.
  8. PRODUCT: Product Management - what exactly is it? This article highlights what it is and also what it isn't (in comparison to the role of a project manager) as does this one and this article highlights a more subtle difference - one between Product Managers and  Product Owners. Unfortunately for professional growth, in-person conferences for all you Product Managers out there is on hold for the foreseeable future so here are some thought-provoking presentations for product managers from years past.
  9. TEST TEST TEST: Evaluating the functionality of a software application at every stage is critical to shipping something awesome.  Take a good read of this PDF guide (along with real-life examples) and then bookmark this Google Site (blast from the past) page for a comprehensive list of the Stages of Test Development.  Thats list is kind of old school though - so take a read and sprinkle some of  this more modern (ie Agile) take on testing. into your QA world.
  10. LINK BUILDING: This kind of seems like an SEO tactic of the past, where businesses build links to create a more organically positive Search rating. So is it still a relevant practice in 2020? Well......yah! But the rules have changed quite a lot. Check this article on how to optimize (by careful curation and intent) what to link.

POD OF THE WEEK:  A continuation from #5 above:  Deal Mechanics: How to Work (And Close) 3x The Deals with Nick Cegelski

Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending November 6, 2020

11/6/2020

 
  1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: MRR: Subscription revenue is powerful. It accumulates and compounds over time and MRR, or Monthly Recurring Revenue, is a predictable (..get it?) SaaS Metric Classic - so this is a deep dive article into everything you ever wanted to know (and much, much more) about this most common of metrics, covering different MRR types, differences between MRR and ARR, etc, etc, etc.
  2. MRR LEVERS: OK -so what are the best ways that SaaS companies can grow their MRR? Check this article that looks at two (of the five) elements of MRR growth that often fly under the radar of acquisition (expansion and reactivation).
  3. CAPITAL: If you are looking to raise capital - You have 2-4 slides tops to grab the attention of an investor. Use those slides wisely and don’t go beyond 12-15. But also check this word of warning from Elizabeth Yin (Co-founder / GP at hustle fund): NOW is really a horrible time to be raising, only fundraise now if you are wrapping up a raise or really need a little bit of money.
  4. FUTURE FOUNDERS: Looking to start something soon? Y Combinator is launching a new Startup School intended for the Founders of the future. The course will start next week - November 9th and run for 6 weeks. Spread the word or Sign up here!
  5. PERSONAS: SaaS B2B Marketing is a pretty unique beast - and getting into the minds of an idealized customer often requires going through the practice of creating personas - you should try it - it will def make you a better SaaS marketer. For most SaaS companies creating multiple personas is often a strategic necessity. So here is an additional differentiator (and what the difference is compared to a persona) of an Ideal customer profile.
  6. MARKETING: Add this one to your SaaS dictionary: Buyer Intent Data. I have posted all kinds of articles in this newsletter on Marketing strategies and tactics - but there is never a one-size fits all channel for a company. So how does a business find out what are the best marketing channels for them? This article suggests that everything needed to answer that questions is already within the data a business generates every day. (you're gonna need Personas - so don't skip #5)
  7. CUSTOMER DATA: Looping together 5 and 6 above  - Customer data management is a practice, not a technology. I love that simple message. Bluconic give the crib notes/5-steps in this article about how to develop a strategy to optimize and improve customer experience using good data management practices.
  8. USABILITY TESTING: Creating an intuitive application or website takes time, and requires a process of design - what may seem obvious to one person may not be for everyone.  It's not just about UX - it's about usability testing, read here for the fundamentals on this concept. Once you have that article mastered, head over here on how to elevate your UX design empathy skills.
  9. WORK-LIFE 💩: I don't know about you - I think WFH is great but it also makes work-life integration just straight up weird and the boundaries a little tricky to manage. 4 year olds do not respect Zoom rooms. So I did lean into this article and feel we are all in here somewhere - to reel you in: "Remote isn’t just a different way of working, it’s a different way of living. And if you’re not careful, the only thing you’ll experience is work" . The author recognizes 4 different types of work-life boundary management to help you manage your own boundaries: Integrators, Cyclers, Separators and Role-Firsters.
  10. FRAMEWORKS: Beyond metrics, a successful framework can distills complex processes or models to make execution more of a simple recipe. Kinda why OKR's exist. Sarah Tavel has compiled a great list of compelling Frameworks covering the 10x model, the hierarchy of engagement, hype cycles and more!


POD OF THE WEEK: A new podcast from First Round Review - In Depth - focused on good advice startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. First episode is with Molly Graham discussing team management who helped build and scale Facebook, Quip, and is now the COO of Lambda School.

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