August 07th, 2020

1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK - ARPU: Average revenue per user (ARPU) is one of the most important measures needed to understand the quality of revenue SaaS companies generate and how that quality can shift over time. This article and Animal: ARPU chart is really informative to help determine how to validate the right-size of customers (with their animal totems).
2. INVESTING: Jason Lemkin lists 11 signs a VC can use to predict if a venture investment will work out and 10 further hacks to have happier investors.
3. CONTENT MARKETING: Heavy Bit makes the case that now more than ever is the time to double down on content. Also, spot quiz hotshot - how long should a Blog Post be? Hypothetically this long (but also literally not that long - its a long-ass blog post).
4. MARKET SIZING: The dreaded slide on everyone's pitch deck. What's the size of the market. TL;DR if the market is not huge, same with your startup. Understanding the nuances of TAM, TOM and SOM is a great way to get started understanding market sizes as it applies to your business and the business problem your startup solves. 
5. LANDING PAGES: Check this site out - a collection of the best landing pages with a focus on copywriting and design - also (this is a repeat-post) IceBreakerVC lists best practices for good landing page planning and strategy. 
6. ANXIETY: HEY!……….Do you constantly worry that something is always on fire within your startup? Well don’t worry about worrying about it being normal or not - it is (especially if you are venture-backed). Just read this article and hopefully, you feel some comfort that the discomfort you feel - everybody feels! Don’t believe me - well go check out this Facebook group (and join me and other startup leaders) to share your experiences and challenges
7. PLG (aka Product Lead Growth) - as a refresher read this to understand the 4 basic principles behind PLG and then check this article out that goes into lengthy detail of how to design for PLG across the customer journey (and creating a flywheel) - trying to get a user to a point at which they understand the value they can get from your product (aka the AHA moment).
8. FLS (aka Founder Led Sales) are critical at the early stages of a startup. But most founders are not experts at selling. Something you can relate with? If so check this guide from Kunal Jasty on 10 lessons for startup founders to get their first 10 sales.
9. DEMAND: From Campbell Brown of PredictHQ (who knows a few things about demand) - is a pandemic relevant article discussing demand forecasting for 2020 and beyond now that the ability to do that traditionally took a massive dump in Q1. TL;DR demand forecast will be wrong for at least the next 3-12 months, be prepared and pay attention to geographic disparities.
10. SPEED: First Round Capital  have their take on speed this week but top tech companies are top performers and ,market differentiators in-part due to the fact that they operate at a cadence that is faster than most. It’s all about execution and heartbeat, which requires a fierce focus and prioritization.

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POD OF THE WEEK: This is a great extension for #6 above. Don’t keep all your worry to yourself listen to the Startup Chat talk all about their worries (and how to reframe them)
BONUS: Looking for some good reads? Check this list of Free eBooks targeting Techy/Maker/Entrepreneury peoples - I’ve already added 4 of them to my Kindle!