July 10th, 2025

1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: Not all ARR is created equal - and some is faster! This week's breakdown from The SaaS CFO explains how to separate AI ARR from traditional SaaS ARR, which is vital as more tools incorporate AI features, infrastructure, services, and usage-based models.


2. VENTURE-STRAPPED: This is a Top10inTech-ism's for your tech dictionaries for a hybrid startup that is a mash-up of the old debate of bootstrapped vs VC financing and applies to startups who raise only once. Which, anecdotally, seems like a more common practice in these new market conditions (and includes Klaviyo and Zapier). Jason Lemkin notes this new one-and-done third way.


3. UNDERSELL STRATEGY: If expansion fits into your growth strategy (it should) take a read of two-part series from Tomasz Tunguz and  Bill Binch - part one is deliberately underselling as a sales strategy to minimize churn and increase upsell/expansion opportunities as a land and expand strategy and post 2 is an expansion of land and expand witch details how to structure a Startup sales team for optimal land & expand.


4. GROWTH: a16z's AI revenue benchmarks are bonkers: the median enterprise AI startup hits $2.1M ARR by month 12. That's not the outlier—that's the middle. Consumer apps? Also wild: top quartile = $1.3M ARR in 12 months.


5. EU AI ACT: The EU's AI Act is now real policy, and compliance isn't optional - talking to you, Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, et al. Vanta's new EU AI checklist breaks down what companies (especially those selling into Europe) need to do to stay above board.


6. VENTURE 1: Check the Pitchbook Global VC First Look (yup - it's an Excel "book" ): VC is still in a liquidity nowhere land. IPOs remain scarce (for now), exits are rare. But AI? It's pulling in 'poke-me-in-the-eye-please' valuations and dragging the market back to some 2021 energy levels. Not sure if that means a bubble or bounce-back, this all needs to play out - AI is also gobbling up more than a third of venture debt.


7. VENTURE 2: First impressions matter. This tactical guide walks you through how to nail your first VC call—what to say, what not to say, and how to leave them wanting more.


8. PRICING: Pricing your SaaS too low won't make you a product-led success (but it'll make you broke). This guide breaks down early-stage pricing strategies that can actually work, from value-based to tiered.


9. GO-TO-MARKET: This is my kind of report! From Chartmogul comes their SaaS Go-To-Market Report, examining how SaaS companies acquire and convert customers. CAC payback is now 19 months, and inbound is king—75% of sales-led SaaS companies still rely on it.


10. CASE STUDY: PRODUCT MARKET FIT: A big Startup-ism -  More than 50% of the time, the lack of Product-Market Fit (PMF) factors into the reason a startup fails (keep reading this article, though, as it goes through how StartupOS figured their PMF out). AirTree (an early-stage VC) has just published this article, taking a look at what metrics VCs like them look at for signs of Product-Market Fit - and also what the red flags are. Also, this article has some great PMF definitions. PMF was called "the only thing that matters" to early-stage startups by Marc Andreessen 12 years ago. Now his team gets a little more nuanced, suggesting to focus on Product-User-Fit as an indicator towards achieving PMF. A similar nuance is also true post-PMF, with repeatable and scalable revenue models as a precursor to a repeatable and scalable business model (you know - the one with actual profits).


POD OF THE WEEK: Reed Hastings, ex-Netflix CEO, breaks down how to scale trust, talent, and bold bets - without turning your company into the Hunger Games. No PIPs, no micromanagement—just clear values, adult treatment, and $100M risks.